Low power video card?

[Randy1]

I have a four year old Emachines ET1331g-03w
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 235e 2.7 GHz
RAM: 6.00 GB DDR2 800
Chipset: NForce 430 MCP61
Graphics: GeForce 6150SE

The clouds have just about done me in the other night. 

The machine, in my opinion, is too old to invest much money in to it.  Adding a video card and power supply seems a bit much.

Is there a video card that would give me some boost with the existing power supply which I think is either 250 or 300 watt?  Tom's shows a 65 buck video card but the minimum power suggested for it is 400 watts.

[titanic3]

Radeon 5570 or 6570. I had one that ran on a Dell Optiplex 380 with a 220W stock PSU. Super cheap btw. Just make sure there's a PCI 16x slot. They come with a low profile bracket so you should be fine.

Even more interesting, I managed to run BF3 with that card at low/med settings at reduced (but still playable resolution [1336x768]). It ran AH perfectly fine without shadows and bump map terrain. I paired it with a Core2Duo 2.93Ghz E7500.

[Bizman]

That 6150SE is integrated to the motherboard, right? According what I found the computer has a 300W power supply. Apparently it also has a pci-e slot, but checking has never hurt anyone.

A quick calculation with the Extreme Power Supply Calculator showed that a Radeon HD7750 would run with your wattage, although the AMD site says you'd need 400W. Compared with titanic's suggestions the requirements are on the same level both in the calculator and AMD's specs. The 7000 series needs less juice than its predecessors. Older high end cards might perform well, but they are energy hogs.

If you look at this PassMark Low End GPU chart you'd find your video card at the 21 points level, overhauled by low end cards of last decade. 5570 got 699, 6570 got 747 and 7750 got 1584 points in the chart. The top cards scored over 5500... Of course all such charts can only be considered as suggestive, but definitely almost any card looks better than the one you currently have.

A more powerful card may shorten the life of your PSU, but maybe you could think of it as a part payment new build?

[Randy1]

That is a lot of good information Bizman.  Yes, the 650E is integrated, I feel sure.  Will pull the side off tomorrow and very the slot too.

That is interesting the Radeon HD7750 would work as well.  That gives me a couple of options to hold off a new computer.

Titanic and Bizamn I really appreciate your help.

[Debrody]

Just speculation, but i think the 7750 is about the maximum your dual core Athlon can handle.
But, if you are thinking in a low-budget solution, i would say, take a look on the second hand market, and look for a decent HD-5750. It is very close in performance to the 7750, but eats 30 Watts more - 85W TDP. At least it must be really cheap.

Not sure if your PSU can handle it though, just an idea.

[TwinBoom]

PERKELE!!!!! Bizman ist DasMan  

[Randy1]

Debrody, I am sure glad y'all offered guidance.  The world of video cards has a big learning curve.

I need to do my reading on the suggested video cards.  The Radeon HD7750 is just with in the budget.  The 6570 fits a little better but the performance difference may be worth the extra expense of the 7750.

Debrody, the used market is tempting but I think you are right on pushing the power supply with an older card.

[Randy1]

Finally had a chance to open the computer.  It needed cleaning anyway.
I have the PCIe it looks like.
Should I consider a cheap sound card as well?

Here are the slots I have.

[Bizman]

A PCI-e, indeed.

Your onboard sounds are good enough unless there's something seriously wrong with the sound chip. AH sounds are no HiFi, so if there's no snap-cracle-pop instead normal game sounds, a sound card would only add load to the PSU. Save that money for the power supply you'll probably have to buy for next christmas if not earlier. Or use it for buying some canned air to keep the inside of both the computer and the PSU clean to maximize cooling and thus the lifetime of them.

[Bino]

According to this article over at Tom's Hardware:

"The Radeon HD 7750 is the fastest graphics card you can get right now that doesn't require an auxiliary power input; it draws all that it needs from a 16-lane PCIe slot. If you're upgrading an older machine with limited power supply capacity, that's an attractive point to consider."

[Randy1]

Bino, when I get it installed, I will post a short review of the performance improvements I see over the intergrated video processor.  The 7750 will not go to far into the eye candy from what I read but it should get me out of the clouds sort of speak. 

BTW with the new video card, the cpu should have a little more capacity with a lot of the work going to the video card.  Would that be true?

[Bino]

Bino, when I get it installed, I will post a short review of the performance improvements I see over the intergrated video processor.  The 7750 will not go to far into the eye candy from what I read but it should get me out of the clouds sort of speak. 

BTW with the new video card, the cpu should have a little more capacity with a lot of the work going to the video card.  Would that be true?

While you will probably be able to measure the difference, you might not be able to see the difference with the naked eye. 

Good luck, hope it works!   

[titanic3]

7750 should run AH no sweat with that CPU. Not maxed but with most of the eye candy turned on, yes.

[Debrody]

One more thing, Randy, i would try to push that CPU a bit, 2.7GHz isnt too much for a 7750... Maybe if you can push it up to 3.2 on stock voltages... i think, that would help a lot, especially in the minimum fps, or in big furballs.

[Randy1]

Bino, Titanic,  I am trying not to have my exceptions too high.  If it gives me good game play, then I will be one happy camper.

One more thing, Randy, i would try to push that CPU a bit, 2.7GHz isnt too much for a 7750... Maybe if you can push it up to 3.2 on stock voltages... i think, that would help a lot, especially in the minimum fps, or in big furballs.

Debody, is this what they call over-clocking or you talking about a new processor?