What's the best graphics card for my system...

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
F

flavion3

Honorable
Jun 1, 2013
26
0
10,530
I have a Lenovo ThinkCentre M57 6072, 3GB ram, Core 2 Duo E6550 and it has a intel GMA 3100 integrated graphics chip\card(?). The psu is 280 watts. The case is a small form factor, so the card needs to be half the height, and i need a card that can replace my GMA 3100 and still be under the 280 watts. I just want to play GTA 4, i checked my computer on the 'canyourunit' website and everything passes except the graphics card. Are there any good cards? Thank you.
 
Solution
luckiest charm
Yeah .. I compared both of the cards and found out HD 5450 faster at the first time but didn't mentioned it as it was discontinued and you would have trouble finding it.

If you can find it, its the way to go. Go for it, its faster than GT 210. :)
Sort by date Sort by votes
According to this: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/evga_geforce_gtx_650_ti_boost_sc_review,4.html

The GTX 650Ti Boost only takes 219W in an i7 overclocked system at full load. Since you're using a Core 2 Duo, it would probably be much less.

Even though it says a 500W PSU minimum is required, it mathematically seems like you could get away with it (wattage wise)?

But then again you would need to check the rails of your PSU and stuff, and if it's not a good power supply, it might fail on those ends.

I would upgrade my PSU if I were you.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
No mate that won't work in any case. They say recommended because other components in a PC also use some power to run.
If the card went into its 100% (which it will go every single time he will run a normal game, or a software demanding for it) his system will crash? Or probably he won't even manage to get it in there.

I said GT 210 because it uses 31W and that should be no problem for it keeping in mind his other things as well. Its not just the GPU you have to take care of in a PC.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote


No, 219W was the system power usage in general, not only the card. Right under that it has a graph saying "Calculated card TDP in Watts", and the 650Ti Boost is listed as taking 133W on it's own.

According to http://www.anandtech.com/show/6838/nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti-boost-review-/2
the 650 Ti with an Intel Core i7-3960X @ 4.3GHz on an EVGA X79 SLI motherboard takes 289W under load (playing Battlefield 3). With a Core 2 Duo E6550, that number should be quite a bit lower, but it's still cutting it close I think.

On a side note, it's actually pretty hard to only measure the GPU power consumption alone. You pretty much need to measure the entire system's consumption and math out the GPU's consumption.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Man that is not possible in any case.
You can never fit in GTX 650 Ti in 280W PSU.

You should never calculate things on power used because that would first of all leave no space for any sort of upgrades, also PSU would be under full load at that time.

If TDP is 350W entire system, one should go for a 500W PSU.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote


This is why I said you could theoretically (mathematically) get away with it, but it is better to get a new PSU anyways.

If he goes with a GT 210 with his current power supply, like you said, it gives no room to upgrade. He would be stuck with a terrible card for his system.

At least if he gets a slightly larger power supply, he can upgrade the rest of his PC a bit if he wants as well.

If the TDP of the system is 350W, I think a decent 450W PSU would be fine.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
My GMA3100 card consumes 17 watts it said on some site, and i found a good card that is 19 watts: the HD5450. So that card will definetly work in my PC. I youtubed GTA4 gameplay with that card and most people could play it fine, with similar computer specs to mine.

The GT210, i looked it up and the HD5450 looked like it had better performance: http://www.hwcompare.com/376/geforce-gt-210-vs-radeon-hd-5450/

So should i get the HD5450 instead?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I am sorry but that card is discontinued already as 7000 series has arrived. 5000 and 6000 series are discontinued. You have to buy a card which is available in market.

And I get 55 FPS on GTA 4 with high settings on my config -

Intel Core i5 - 2500K @3.33 GHz || Corsair Vengeance 8 GB @ 1333 MHz || Western Digital Caviar 500 GB || Cooler Master eXtreme 600W || Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6850 - 1 GB

My card is WAY MORE powerful than any of the given cards there but doesn't manage to get 60 FPS on high - very high settings .. I don't think you would get anywhere near 20 FPS with that card in GTA IV.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I know it's discontinued, but i can still get it on ebay. The HD5450 is the only card that nearly perfectly meets all my compatibility requirements. I can still get a playable FPS on the HD5450 though, right?

If i went for the GT210, will i get higher FPS? and can that card be low-profile?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Yeah .. I compared both of the cards and found out HD 5450 faster at the first time but didn't mentioned it as it was discontinued and you would have trouble finding it.

If you can find it, its the way to go. Go for it, its faster than GT 210. :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom