s » Computer Upgrades Computer Upgrades – A.W. Strunk A.W.Strunk

Computer Upgrades

January 17, 2013 By: Aaron

On the 15th I started to install my upgrades for my Gaming Desktop.

Sapphire HD 7770

Sapphire HD 7770

 

I bought a Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 video card to replace my old Radeon HD 5650 card.

IMG_20130115_181759

Radeon HD 5650

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I pulled out my old graphics card from my desktop and packed it away until I can figure out what I want to do with it. It’s a DDR5 card, and I’m not sure it will fit in my other 2 desktops. Both of those are older machines and I believe the motherboards on them are DDR3.

IMG_20130115_181529

PC internals with 5650

 

 

Everything was going smooth as I was replacing my old card and putting in this new behemoth that I just got.

New and Old card side by side

New and Old card side by side

 

 

 

 

New card installed in Desktop

New card installed in Desktop

 

 

 

 

It fit beautifully in my tower and had plenty of space for the extra power cable the card requires.

After the card was in and the case was closed up I began work on setting up my dual monitor mount on my desk.

 

Dual Monitor Mount

Dual Monitor Mount

I knew I wouldn’t be able to use the clamp on my desk when I purchased the mount. The drawers on my desk and the built in cable originizer on the desk made it too think. So I went through the process of drilling holes on the back side of the desk so I could bolt it down. I didn’t have any bolts/washers/nuts that were big enough for the mount, so I went to Ace Hardware around 7:30 in the evening and what do I find, a closed store. Needless to say I was disappointed. I now had to wait another full day to finish setting everything up.

Gaming Station in pieces

Gaming Station in pieces

Not only that, but since everything was torn apart, my computer was useless.

So, I had to wait.

The next day right after work I went to Ace Hardware to get the washers, nuts, and bolts that I needed to finish my desk. I took one of the bolts that came with the stand with me so I would know what size I had to work within.

I purchased 12 washers, that the original bolt fit into, I then got the same size bolts and nuts (4 of each). Needless to say my own folly was not checking the bolt with the washer.

When I got home I took the time to each dinner and make myself a drink. I then sat down to finish my desk and that is when I noticed that the bolts I had purchased did not fit in the holes of the mount. Quickly I put my jacket on and drove back to Ace in the hopes of getting there before they closed. When I arrived, the entire north side of the complex (where Ace is located) had no power. Frustrated, I was not about to go another night with out my computer finished so I drove all the way to Home Depot (about a 15 minute drive).

My new Dual Monitor mount

My new Dual Monitor mount

Lets just say I got the right bolts and nuts at Home Depot. I get back home and I had my desk back together in no time.

Now, here came the moment of truth, firing up my PC with the new video card in. I was looking forward to seeing my games run on the 7770, but….

As the computer was booting up I noticed that the BIOS info did not flash on both monitors, at first I didn’t think anything about it. Once my computer came up it started installing the drivers automatically and adjusting the settings and before long my DVI monitor was up and and everything was looking good. I then went to configure my resolution to use dual monitor and to enable my HDMI monitor.

Well, that should have been easy. Try as I may I could not get my HD Monitor displaying. I went as far as manually uninstalling all the AMD/ATI drivers, re-installing them and I even updated my BIOS.  After many hours on Wednesday night and a few hours Thursday morning I came to the realization that the HDMI port on the card wasn’t being detected, decided it was a faulty card and I contacted the seller to request an RMA.

After all that, I ended up putting my old video card back in just so I could use my computer. Hopefully I’ll hear back from the seller and I can get a replacement card pretty soon.

And that folks, is that.