Adding graphic card to old desktop

[randolphus]

I have a HP Pavillion a6157c PC.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documentSubCategory?tmp_rule=50668&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=3451988

The PSU is 250 watts.

I'm looking for an inexpensive card <80$ to add to it to run TF2, Skyrim, Dota2 at modest settings (1440x900 @ low medium).

Cards that I've looked at so far are:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125403

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=43_557_559&item_id=053307

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/evga-com-evga-geforce-gt-630-1gb-ddr3-pci-e-video-card-01g-p3-2631-kr-01g-p3-2631-kr/10216207.aspx?path=347f55bfa30b68d4bbaf30ae6f7d252ben02

My main concerns are the power supply and if the graphic card will fit in the case.

Thanks!

 

[blazorthon]

Your PSU is dangerously weak. It'll need replacement if you intend to get a discrete gaming card, even a very low end card such as a 6670. Also, it's against forums rules to bump posts. It's probably fine to add in more info as required, but it's not okay to just bump.

 

[dingo07]

1- don't bump your posts
2- no video card u can add to that computer will allow you to play those games with decent video settings
3-save for a new machine with newer technology

 

[randolphus]

Sorry, didn't realize the rules on bumping.

When I did a search before I saw that some people had success running 6670/lower power discrete GPUs on 250 watts.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/356751-33-radeon-6450-250w

Are there good "bang for the buck" GPUs that will satisfy my requirements?

 

[ikes9711]

I have tried to duplicate your build in pcpartpicker if you click on the link you should see that your computer will only draw around 180W with the 6670 in it which uses the most power... so you will not need a new psu
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ESpE
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ESpE/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ESpE/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 2.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($62.00 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Intel DQ45EK Mini ITX LGA775 Motherboard ($55.97 @ Compuvest)
Memory: Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800 Memory ($33.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.99 @ Microcenter)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 6670 1GB Video Card ($85.66 @ Newegg)
Total: $285.61
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-20 22:21 EST-0500)
As for what I would recommend here is a chart for gpu performance on Crysis 2. Go for the 6670

 

[blazorthon]

Radeon 7750, it'll probably be fine with your PSU, but the Radeon 6670 would not be safe with it IMO.

@ikes9711 pcpartpicker's PSU suggestion tool is pretty bad. It fails to take into account anything other than wattage. Unfortunately, wattage doesn't matter these days because aggregate wattage is irrelevant since only +12V rails are in heavy use and how a PSU's wattage is rated varies between different models, making it a useless metric for comparisons.

I suggest getting a Radeon 7750. It's only a little bit more expensive than the 6670 GDDR5 but it uses much less power in addition to having much better performance.

 

[randolphus]

I have tried to duplicate your build in pcpartpicker if you click on the link you should see that your computer will only draw around 180W with the 6670 in it which uses the most power... so you will not need a new psu
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ESpE
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ESpE/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ESpE/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 2.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($62.00 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Intel DQ45EK Mini ITX LGA775 Motherboard ($55.97 @ Compuvest)
Memory: Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800 Memory ($33.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.99 @ Microcenter)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 6670 1GB Video Card ($85.66 @ Newegg)
Total: $285.61
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-20 22:21 EST-0500)
As for what I would recommend here is a chart for gpu performance on Crysis 2. Go for the 6670

Thanks! The motherboard I have is P5LP-LE which is apparently a micro-ATX. Do you think I will have to buy a small profile variant of the graphic card or will the normal one work?

 

[randolphus]

Radeon 7750, it'll probably be fine with your PSU, but the Radeon 6670 would not be safe with it IMO.

@ikes9711 pcpartpicker's PSU suggestion tool is pretty bad. It fails to take into account anything other than wattage. Unfortunately, wattage doesn't matter these days because aggregate wattage is irrelevant since only +12V rails are in heavy use and how a PSU's wattage is rated varies between different models, making it a useless metric for comparisons.

I suggest getting a Radeon 7750. It's only a little bit more expensive than the 6670 GDDR5 but it uses much less power in addition to having much better performance.

Thanks for the reply! The 7750 is a bit pricier than I would like, is there an older generation equivalent of the lower TDP GPUs from ATI or NVidia?

 

[blazorthon]

Yeah, the Radeon 5550... But it kinda sucks. Nvidia has nothing in your price range worth considering.

 

[randolphus]

Yeah, the Radeon 5550... But it kinda sucks. Nvidia has nothing in your price range worth considering.

I was just looking at the 6450, is that better than 5550?

 

[blazorthon]

The 5550 is much faster than the 6450.

 

[randolphus]

Best answer selected by randolphus.

 

[blazorthon]

Sorry that we couldn't get you a more ideal card recommendation 🙁

Still, the 5550 should at least be playable. The 6450 might struggle in some of those games even at minimum everything.

 

[blazorthon]

Hold on- I found something that you might really like:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162113&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

This GT 640 performs comparably well to the Radeon 6670 GDDR5, yet it consumes comparable power to the Radeon 7750 (a little bit less IIRC). It is $80 and is way faster than a Radeon 5550 while consuming a little less power.

 

[randolphus]

Hold on- I found something that you might really like:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162113&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

This GT 640 performs comparably well to the Radeon 6670 GDDR5, yet it consumes comparable power to the Radeon 7750 (a little bit less IIRC). It is $80 and is way faster than a Radeon 5550 while consuming a little less power.

Nice! I haven't bought anything yet but I'll keep this one in mind. This months rebates deadline seems to be coming up so I might wait to buy the card next month which will let me get more time for rebate. I'll update this once I get my new card.

Thanks again 😀

 

[blazorthon]

Again, glad to help. If you can afford it at the time, another $10 over this GT 640 would make a Radeon 7750 into your price range and it would be another big leap in graphics performance, but if not, I'd consider the GT 640 to at least be a very feasible entry level gaming card. Good luck

 

[randolphus]

Again, glad to help. If you can afford it at the time, another $10 over this GT 640 would make a Radeon 7750 into your price range and it would be another big leap in graphics performance, but if not, I'd consider the GT 640 to at least be a very feasible entry level gaming card. Good luck

Hey, just picked up the card over the weekend and everything works great! TF2, Dota2, Skyrim and GW2 all run well!

Thanks again for the help.