Radeon HD 5450 suitable for Aspire X1301?

[Sully2112]

So I've done a fair bit of research into this and I just wanted to verify a few things with this community, being that its the place I kept coming back to throughout my research.

At present I'm running the a slim town desktop (Acer Aspire X1301) as bought from a store a few years back i.e. No mods made. The display I put the desktop through has a resolution of 1440x900.

Short breakdown of specs for X1301:
Processor: AMD Athlon II X2 215
RAM: 3GB
Gaphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9200 (256 MB)

Now my main aim of the research was to find out if I could upgrade this system somehow to be able to run SimCity. From "CanYouRunIt" I found that the graphics card was the main thing letting me down i.e. falling behind minimum spec (which is what I want. I'm not bothered about running it to the max).

Through further investigation, I found out that the motherboard has an PCI-express x16 port but only a low-profile card could be used due to the towers size. I came across (on various different forums) the Radeon ATI HD 5450 being suggested as an upgrade for this very system, although some said it wont work as the manufacturer recommends a 400w supply whilst others said the maximum power draw from the 5450 was only 20w.

So, my questions:
Will the 5450 work well for SimCity?
Will the 5450 work for my system (in term of power)?
Will the power used by the system differ depending on which model of the card I install (by model I mean 512MB version or the 1GB version)?

Thanks,
Sully

 

[BadPeteNo]

The 5450 is an older card intended for fanless home theater rigs. I checked the specs, and you'll need to make sure you have the low profile version of this card (I think they all are but I'm not sure). For example:

See how the VGA connector is on a cable? The silver bracket comes off, and they give you two small ones. The VGA connector goes in the second one, allowing it to fit into two low profile slots.


In my experience, they draw very little power. I don't know what version of simcity you want to run. Can you post the link to the minimum requirements?

I put one of these cheapo cards in a friends thin station so they could run a game that required shader 3. As far as 512mb or 1gb, they're both cheap so just get the 1gb. It won't make much difference as it's only a 64bit card, which is pretty wimpy. The advantage is that it shouldn't require a PSU upgrade. Another nice perk of this card is HDMI and dual monitors for super cheap.

Should this work? Probably, but I'd need a link to the minimum requirements of your game to be certain.

 

[Sully2112]

I see what your're saying. I'll go for the 1GB model then. Its was the new SimCity game (specs https://help.ea.com/uk/article/simcity-system-requirements )
I'm only targeting this particular card as it was the one that was mentioned the most. I guess the only thing only holding me back in terms of which card to choose (besides size) is the power consumption. So if you could provide any alternative...

PSU of the system is 220W if I didnt say

 

[BadPeteNo]

220 is pretty skimpy, you may run into problems. It SHOULD work as you'll be replacing your existing card. What is your CPU model number? At a glance, it's right on the edge of what will work. The system I put this card into had a 220W PSU, and it's barely enough (but it also has a second hard drive and powers several usb devices).

 

[Sully2112]

http://i49.tinypic.com/352qltt.png

Didn't quite know what you were referring to, anyway this is the CPU tab from CPU-Z.
Interesting you say that, I'm also running two different hard drives (one form backups) and several USBs like keyboard, nertwork adaptars and such.
What makes you say "barely enough"? in other words, what did you notice when you installed it?
From what I've read, the 5450 is a considerable upgrade from the GeForce 9200.

 

[BadPeteNo]

Take a look at this site.

Is the GeForce 9200 a physical card or is it integrated? If it's an actual card, then you're freeing up power by removing it, which should give you the breathing room for the 5450.

Sorry, it's hard for me to wrap my head around the idea of a 5450 as an upgrade...

 

[Sully2112]

Think that link you posted may be broken...

The GeForce 9200 is integrated.

I understand you're confusion. Even if I was able to age install the 5450, the difference wouldn't be much to right home about, but from what I've read it would run SimCity better than the integrated 9200, which is what I'm trying to manage.

 

[BadPeteNo]

I'm kinda thinking you're right about that link. Go to cpu-world.com and search for AMD Athlon II X2 215. It will tell you that your chip is kinda weak. The main thing you need a new card for is higher shader model support. This card will do that. It's power requirements are quite minimal, but 220 isn't a lot to work with. I say 'go for it', but you may find your PSU isn't up to the challenge.

 

[Sully2112]

I know my system isn't anyway close to a gaming PC. It's just as well im not looking to play CoD or something like that.

I thank I will. It's only £20 on eBay from what I've seen. If the PSU cant handle it then i'll throw it up on eBay myself haha. Thanks for the help

 

[Sully2112]

Thought I'd let people know, the card came today. Running it through VGA. Everything seems fine so far. Drivers are installed. CanYouRunIt says I can run SimCity now, which is what I wanted (Now I just have to buy it). Ended up getting my hands on it for £12, which I think is a steal in anybody's book.

 

[Darren Walsh]

i have the aspire x1301, mine is the amd ii x4 2.6 model....still only 220watt psu and i have the hd 5450 1gb graphics card in it.....it runs fine for what you want it for. I am currently working out whether i can put my pc into a bigger case with a bigger psu so i can upgrade to a bigger graphics card.....Any thoughts greatfully received.

 

[BadPeteNo]

Darren:

I know you don't intend to be rude, but it's generally frowned upon to post your own question on someone's similar thread. The rules of conduct define this as hijacking a post. The correct thing to do is to start your own thread in the correct forum.

I suggest you post a thread in the systems/prebuilt forum and call it 'advice on acer aspire x1301 upgrade'. Make sure to check the "Request solutions to this Question (not a discussion)" box so that you can give credit to whoever gives you the best answer.

EDIT Got so caught up playing courtesy police I forgot to be courteous.

Sully: Glad to hear it works! The price you paid seems fair leaning toward steal. I paid $25 each for two about 18 months ago (they were already old then). What's really a steal is that you get HDMI and your game without any other upgrades.

Enjoy sim city.