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I'm going to buy AMD Radeon 6870 to replace my old nVidia 8800 GT. Which steps should I follow while replacing the graphics card? Do I need to reinstall Windows?

Computer specifications:

  • ASUS M2N32-SLi Deluxe
  • AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ @ 3.2 GHz
  • 2 GB RAM
  • nVidia GeForce 8800 GT
  • Windows 7 32-bit

I know my processor is old and slow, but I will replace other parts in the future. There probably won't be any huge bottlenecks. Also, is AMD Radeon 6870 compatible with my current build?

Basically, I urgently need to replace my graphics card, since it kinda broke (artefacts appearing all over the screen, even in BIOS).

Regards, Klemen

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This question will be closed. Hence it's too localized. But. In such case, you should check the PSU, and use a power supply calculator: thermaltake.outervision.com | Your CPU, etc, won't matter. If you have a PCI-EX in your PC, that's already enough. The only question is the power supply. – Shiki Oct 13 '11 at 19:24
The PSU is 750W, which is enough. Thanks for your help. – Klemen Košir Oct 13 '11 at 19:25
So you say that is enough. Yet you accept Mokubai's answer, which is basically the same what I said. Meh. – Shiki Oct 14 '11 at 9:14
Well, he posted it as an answer. If you would post that reply as an answer, I would accept it. – Klemen Košir Oct 14 '11 at 10:20
(I meant, you wrote your first comment, like it's an obvious thing, it's not the solution and that's all. That's why I was kinda curious.) – Shiki Oct 14 '11 at 12:05
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2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Your PSU is the only real component you haven't listed, and with more modern graphics cards it is probably the most important.

This page seems to suggest that your 8800GT would survive fine on a 400W supply, with a bit more being better, while this page seems to suggest that the 6870 would require a 500W or better power supply.

Basically you need to find out what the recommended PSU for your card-to-be is. I often use the Nvidia and AMD comparison pages to see what kind of load a graphics card is going to be and give it plenty of headroom to cope with other system components.

Other than that one graphics card is much like another and should "just work". Your mobo has PCIE so go for it.

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up vote 2 down vote

It would be a good idea to now remove your old video driver package first. Re-installing windows would be unnessisary, removing the mess left by any card would be good practice. You can switch cards and get a compatability mode with the manufactures drivers uninstalled still.

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