Looking for Low budget but compatible Graphics Card. Gateway GT5436E

[jmcom111]

Gateway GT5436E.
I am planning to run Solidworks at home for practice. Don't have a lot of money to spend for a new desktop so I want to upgrade. I will increase ram to it's max of 8GB. Now need to add a graphics card. What can I add that will be acceptable?

 

[TopLuca]

What is the budget ?

 

[delaro]

FX1800, you can pick them up on Ebay for cheap, that should work fine with your system provided you are running SolidWorks 2012. I have both 2012 and 2014 on my PC and the newer version is a bigger resource hog when you get into more than a 4 layer layout.

SolidWorks isn't so much dependent on your GPU, it is CPU bound so a higher clock rate and more cores work wonders on big layouts. Dropping your money on a GPU over $100 wont net you a huge increase in performance over dropping $40-$80 on a Quad CPU with a high clock.

FX1800 ~$10-$40 "Will need to pass the compatibility test"
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xfx1800&_nkw=fx1800&_sacat=0

Q6600 ~$40
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=fx1800&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xq6600&_nkw=q6600&_sacat=0

By the way you can pick up a older workstation of ebay for around the $400 mark that will handle even the newer Solid works nice and fluid should you want to spend the money later.

 

[jmcom111]

What workstation are you suggesting? $400. I'd do that. Have monitors and KB and mouse so not worried about that.

FX1800, you can pick them up on Ebay for cheap, that should work fine with your system provided you are running SolidWorks 2012. I have both 2012 and 2014 on my PC and the newer version is a bigger resource hog when you get into more than a 4 layer layout.

SolidWorks isn't so much dependent on your GPU, it is CPU bound so a higher clock rate and more cores work wonders on big layouts. Dropping your money on a GPU over $100 wont net you a huge increase in performance over dropping $40-$80 on a Quad CPU with a high clock.

FX1800 ~$10-$40 "Will need to pass the compatibility test"
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xfx1800&_nkw=fx1800&_sacat=0

Q6600 ~$40
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=fx1800&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xq6600&_nkw=q6600&_sacat=0

By the way you can pick up a older workstation of ebay for around the $400 mark that will handle even the newer Solid works nice and fluid should you want to spend the money later.

 

[jmcom111]

Thanks Delaro
All good info. Sending me on the right track to upgrade.

 

[delaro]

This is a great starter Workstation and handles SolidWorks, MasterCam, DelCam, AutoCad just fine.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Z400-Workstation-Xeon-Quad-Core-W3565-3-2GHz-8GB-1TB-DVDRW-Windows-7-Pro-/151208282293?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item2334b748b5


$369.95
HP Z400
Xeon Quad-Core W3565 3.2GHz
8GB ram
1TB HD
FX1800 768MB
DVDRW
Windows 7 Pro

Granted its on LGA 1366 but it still has upgrade potential and for a workstation the price is good.

 

[jmcom111]

I like that one. I also looked at this one
http://www.ebay.com/itm/251627679121?ssPageName=STRK:MEDWX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1435.l2649

Would it be suitable? I bid but didn't follow up.

 

[delaro]

Smaller hard drive, 2 Core CPU and socket 1156. Socket 1366 has a better line of CPU upgrades. Both systems will work but the one I listed using the LGA 1366 socket will last a little longer.

 

[jmcom111]

I've been looking at tat one.
What do you think about this
http://www.ebay.com/itm/171412082519?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

This is a great starter Workstation and handles SolidWorks, MasterCam, DelCam, AutoCad just fine.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Z400-Workstation-Xeon-Quad-Core-W3565-3-2GHz-8GB-1TB-DVDRW-Windows-7-Pro-/151208282293?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item2334b748b5


$369.95
HP Z400
Xeon Quad-Core W3565 3.2GHz
8GB ram
1TB HD
FX1800 768MB
DVDRW
Windows 7 Pro

Granted its on LGA 1366 but it still has upgrade potential and for a workstation the price is good.

 

[jmcom111]

Thanks. I did buy that workstation. Should arrive Monday, Sept15. I'll post how it works out.

 

[delaro]

I have one very similar at work running Solidworks 2012, Delcam and Autocad 2012. For the price it does a great job, the only upgrades I did was add more ram and a SSD. It was $480 then on EBAY.

 

[jmcom111]

I'm putting it together now but ran into a Monitor plug issue. Sorry, don't know the connectors well. I have a flat screen monitor with the shorter plug connector. The computer has the longer one. I thought I had the adapter. There is an adapter isn't there?

 

[delaro]

Looks like you have a old monitor.

DVI to VGA adapters
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=dvi-i+to+vga+adaptor&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=36168215080&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10688622023845807810&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_2sbn2fsr3t_b

You should be able to pick one up at Best Buy or a local computer store, those normally come with most monitors nowadays.