Question 1

Is the 6 + 8 power cord included? or does it require a connection of 6 + 8?

Accepted Answer

It comes with adapters for the proper power cables or ideally, you would use the ones provided with your power supply. If the power supply can support it and it is fairly new it should have them. If it is modular and you lost the cables, you will need to obtain replacement cables from the manufacture or an online retailer

Question 2

will this card work with PCI E gen2?

Accepted Answer

Yes, running it right now on mine.  In theory, the card will be slightly bottle-necked by a PCI 2.0 interface as the card can generate more bandwidth than the interface itself.  There are tests of PCI3 vs PCI2 showing that a card like this may generate a couple more frames on a PCI3 - but a single card you likely won't be able to notice other than when a test shows you the slight difference.

Question 3

will this fit in a mid size tower?

Accepted Answer

I learned the hard way that this graphics card does take up a ton of space. I, too, have a mid size case (Thermaltake Commander series), and I was unable to fit this card into the space I had. I did kludge a fix, but that might not work on other cases.

I would strongly encourage anyone looking at installing this card into a mid size case to measure before you buy.

Question 4

What is the highest resolution that this graphics card can run via HDMI @ 60hz?  Thanks in advance for anyone who takes the time to answer this question.

Accepted Answer

I'm not sure about the highest. But i just have mine set to the recommended resolution for my monitor.

Question 5

How does Witcher 3 run on Ultra, Gameworks on but with Tesselation enabled in a profile in Catalyst set to 16x?  I'm running at 30FPS with a 7950 3GB at those settings (except for shadows and foliage range set to medium/high) and am wondering what kind of bump in performance to expect.

Accepted Answer

You should get about 50 to 55 fps on stock clock with those settings, everything else on ultra, full AA at 1080p.  Can't speak to higher resolutions because my monitor is only 1080p.

Question 6

Can I upgrade a Gateway DX4320-04e with this card (and a bigger PSU)?

Here are the complete specifications of that system:

Features/Specifications:
Gateway DX4320-04E Phenom II X6 1035T 2.6 GHz Desktop System

General Features:
Color: Black
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1 pre-installed w/CoA
AMD Phenom II X6 1035T 2.6 GHz Quad-core processor
6 GB DDR3 RAM 
1 TB (terabyte) SATA hard drive
DVD±RW DL drive
ATI Radeon HD5450 PCI Express graphics card installed
Integrated audio
Multi-in-one digital media card reader with Photo Frame Button (instantly turns on slideshow)
Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet
Digital device dock on top of system with two USB 2.0 ports - convenient place to rest a digital camera or MP3 player when connected to your PC  
Keyboard and mouse included

Supported Digital Media:
CompactFlash (Type I and II)
CF+ Microdrive
MultiMediaCard (MMC)
HC MMC plus
HC MMCmobile
MMCplus
MMCmobile
Reduced-Size MultiMediaCard (RS-MMC)
Secure Digital (SD)
miniSDHC Card
miniSD Card
microSD Card
SmartMedia
Memory Stick
Memory Stick PRO
Memory Stick Duo
Memory Stick PRO Duo

Motherboard Features:
One (1) PCIe x 16 slot (occupied)
Two (2) PCIe x 1 slots
One (1) PCI slot
Four (4) DDR3 240-pin DIMM slots (occupied)
Six (6) SATA ports (two occupied)

Front I/O Ports:
Five (5) memory card slots
Four (4) USB 2.0 (two on top with device dock)
One (1) Headphone out 3.5 mm jack
One (1) Microphone in 3.5 mm jack

Rear I/O Ports:
Two (2) PS/2 ports
Six (6) USB 2.0 ports
One (1) RJ-45 Ethernet jack
One (1) Audio in 3.5 mm jack
One (1) Audio out 3.5 mm jack
One (1) HDMI port (on system)
One (1) HDMI port (on video card)
One (1) DVI port (on video card)
One (1) VGA port (on video card)

Case Features:
Two (2) 5.25-inch external drive bays (one occupied)
Three (3) 3.5-inch internal drive bays (one occupied)
300W power supply (100-127V/220-240V ~ 7/3.5A, 50/60Hz)

Case Dimensions:
15.5 x 7.0 x 16-inches (H x W x D, approximate)

Accepted Answer

Yes - you have a PCIe x 16 slot; so this card will work (though would work a hair better on a PCI 3.0 motherboard) - but honestly you'd likely not even notice a difference.

You will need to measure the space inside your case as the card is huge.  At almost 12" long you'll need to make sure you can use up that amount of space across from the PCI slot; my case is bigger and I had to rearrange my HD and a fan to free up enough space in front of the card.  You'll will loose access to at least one of the close PCIe x 1 slot as the card is double-wide.  Depending on how cramped, you could loose both.

As you mentioned, you'll need a new power supply -  a 700W power supply would be enough, but wouldn't go less...  You should also consider if your case needs an upgrade to intake/exhuast fans, as this card can generate a lot of heat when using ~ 300W of power.

The biggest question IMO, is if the card will even fit in your case.

Question 7

can this card be used on a dell xps 8700 as upgrade ?

Accepted Answer

In addition to upgrade the PSU, it will barely fit into the case with its massive length and high

Question 8

has anyone crossfired this card?

Accepted Answer

You'll get about 80% increase in performance give or take depending on the game. You do not need any special cables to crossfire this card. Just plug it in and all communication happens via the PCI-E port. If you intend to play in 4K this is almost a must because 4K is EXTREMELY demanding. If your looking to play GTAV in 1080p Ultra this card by it's self is more then enough but you might want another for 1440.

Question 9

I noticed that it said for memory type DDR5, does DDR3 ram work with this card?

Accepted Answer

The GDDR5 RAM you see is the RAM that is in the graphics card itself. The DDR3 RAM you have on your computer won't really matter all that much with the video card. What is more important than the type of memory you have on your computer is whether your motherboard can support the graphics card and whether your power supply has enough wattage to power this graphics card. Since this model can draw up to 300 Watts, you may need a power supply of at least 750 Watts to safely power your system.

You may have seen GDDR3 and GDDR5 RAM on graphics cards while shopping. The short difference is that GDDR5 RAM give about twice the boost that GDDR3 does per, assuming the core clock and bit rate are equal. (GDDR3 can go up to 128 bit, while GDDR5 I see has 512 bit, but I do not know the cap.)

Question 10

can someone recommend a compatible power supply for under 100$ ?

Accepted Answer

Corsair CX600. I have the 750 watt version and it works perfectly. Just make sure it is the 80+ bronze version, which pretty much means that there will be less energy going to waste.

Questions & Answers