What would you suggest?

[brandoneson]

Hey everyone, I'm not very smart when it comes to computers, so i thought i would ask you guys the best graphics card i can get for this computer that is maybe a little over $100, or maybe a little less. But that's the most I'm willing to spend.

My Computer Specs

Im upgrading to 2gigs of ram soon. I just want to get one that will let me play some TF2 and some CS:S. Don't really want to go overboard. So i thought i would get some suggestions. Thanks.

 

[godless]

well ur using pci express interface so you can pretty much get any modern graphic card. what will limit you is the power supply. the website doesn't list what the power supply is, the max wattage and how many amps on 12v rail it has. the amps is the limiting factor right now. not enough amps to a high end card and nothing happens. you would have to upgrade the power supply as well.

what you can do i take a picture of the power supply and the wattage break-up table that it has, and then post it here. this will let us know what is the max card that this computer can handle.

 

[godless]

but right now for the price you can get ati hd 4770

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121326

or the hd 4850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161259

with these cards, the bottleneck in your computer should be the processor.

 

[dndhatcher]

You need to see if you have any PCIE power connectors off of your power supply and what is wattage is. That may limit your choices severely.

 

[brandoneson]

Here's my power supply.

Power Supply Pic

 

[dndhatcher]

Its a 300W powers supply, I think. There might be a card that would work.
It has to be pciex16 ver1 not 2.0 and not require extra power. Im looking.

This 7600 is about as good as a 9500.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187072
I'm not sure how well it will play a game like counterstrike, though. You may have to play 800x600 with minimal graphics settings to get playable FPS.

 

[megamanx00]

You have 180W (15A) on the 12v rail. That's rather low. You need to get a new PSU if you want to run a decent card. If you can't afford to get a new PSU then your best bet is to go with an NVIDIA 9500GT. Anything more power hungry than that is pushing it.

 

[godless]

this is a 300watt power supply it can handle 15amps on 12v rail.

http://www.vgaforum.com/showthread.php?p=140837

this forum suggest that the 4770 only needs 10amps and 4850 needs 15. since you only have 15 amps on a cheap power supply, i would definitely recommend the 4770 as the best choice for you.

 

[dndhatcher]

Does the 12v rail matter on a GPU that does not have its own power cable? All the power is coming though the motherboard, isnt that one of the other rails? The 12v rail would be the HDD/CD/Floppy?

A 4800 series is not an option, he doesnt have any PCIE power cables.

 

[godless]

no pcie power cable? try to get the adapter for it. costs only a couple bucks.

 

[dndhatcher]

The 4770 specs I see say it needs one power cable.

The ATI Radeon 4670 seems to be the most powerful card I can find that doesnt require an extra power cable.

 

[brandoneson]

so i should get these and i'm good to go?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121326

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812201004&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Cables-_-APEVIA+CORP.-_-12201004

 

[godless]

this webiste suggests that there is a pcie power cord

http://www.supernotebook.com/power-supply.php?psupart=2656

 

[godless]

yeah in any case i'd use the power adapter.

 

[dndhatcher]

I would decisvely say "maybe". The PSU is so questionable. If the CD comes on while you are playing a game it may overload. Then again everything may work fine.

Though if that PSU does actually have a 6pin PCIE adapter I would say its likely to work.

 

[godless]

branDONEson, can you check if you have a pcie power connector from your motherboard. this will answer your question.

 

[godless]

heres a power calculator that you can use to find out if your power supply will handle the new system with 4770.

http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

 

[brandoneson]

Wait, the 4770 is PCI-E x16 2.0 and i don't have a 2.0.

 

[dndhatcher]

It will still work, just wont be as fast as uit would on a 2.0 motherboard.

 

[brandoneson]

http://img406.imageshack.us/i/img0359n.jpg/

http://img402.imageshack.us/i/img0360y.jpg/

those are the only two plugs that weren't plugged in.

 

[godless]

well 4770 is 40nm gpu, it uses very little power. if you can;t power it up, through the pcie power adapter and your power supply, then you will have to get a new one.

 

[imrul]

yup...

 

[brandoneson]

cant i get one of these adapters to get it to work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/10%22-PCI-Express-12V-Power-Cable-4-Pin-IDE-to-6-Pin_W0QQitemZ200352420266QQcmdZViewItem

 

[redwine01]

@ brandoneson yes u can use that adapter to get it work and u can run 4770 with that psu.

 

[godless]

yep just use that adapter