Can someone recommend a decent GPU that will run off a 300W PS?

[Chubby215]

So I'm in a pickle here. I've been laid off from work for awhile now and my gaming laptop bit the dust. I've built some Tower Rigs in the past and dug out an older one with a 300W power supply to find that the GPU is fried. I spent $90 on a 650W PS to be sure it was the card and not the fact it wasn't getting enough power. It's the card. I can't afford a great GPU now that I purchased the PS and I'm having withdraw from not being able to play SWTOR and Neverwinter. I've been researching cards that don't require a 6PIN Power supply running into it and I'm just overwhelmed at this point with conflicting info. What I'd like to do is return the PS and use the $$ to get a pretty decent GPU that would run on my old 300W PS that I still have and will work well with SWTOR and Neverwinter. I could perhaps afford around $50 for a card that will run with the new PS but for $50 I could probably get a decent card that would run off my old 300W PS no? It's an older MB with a PCI slot running an Intel Core 2 Quad 9300 with 8gb or RAM. An HDMI out would also be pretty nice so I can patch into my Samsung 4k SUHD TV for Ultra Gaming Fun. Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[drkatz42]

an rx 460 for around $80 or a bit more oomph with a gtx 1050 for around $100

 

[aquielisunari]

I'm confused. You spent $90 on a PSU that doesn't have any PCIe supplemental power cables? Why? I guess how is a bit more specific. How long ago did someone rob you of $90? Can you get the money back from that thief? For 90 a PSU with 2 x 8 pin PCIe cables can be found. If you can turn back the hands of time and make a better choice I would then direct you to the second hand market. The same applies for $50. That's pretty much useless in retail stores.

 

[Onus]

I'm confused. You spent $90 on a PSU that doesn't have any PCIe supplemental power cables? Why? I guess how is a bit more specific. How long ago did someone rob you of $90? Can you get the money back from that thief? For 90 a PSU with 2 x 8 pin PCIe cables can be found. If you can turn back the hands of time and make a better choice I would then direct you to the second hand market. The same applies for $50. That's pretty much useless in retail stores.

The way I read it, he replaced the PSU thinking that was the culprit, but it wasn't. So, he wants to return the PSU, and put the money toward the best card he can get that will run on a 300W PSU; how many PCIe cables the 650W PSU has, or anything about its quality, won't enter into the decision because it is being returned.
The best card that will run on a 300W PSU is probably a GTX1050Ti that doesn't have a PCIe power connection; some do, so you'll need to check the particular model. Personally, I have the Zotac model, but I'm running it on a 450W PSU just because that's what I have.
That card may exceed your limited budget (~$140-$150), so you might look for a GTX1050 or GTX950. Once again, not all of these cards lack a PCIe power connection. If that's still too rich, a GTX750Ti might be a viable choice. Most of those don't need PCIe power, but a few do. I haven't looked at all the RX 460 models, so I'm not sure how many of them, if any, don't need PCIe power. If you find one that doesn't, it's also a good choice, similar in performance to the GTX1050 or GTX950.
Edit: The only part not clear to me is what kind of slots you have. If you're limited to PCI (not PCIe), I'll need to check listings, but you may not find anything decent. Given that your CPU is a few generations old, the cheapest selection I named, the GTX750Ti, would probably be the best match for it.

 

[aquielisunari]

I'm confused. You spent $90 on a PSU that doesn't have any PCIe supplemental power cables? Why? I guess how is a bit more specific. How long ago did someone rob you of $90? Can you get the money back from that thief? For 90 a PSU with 2 x 8 pin PCIe cables can be found. If you can turn back the hands of time and make a better choice I would then direct you to the second hand market. The same applies for $50. That's pretty much useless in retail stores.

The way I read it, he replaced the PSU thinking that was the culprit, but it wasn't. So, he wants to return the PSU, and put the money toward the best card he can get that will run on a 300W PSU; how many PCIe cables the 650W PSU has, or anything about its quality, won't enter into the decision because it is being returned.
The best card that will run on a 300W PSU is probably a GTX1050Ti that doesn't have a PCIe power connection; some do, so you'll need to check the particular model. Personally, I have the Zotac model, but I'm running it on a 450W PSU just because that's what I have.
That card may exceed your limited budget (~$140-$150), so you might look for a GTX1050 or GTX950. Once again, not all of these cards lack a PCIe power connection. If that's still too rich, a GTX750Ti might be a viable choice. Most of those don't need PCIe power, but a few do. I haven't looked at all the RX 460 models, so I'm not sure how many of them, if any, don't need PCIe power. If you find one that doesn't, it's also a good choice, similar in performance to the GTX1050 or GTX950.
Edit: The only part not clear to me is what kind of slots you have. If you're limited to PCI (not PCIe), I'll need to check listings, but you may not find anything decent. Given that your CPU is a few generations old, the cheapest selection I named, the GTX750Ti, would probably be the best match for it.

Had to answer before coffee didn't I

 

[eyupo92]

I am sorry that you lost your job, hope you can get one very soon.

All the answers above are good and I have a 4K TV and Sapphire RX 460 4 GB card connected to a Ryzen 7 1700 system that does not require a PCIe power cable and runs straight from the PCIe bus. You can forget to have "4K ultra gaming fun", the performance will be too low for that.

However, none of the above answers will mean a thing unless you post a picture of your 300W PSU's label - the one that lists the model number, rails, voltages, amperes etc in a table format.

If the PSU is below ATX 2.0 standard, then most likely it will not be able to output more than 65% efficiency and the 12V rail will be overloaded and the variation in voltage/amperes on 12V rail will make it very unstable . A 300W PSU with ATX 1.2 or 1.3 will not be able to get the job done properly - a proper 300W ATX 2.0 PSU or a 390W Coolermaster ATX 1.3 PSU could do.

Also, is the slot PCI or PCIe ? PCI GPUs were replaced with AGP GPUs and they were replaced by PCIe GPU's. A PCI GPU should be more than 12 years old.