Is An Upgrade Possible?

[RickJ4mes]

Will that still be safe with my current power supply?

EDIT - Stupid question, one of the reviewers clearly answered my question.

I am more of a NVIDIA fan, but as far as more for less goes, i'm all for it.

What about PCI Express 2.1? I know PCI Express 2 will work in original but what's the diff with 2.1?

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Will that still be safe with my current power supply?

EDIT - Stupid question, one of the reviewers clearly answered my question.

I am more of a NVIDIA fan, but as far as more for less goes, i'm all for it.

What about PCI Express 2.1? I know PCI Express 2 will work in original but what's the diff with 2.1?

PCI Express 2.1 will work fine as well, it's just a minor update to 2.0

The HD 5670 does use a little more power than the GT 240 but it shouldn't make much of a difference one way or the other.

 

[RickJ4mes]

My build right now doesn't even have a HDMI or DVI port while my monitor only has a HDMI port (along with a VGA of course.) Now when i add this card, i'll have all three ports available correct?

BTW - This is my first time actually opening up a PC and modifying it inside, so don't mind my stupid questions I just planned on looking at a quick tutorial to make sure i don't miss anything when putting it in. Although from what i understand with the 5670 it's pretty much plug in, install drivers & play

 

[Puddle Jumper]

The HD 5670 has 1x DVI, Ix HDMI, and 1x DisplayPort and you will be able to use any or all of those ports for monitors. You can't use any of the ports that are on your current card though.

 

[Didger]

I concur with PuddleJumper. Given your criteria of 'average games and low settings with decent fps', the HIS 1GB 5670 works very well for me. I had the same criteria when upgrading my system (similar HP, 4 years old) . I picked this card up last week. This card was cheap ($105 @ CompUSA, after rebates) and very quiet. Also saves me from having to upgrade my power supply since it needs no additional power connections. After installing, now my only bottleneck is my CPU (Athlon 3800). Since you already have a Phenom quad-core, you should be in pretty good shape.