Heres my current system...
CPU/Processor: AMD Phenom 8750 Triple-Core Processor 2.4GHz
Motherboard: Asus M3A78-CM
Memory/RAM: (4x) Transcend JetRam 1 GB DDR2 memory
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar 320 GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache
Power supply/PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610w 80plus EPS12v
Windows 7 64x

I am upgrading from a 8800 to a 5850(I know, I know, the 6870 is cheaper and performs better, but its a christmas gift and its already wrapped), but I was just wondering if there is going to be any compatibility issues, from what I understand there shouldn't be, the card uses less power than my current one and my case is pretty big, so there shouldn't be any fitting issues.

---

Check to make sure your power supply has a 12v 40amp rail.

---

Just a quick note.  If your motherboard is ACC capable you can enable it to try to unlock the fourth core on that cpu. You would need to enter the bios and look around.   Doesn't always work but in my experience it does.  Also, you could try using something like AMD Overdrive to overclock as well.  If you have an aftermarket cpu cooler it shouldn't be a problem.  However if it is the stock cooler I would be very careful.

Just checked Newegg, no info on ACC for this board.  However some people have reported easy overclocking capabilities.

Those black edition triple core processors can be a heck of a deal when paired with the proper board.  Basically you would just hit a button to enable ACC to attempt to unlock the fourth core.  This can also be attempted on certain quad cores to try to unlock them to six cores.  Haven't read up on that much though.

Edit:  As you can see in the CPU-Z signature image I have pushed my quad core amd phenom II to 3.8.  This is running on air only.  So far it is stable, but as I was having crashing problems recently we shall see.  Basically I had to start the overclocking process again from scratch to try to alleviate the issues.  Though the problems appeared to have nothing to do with the different speeds I was testing as it happened at default speeds as well as overlocked.  Next up will be the video card.

Besides the 40 Amps on the 12V rail(s), it is suggested:  550 Watt minimum power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express power connectors.
   * System in IDLE = 168 Watts draw
   * System with GPU in FULL Stress = 348 Watts draw

So if you overclock your CPU at all I would be careful, especially since you also have your Hard Drive/s pulling some decent Wattage besides the CPU.

Also check to make sure that the new card will fit in your case!   I went from and Nvidia card to an ATI  card and had to Dremel my Hard Drive Cage get that sucker in there!

---

UFANS wrote (View Post):

Check to make sure your power supply has a 12v 40amp rail.

It's a single rail and as far as output, this is what I found

+3.3@24A,+5V@30A,+12V@49A (Large Single Rail),-12V@0.8A,+5VSB@3.0A

So does that mean I have 49 amps on the single rail?

tet wrote (View Post):

Just a quick note.  If your motherboard is ACC capable you can enable it to try to unlock the fourth core on that cpu. You would need to enter the bios and look around.   Doesn't always work but in my experience it does.  Also, you could try using something like AMD Overdrive to overclock as well.  If you have an aftermarket cpu cooler it shouldn't be a problem.  However if it is the stock cooler I would be very careful.

Just checked Newegg, no info on ACC for this board.  However some people have reported easy overclocking capabilities.

Those black edition triple core processors can be a heck of a deal when paired with the proper board.  Basically you would just hit a button to enable ACC to attempt to unlock the fourth core.  This can also be attempted on certain quad cores to try to unlock them to six cores.  Haven't read up on that much though.

Edit:  As you can see in the CPU-Z signature image I have pushed my quad core amd phenom II to 3.8.  This is running on air only.  So far it is stable, but as I was having crashing problems recently we shall see.  Basically I had to start the overclocking process again from scratch to try to alleviate the issues.  Though the problems appeared to have nothing to do with the different speeds I was testing as it happened at default speeds as well as overlocked.  Next up will be the video card.

I do have a CPU cooler but it is nothing elaborate, and I never knew about unlocking a 4th core on a triple core processor, is there any articles or anything around that I can read up on it? Also would it say on my mobo's box if it was ACC enabled?

As for Kulamonster, I have a Full Tower case, so theres at least 4 to 5 inches to spare, and thats with the 8800 in there which is a pretty beefy card in its on right, and yes the PSU does have 2 x PCI-E connections.

---

Power supply should be good to go.  I have a server case and the card did not give much room to play with.  If I remember right I had to move some hard drives around to get it to fit, but if you have a full case you should be good.

---