# [SOLVED] What is the highest end card compatible with my system?



## CrazyLo719 (Feb 29, 2012)

I have an Hp Pavilion p6516f. More Specs below;

1TB HD

Foxconn H-RS880-uATX (Aloe) motherboard with 
1 PCI x16 slot for graphics card
3 PCI x1 slots
1 PCI Express x1 minicard slot

AMD Athalon II x4 630 processor 

6GB RAM

250w power supply

Currently ATI Radeon HD 4200 integrated <(thats what i want to replace)>

I'd like to know what the highest end graphics card compatible with my system is. I want to upgrade but do not know what to buy. -sorry if im posting this thread in the wrong place- :wink:


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

We need to know what your budget is for this upgrade , also your going to have to change the power supply as well.


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## CrazyLo719 (Feb 29, 2012)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

my budget is any, i just want to know what i can get, and i do not want to change my power supply, i want something compatible with my system as is.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

If you aren't changing the power supply, then you aren't likely to be able to support any card. An addon card will draw more power...and you don't have any to spare.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

Even an entry level GPU won't survive long with a 250W OEM PSU.


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

Then the answer is simply none.

No one on our team is recommending a gpu with only a 250w power supply , not even a cheapo gpu.


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## CrazyLo719 (Feb 29, 2012)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

ok, i am going to upgrade to a 500w power supply. i found one for not too much. can you now tell me what i can get? and if 500w isn't *required* then what amount of wattage will i need with your gpu recommendation? (if its any help, i want to be able to run BF3 nicely):dance:


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## CrazyLo719 (Feb 29, 2012)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

(I WANT AMD GRAPHICS<ITS AN AMD PC>)


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

Whats the make and model 500w?

With power supplies , brand and amperage is very important. No cheapo 500w power supply is going to power a gpu w/o frying. It would be easier if you simply gave use a total budget for a gpu and power supply and we picked something out that would fit the bill.


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## CrazyLo719 (Feb 29, 2012)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

my budget is whatever it adds up to. i dont have a set limit, i want to know what it WILL cost. tell me what your ideal setup for both power supply and graphics card is, and we can go from there  try to keep the price realistic and reasonable is all i ask.


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

A good place to start would be with something like this if you want bf3 to play well.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
Newegg.com - HIS IceQ 5 H577QT1GD Radeon HD 5770 Turbo 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity

Something a bit more higher end would be like this.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
Newegg.com - HIS H697F2G2M Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity


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## CrazyLo719 (Feb 29, 2012)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

perfecto!  now im not sure if my PCI slot is a 2.0. i cant find any specifics on it, all i know is PCI Express x16


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

That's a 1st-gen PCI-Express slot. It will slow down 2.0/2.1 graphics cards, but not significantly.

Your old Athlon processor is going to bottleneck any powerful video card you put in your system. I can't imagine you would see more performance out of any card more powerful than an HD6870. Fortunately the 6870 is an excellent BF3 performer.

For a fully smooth BF3 performance, you will want an FX-4100/Phenom II or better CPU, DDR3 RAM (1600 is best for BF3), and a 550 Ti or better (the 6870 is the best value/performance for BF3).


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

Bf3 isn't very resource heavy , even my old machine can play it with everything turned up , he should be ok.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*



toothman said:


> That's a 1st-gen PCI-Express slot. It will slow down 2.0/2.1 graphics cards, but not significantly.
> 
> Your old Athlon processor is going to bottleneck any powerful video card you put in your system. I can't imagine you would see more performance out of any card more powerful than an HD6870. Fortunately the 6870 is an excellent BF3 performer.
> 
> For a fully smooth BF3 performance, you will want an FX-4100/Phenom II or better CPU, DDR3 RAM (1600 is best for BF3), and a 550 Ti or better (the 6870 is the best value/performance for BF3).


It's not not an old Athlon, it's an Athlon II X4 630 and won't bottleneck the graphics at all!


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## CrazyLo719 (Feb 29, 2012)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

yea its a quad core at over 3Ghz per core. i have plenty of power and 6Gb of ram...i should be good there. and yes i dont want it all maxed out and utterly beautiful, just at a persay *cough cough* console level.


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

A 6850/6870 easily outperforms the xbox/ps3. I've played Skyrim on Xbox and Skyrim on pc with a 6850. Huge upgrade.


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

I believe the xbox 360 uses a modified ati x1800 series and the ps3 uses a modified nvidia 7800 series , both dinosaurs in comparison.


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## akedm (Oct 1, 2007)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

Hey. Just my 2-cents here. If it's feasible to you I'd get the power supply first. Dont buy anything else yet. I'm recalling a Gateway I had years ago. It had a Bestec brand power supply, and it couldnt be switched out for ANYTHING (Seasonic, Antec - Antec was good at the time, CoolerMaster, etc....). Lindmann (spelling???) tried helping me, Dai, all those guys that know this stuff forward and backward. I even sent to Lindemann a video of me testing out each wire in the power supply with one of those meters that reads everything about current.

Point is I wanted to do what you wanted to do and I was stopped cold with the power supply. Put in a new power supply - zip. Put back in my old Bestec 250w - worked like a dream, but I couldnt upgrade. Nearest we could figure is that it was a manufacturer thing - a Gateway thing. Now on the plus side, I also upgraded an HP (your brand) with no problems. 

Since you have a pre-built system like mine, my 2 cents is to, if it's something you want to do, get a power supply first. As soon as it works in your system, it's all cake and smiles from there.

- Eric


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## CrazyLo719 (Feb 29, 2012)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

Well then i am one happy camper if it can out perferm any console. and akedm, thank you for your 2-cents. i will try the power supply first


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*



Amd_Man said:


> It's not not an old Athlon, it's an Athlon II X4 630 and won't bottleneck the graphics at all!


Not until you attempt fully maxed out graphical settings, at which point even Phenom IIs struggle. You won't get a slide show, but you cannot achieve that super-smooth 50-60fps quality a very expensive video card would otherwise be able to deliver. I experience this issue myself in some areas in Skyrim.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

My Phenom II doesn't even break a sweat running games at any settings. The Athlon II's are very capabale gamers!


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

As stated before even MY old cpu can play these game w/o a problem.

Since the op's specs will be well above ours I imagine his performance could only be better.


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## akedm (Oct 1, 2007)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

You're welcome.


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

Oh no they can game fine, but gaming fine is not the purpose of a "very powerful" video card. You can play any game just fine with a 550 Ti and a dual-core processor.

The point I make is referring solely to those purposes served by installing a very high-end graphics card; that is, dragging all sliders to the right and expecting 50 fps.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

I get 50+fps in every game I play! These modern games are designed to run of the GPU and not the CPU!


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

Not all games are equally demanding, obviously. Maxed-out settings on some of the most demanding games right now will be bottlenecked to some degree by Phenom IIs. As I stated, even with my 4Ghz 960T, I've seen this in Skyrim in some areas. It's very playable, just not as smooth as my 6950 could potentially make it. Purchasing a more expensive video card would not improve anything because my processor cannot perform its tasks any faster. That's what a bottleneck is.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

I know what a bottleneck is and it's just relevant here. Like I said modern day cames rely on the GPU far more than the CPU. I play Black Ops at max settings and my cpu usage doesn't get anywhere near 100%. In fact not much over 50% at times with an average of 40-45%.


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

Well I see the primary game in discussion for the OP right now is BF3, which makes it all moot since a very high-end graphics card is not necessary for maxing that game out on a 1080p monitor. A 6870 is all that's necessary for smooth ultra settings.

The issue of bottlenecking from a Phenom II x4 comes into play in more demanding scenarios than what you're doing with Black Ops. In my case my bottleneck I describe is not significant (in fact my performance is excellent and only drops down under 40 fps in town sometimes). More expensive cards than my 6950 only flex their muscle in super-high resolutions like 2560x1600 or Eyefinity, in which case a Phenom II will start to hold you back more.

Right now, smooth performance at max settings on a single 1080p monitor with even the newest games generally does not require a high-end graphics card.

And of course, games operate on two threads instead of all four, so a quad-core will not reach 100% load in any game.


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## CrazyLo719 (Feb 29, 2012)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

i agree with AMD Man. i mean c'mon, his name is AMD Man. lol i know what my system is capable of, it has plenty of power. ive read some more info on the HP website, and this pc IS upgrade ready, and will accept those parts with no problem, they are on the list. and i dont even want it all maxed out, ill probably only play on ultra settings, but with 16x9 res instead of stuff like 25x16, my monitor couldnt handle that anyway. it still looks amazing tho


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

Toothman is referring to very demanding games MAXED out. There really is no difference in gameplay from MED to Ultra settings other than Ultra settings look prettier. I play to game and could care less if the palm tree leaves are a little jagged.


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## CrazyLo719 (Feb 29, 2012)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

i agree very much. but bf3 isnt too demanding, it will still look beautiful.


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*

Oh yea, you will be very pleased with a card in the $100-200 range. I was only addressing the idea of putting a much more high-end card in, as the thread title could include.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: What is the highest end card compatible with my system?*



CrazyLo719 said:


> i agree with AMD Man. i mean c'mon, his name is AMD Man. lol i know what my system is capable of, it has plenty of power. ive read some more info on the HP website, and this pc IS upgrade ready, and will accept those parts with no problem, they are on the list. and i dont even want it all maxed out, ill probably only play on ultra settings, but with 16x9 res instead of stuff like 25x16, my monitor couldnt handle that anyway. it still looks amazing tho


It would appear your happy and all is well. If so, we can mark this thread as solved.


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## CrazyLo719 (Feb 29, 2012)

SOLVED. thanks guys


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