Any good Graphics cards for a mini tower PC

[Asghar75]

My GirlFriend recently started playing Wow. She has an Acer mini tower. While it is not amazing, it has a good processor and tons of ram. The weakness is in its integrated Video. It has a PCI Express slot and I wanted to upgrade to a decent Video card, but find that getting one to fit will be a problem. Anyone have any suggestions on a decent video card for a mini tower???

 

[jaguarskx]

Two questions:

1. Is it a slimline or not? A make and model would help.

2. How much power can the Power supply provide? Are you able to post a picture of the sticker or provide any information about the 12v rail from the sticker.


Here's an example of a PSU's sticker:

 

[Asghar75]

My GirlFriend recently started playing Wow. She has an Acer mini tower. While it is not amazing, it has a good processor and tons of ram. The weakness is in its integrated Video. It has a PCI Express slot and I wanted to upgrade to a decent Video card, but find that getting one to fit will be a problem. Anyone have any suggestions on a decent video card for a mini tower???

Here is the info on the Tower, I would expect to have to upgrade the PS, and Video card as it is a small PS. I believe this is what is called a slim line.

General
· Type Personal computer
· Product Form Factor Small form factor
· Built-in Devices LED indicator
· Width 10.4 in
· Depth 12.4 in
· Height 3.9 in
· Localization United States
· Desktop type Small-form-factor PC
Processor
· Type AMD Athlon X2 5000+ / 2.6 GHz
· Multi-Core processor technology Dual-Core
· 64-bit processor Yes
Cache Memory
· Type L2 cache
· Installed Size 1 MB
· Cache Per Processor 1 MB
Mainboard
· Chipset type NVIDIA GeForce 8200
RAM
· Installed Size 4 GB / 4 GB (max)
· Technology DDR2 SDRAM
· RAM form factor DIMM 240-pin
· RAM configuration features 2 x 2 GB
Storage Controller
· Type 1 x Serial ATA - Integrated
· Controller interface type Serial ATA-300
Storage
· Hard Drive 1 x 320 GB - Standard - Serial ATA-300
Graphics Controller
· Type Integrated
· Graphics Processor / Vendor NVIDIA GeForce 8200
Expansion / Connectivity
· Expansion Bays Total (Free) 4 ( 3 ) x Internal - 3.5" x 1/3H , 2 ( 1 ) x Front accessible - 3.5" x 1/3H , 2 ( 1 ) x Front accessible - 5.25" x 1/2H
· Expansion Slots Total (Free) 1 ( 0 ) x Processor , Memory - DIMM 240-pin , 1 ( 1 ) x PCI , 1 ( 1 ) x PCI Express x16
· Interfaces 1 x Network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T - RJ-45 , 1 x Display / video - VGA - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15) , 1 x Microphone - Input - Mini-phone 3.5 mm , 1 x Headphones - Line-out - Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm , 1 x Display / video - HDMI , 1 x IEEE 1394 (FireWire) , 1 x Storage - eSATA , 5 x Audio , 9 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 pin USB Type A ( 5 in front ) , 1 x Keyboard - Generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style) , 1 x Mouse - Generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style)
Power
· Power device type Power supply
· Power provided

 

[jyjjy]

You need to answer the questions asked. Give us the make and model and tell us how many +12v amps the psu claims to have on the chart located on its side.

 

[tinmann]

If it's 3.9 inches in height then it must lay on it's side and if it's 12.4 inches in depth then you really limited in your choices of Muscle Cards. I have a mini tower and it's 15.4 inches from face plate to rear panel and the Nivida 9 series low profile was a tight fit. Open it up and measure how but space you PCI-E slot allows from rear panel to the closet obstruction like : DVD-rom drive, Hard drive catty, etc. The Nvidia 9500 GT is only 6.75 inches long everything else is 9 inches and up.

 

[jaguarskx]

Okay based on the 3.9" height you have a slimline case which means you are limited to low profile video card. The bracket on a full size video card is over 4.5" tall.

The low profile 9800GT is the most powerful video card you can buy. Off the top of my head, the 9800GT probably consumes about 80w of power. You should probably buy a 350w power supply.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187061

 

[AKM880]

Also there are the 4650 LP if you don't want to go that expensive.

Sapphire HD 4650 PCI-e x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102829

I'd expect that the PSU is either mATX, ATX or TFX. Since some Acer models are very small I cannot be sure.