Author Topic: Low profile video card  (Read 397 times)

Offline Larry

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Low profile video card
« on: May 17, 2014, 04:24:03 PM »
I'm looking to replace my old ATI Radeon x 1300 256 mb card for something more high end. Unfortunately because I have a mini tower the new card is going to have to be low profile. I'm looking for something that's going to allow me to have the shadows and hi res terrain enabled. Do any of you have any recommendations?  Thanks.
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Offline eagl

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Re: Low profile video card
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2014, 09:21:10 AM »
Well, the snarky recommendation is to get a bigger case...  There are a bunch of pretty small cases that are still tall enough for many full height cards.

I suggest going to some of the htpc websites and seeing what their latest recommendations are.  There are also some SFF small form factor review sites that may have more info.

Still, I am fairly confident you will have to look at the various computer stores and simply buy the highest-end low profile card being sold and just hope it is good enough.
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Offline Bizman

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Re: Low profile video card
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2014, 12:31:18 PM »
With a mini tower I suppose you mean a small form tower rather than a real mini tower. What's the difference, you might ask? Regular tower formed computer cases can be categorized as mini-tower, mid-tower or full-tower, all of which contain one or more horizontal 5" slots for optical drives and such. Their main difference is height, although some can also be much wider than others for better cable management and breathing.

There's more to take into consideration than just the size when upgrading a video card. I suppose your entire rig is about the same age than the X1300. A significantly more powerful video card would cause bottlenecks in more than one place in a ten year old small factor computer. More important, your power supply won't be powerful enough to feed the new card.  The X1300 was a very low power card, only 30 W. Sad to say, but you'd better get a new computer instead of just upgrading the video card, because the card won't be the only new component you'd need.

In case your budget is VERY tight, which I of course can't tell by the information you've given so far, here's some ghetto mod/Frankenstein suggestions: People dump XP rigs now that the OS isn't supported any more. An abandoned PC is where you'd get a case for free. With some luck there's an upgraded power supply, so you'd only have to find a video card. There's a couple decent ones on the market that take all the power they need through the pci-e slot, making them more suitable for older computers.

The more expensive puzzle would be getting a new case, PSU and video card and use the rest of your current rig until something else needs replacing. The next big update is already being coded, so the upgrading time can be quite near.
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Offline Drane

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Re: Low profile video card
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2014, 04:45:01 PM »
Here's an article from Tom's Hardware of someone doing what you have in mind. Hope this helps.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/299280-32-dell-optiplex-upgrade
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