Help me pick the right card

[Ironman5000]

I just want a simple upgrade for a simple computer and i've never done it before, so need someone with a bit of know how to stop me buying a card that will either blow up the computer, make it worse, or not even fit the motherboard

 

My specs:

Acer Aspire X3450

AMD Athalon II X4 645 processor, 3100 mhz, 4 cores, 4 logical processors

AMD Radeon HD 4250

6gb DDR3

2tb hard drive

 

What i'm looking for (judging from what I found through other forums this is the best I can get for the physical size of the motherboard as it isn't a proper "tower", and I won't have to mess about with a replacement PSU - ref: http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120404115727AAZH8oV) is to swap the 4250 card for a 6450, sure it's old but apparently this isn't a proper gaming pc and i've had to settle for lower setting on my games but i'm hoping this will improve things slightly for me.

 

Here is a list of some, could someone tell me if any of these might be incompatible with my cpu, or give a suggestion of the best card available without replacing everything?

[Werne]

That's an old Yahoo question you posted there, there are newer cards nowadays. 6450 is not much of an upgrade over 4250, 6450 will be faster but it won't bring much since it's a card for low-end systems that lack integrated graphics and HTPCs.

 

If it has to be low-profile, then my suggestion would be the 7750, it's a 55W TDP card that is way more powerful than 6450 and your PSU should be able to handle it fairly well, it's a tad longer than your 4250 but I don't think that should be a problem (then again, I haven't seen your case on the inside, so I can't say for sure). Has to be a low-profile though, like this Sapphire 7750, and not a standard dual-slot 7750.

 

It's higher in price than the 6450 (it's 100$), but it's quite a bit faster than 6450 as well (some 400%).

 

For a case that can't fit a dual-slot or a thicker card, a low-profile 7750 is the best card that I can think of, maybe Nvidia has something for you too but I don't know.

Edited October 17, 2013 by Werne

[Thor.]

I found one for you Ironman5000, it might just do the trick, just under 100$.

 

the radeon hd 7750 can go dirt cheap if you look around on your local online dealers.

 

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2056289&CatId=7387

 

amazon especially. 90$

 

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-PCI-Express-Graphics-11202-00-20G/dp/B007B5V614/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382054904&sr=8-1&keywords=Radeon+HD+7750

 

a two gb version, same price.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009SPJ8FG/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i7?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0R0PPE9AVTSJKX6HVDAQ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1630083502&pf_rd_i=507846

Edited October 18, 2013 by Thor.

[Rennn]

I agree with Thor and Werne. A low-profile 7750 would likely be your best option, if it fits.

You could also go with a GTX 650 for slightly better performance, but that also comes with a slightly elevated power draw and width, which you may not want to risk.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130827

 

It's probably better just to go with a 7750, especially since you're already used to AMD drivers and optimization.

[Werne]

 

I found one for you Ironman5000, it might just do the trick, just under 100$.

 

the radeon hd 7750 can go dirt cheap if you look around on your local online dealers.

 

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2056289&CatId=7387

 

amazon especially. 90$

 

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-PCI-Express-Graphics-11202-00-20G/dp/B007B5V614/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382054904&sr=8-1&keywords=Radeon+HD+7750

 

a two gb version, same price.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009SPJ8FG/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i7?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0R0PPE9AVTSJKX6HVDAQ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1630083502&pf_rd_i=507846

 

Thor, think - low-profile is a single-slot card whose cooler shouldn't be higher than the front metal cover of the card. 7750s can be dirt cheap, but only the standard single/dual-slot cards, the low-profile 7750 is more expensive. From what I understand, his graphics card is likely inserted in the bottom-most slot on the case (judging by the mobo and approximate case size) and if so, a card with a larger cooler than a low-profile wouldn't fit in that case.

[Thor.]

I would go for the evga gtx650 then that atleast has gddr5 memory, and the performance would be better then a radeon 7750, and it doesn't have a cooler that looks to bulky, it might fit that case.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130827

Edited October 18, 2013 by Thor.

[Rennn]

I would go for the evga gtx650 then that atleast has gddr5 memory, and the performance would be better then a radeon 7750, and it doesn't have a cooler that looks to bulky, it might fit that case.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130827

 

If those won't fit, or if the power draw is too high...

 

Galaxy does make an even smaller GT 640 GC. I've owned 2 Galaxy versions of Nvidia cards, and the GC designation usually means a 6-8% performance boost over stock. That's nothing to scoff at, though it will of course be weaker than the GTX 650 (with a lower power draw). Both the Galaxy cards I've owned cool ridiculously well and are easy to clean, which will help in such a compact case.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162113

Edited October 18, 2013 by Rennn

[Thor.]

If everything fails, you could go the way of the apu, if your mobo supports socket am3+.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113280

 

and if this card can fit that case of yours Ironman5000, you can crossfire it with the single slot 16x pci e card.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125430

 

the lowest profile fan model i could find.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121645

Edited October 18, 2013 by Thor.

[Werne]

Guys, the motherboard in question is a micro-ATX or a mini-ITX with a single PCI-E x16 slot and that shorty PCI-E x1 above it (unless I've been looking at the wrong mobo), not sure about the exact form-factor of the mobo, I suck at measuring those. The case is a tiny slimline form-factor and if it's built to house the mobo snugly (which it likely is, judging by the size of that thing), we're looking at a case that physically can't accept cards other than low-profile since the card would be blocked by the bottom of the case and couldn't be inserted into the PCI-E slot.

 

So the dual-slot cards (the ones taking up two back slots) and those with a cooler taller than the front single-slot cover are likely to not fit. As far as I can see, the mobo does have a VGA video output (the board I'm looking at) but since we're looking at a CPU without iGPU like Intel, I'd say the graphics chip is integrated into the board like on Intel's 775 mobos with G31/33 chipset. That would mean the APU wouldn't work without switching to an FM2 mobo of the same form factor.

 

And there's another limiting factor - a 220W PSU. GTX 650 draws a lot of power, the Athlon is 95W, add another 10-20W consumption of other components and there's a risk of blowing out the PSU or having issues with it.

 

However, without taking a peek inside the case, I can't say anything for sure, I can only guess. After seeing the pic of that mobo, and reading the Yahoo answer, I'd say I'm more or less correct in my assumptions, but I can be wrong since the motherboard could be larger, the case could be larger, and/or the PSU could deliver more power.

 

Me thinks Ironman didn't crack open the case to see what can and can't fit, so we're basically firing a shotgun in a dark room hoping to hit the right thing.

[Thor.]

We need exact power draw from each component of the pc in question, everything from memory to hd to cpu, although we already figured that one out. So we could squeeze in as much power as we can.

 

this site can help you if you have problems figuring it out :smile:

 

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

Edited October 18, 2013 by Thor.