Radeon HD 6970

[SonofEil]

Ok, I'm thinking about getting this, the Sapphire Radeon HD 6970, a major card upgrade from what you see in my sig down below.

Now allow me to advertise my ignorance:

 

I've never built a computer...or even upgraded components.

//head hanging in shame//

My computer referenced in my sig is an HP Elite that I got for a good price about 1.5 years ago, so I don't know what motherboard i'm using. My main question is (and here comes the ignorance):

 

The HD 6970 is a PCIe 2.1 X 16. Will that fit in my graphics slot, considering my current 4850 is a 2.0 X 16?

 

Phew. If you guys would like to tell me any other pertinent info, please feel free!

[Kuky]

In short, yes it will fit in your motherboard PCI-E slot as they are both PCI-E cards.

 

You should check also if this card will fit in your case as card is very long, check for reviews on the HD6970 and how long it is and measure how much space your have in your case (also pay attention to where the PCI-E power sockets are located on the card as if they are on the rear of the card that requires more space behing the card).

[SonofEil]

Good advice, thanks.

 

The size is a concern of mine. I haven't been able to find hard specs on the card's dimensions, but I have seen a couple of forum posts outside of ED that say 11(!)inches. From looking in my case, there is nothing between the "end" of my current card and the inside-front of the case, so there should be enough room. I'm also upgrading my psu from a 480W to 750W to handle the increased load, and I'm prepared to get an entirely new case if I run into cooling problems anyway. The HP Pavilion Elite isn't the most ventilated of cases! (Assuming the card fits in the first place.)

 

So I've got my work cut out for me. Thanks for the advice! I think I'm going to take the plunge and "make" it work.

Edited February 20, 2011 by SonofEil

[Kuky]

getting a new PSU is a good step as your current one would not be enough

 

Here: http://www.techspot.com/review/348-amd-radeon-6970/page3.html says HD6970 is 27cm / 10.6 in long and Power connectors are on the side so that's good

[SonofEil]

Here: http://www.techspot.com/review/348-amd-radeon-6970/page3.html says HD6970 is 27cm / 10.6 in long and Power connectors are on the side so that's good

 

I saw some reviews, but not that one. I had a hard time deciding between the GTX 570 and the 6970 since they are both within my current budget and similar advertised performance. I'm choosing the 6970 because I've never had any issues with AMD, the PSU/card bundle offered on newegg is a decent deal, and I'm already somewhat familiar with the Catalyst Control Center software.

I'll update this post with results, etc. when it gets here.

 

EDIT: Dammit! I'm also going to have to upgrade my surge protector/battery backup! It's a 550W. It just never ends, does it.

Edited February 20, 2011 by SonofEil

[SonofEil]

Ok, I have my new 2GB HD6970 installed, so here's the update with a pic:

The card fits in a HP Pavilion Elite case. Barely...sort of. As you can see from the pic, there's still a few inches of free space in front of the card. The problem is that my HDD cables would be impacting the card if it were a half inch longer. So therefore, barely! Also, it doesn't leave much room for general cable management. In fact, it leaves no room. I also had to move my optical drive to the lower bay as the slightly larger new PSU made the fit uncomfortably tight. The Corsair 750W PSU also has far more cables than I needed and I was wondering where to put all of them. I ended up stashing them in the now-empty top optical bay. In the future, I'm going modular!

Because of my cable mess I'll probably migrate everything into a new case in a couple of weeks. I'm unable to fit my side cover back on and I have a small floor fan blowing into the case to compensate for the lack of directed airflow. Fingers crossed, but everything seems to be working fine.

 

Game performance is much improved. I'm getting solid 80+ fps in DCS:WH with max settings while joy-flying...at dusk...with moderate weather. (A scenario that used to slow my machine down considerably!) Besides some messing around, I haven't really entered combat with it yet. (Strangley, IR Mav has a noticable performance impact again, while IR TGP has negligable impact. Did the code get de-optimized?)

Overall, I'm pleased. I was aware that I might have real estate issues from the start, so getting a new case won't be a big deal, and the performance improvements that I've seen so far are stellar.