Video Card Upgrade

[Lionel Steel]

Hey guys,

I have a Dell Studio Slim desktop, which as a noob, purchased without realizing that getting hardware upgrades for it would be a pain.

I'm interested in doing some gaming through Steam on it. I recently downloaded Civ 5 and while my comp handles it, it's pretty choppy.

I'd like to upgrade to a better video card, but I'm not looking to run Crysis on max or anything like that.

As I have no idea what to look for (other then it needs to be a low profile card), if anyone could suggest any good quality cards I should look at, that would be awesome!

Thanks in advance

[Vulcan]

One thing I'd check is your power supply. It may also limit your upgrade unless you are willing to replace it. From what I can gather Dell doesn't put a very strong PS into that computer so I'd look for a video card that doesn't require a 6 pin PCI-E connector. ATI has video cards in the 5xxx series that fit this requirement. The best that I know of being the HD5670. NVDIA also has cards like this. The next problem is finding a low profile card if it is needed. Perhaps check out the Dell support forums.

[FlameOn]

If you're limited by space but you have at least a 450W power supply and the optional 6pin PCI-E connector, you can try the XFX ATI HD5770 single slot card for around $120-$150 I think... You can get much better cards, depends on what you're playing. HD5770 will handle most games and it was at the price/performance sweetpoint along with the HD5850 (~$200) a few months back. This is enough to run civ5/SCII at full resolution with no hiccups on my PC.

Anyways with NVIDIA cards they tend to run hotter and have higher power requirements. At the mid level their cards weren't worth it because they didn't perform as well for their price, but higher end was a diff story. This might have changed in the last 3 months since I bought my card.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

If you're limited by space but you have at least a 450W power supply and the optional 6pin PCI-E connector, you can try the XFX ATI HD5770 single slot card for around $120-$150 I think... You can get much better cards, depends on what you're playing. HD5770 will handle most games and it was at the price/performance sweetpoint along with the HD5850 (~$200) a few months back. This is enough to run civ5/SCII at full resolution with no hiccups on my PC.

Anyways with NVIDIA cards they tend to run hotter and have higher power requirements. At the mid level their cards weren't worth it because they didn't perform as well for their price, but higher end was a diff story. This might have changed in the last 3 months since I bought my card.

That won't help him as the studio slim can't even take normal sized cards. He needs a low profile card.

Which studio slim do you have? There are a few studio slims that are more normal sized but most need a low profile card. This is further complicated by the fact that low profile card choices are already very slim pickings but he also needs one with a low profile bracket! Now those are even harder to come by with any decent performance.

You also need to figure out what wattage your powersupply is as some slims only have a 250W PSU.

Futhermore, even a decently performing low profile, low profile bracket videocard is going to be terrible value compared to what you could get in a regular desktop card at the same price.



Maybe something like this:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-364-_-Product

or this

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-177-_-Product

Make sure it says "low profile bracket included" in the details.

The Zotac needs a 300watt powersupply. The Asus card is an ATI card and probably requires less power but don't quote me on that. The Asus card's low profile bracket is actually two brackets high to accomodate the VGA port so make sure it fits in your case according to where the PCI-E slot is.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

I'd look for a video card that doesn't require a 6 pin PCI-E connector. ATI has video cards in the 5xxx series that fit this requirement.

This is exactly what I'd do. A PCI-E slot powered card will be max of about 75 watts (the max a single PCI-E slot can deliver), and is pretty much assured to work with just about any power supply.

Realistically, if the card needs additional power connections, its going to be unsuitable due to the smallish power supply, and probably also cooling (those slim case machines don't move a ton of air)

[Lionel Steel]

Thanks for the response guys!

I'm guessing that my power supply will be a problem. This is what I currently have:
http://www.cputopia.com/psu-replacem...el-pc7068.html

After googling for a long time, this is the best replacement option I could come with (that would fit in my system):
http://www.pointtek.ecrater.com/p/87...ent-dell-power


Is it a huge job replacing a power supply?

Thanks again!

[Lionel Steel]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Which studio slim do you have? There are a few studio slims that are more normal sized but most need a low profile card. This is further complicated by the fact that low profile card choices are already very slim pickings but he also needs one with a low profile bracket! Now those are even harder to come by with any decent performance.

I have the Studio Slim 540

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Lionel Steel

Thanks for the response guys!

I'm guessing that my power supply will be a problem. This is what I currently have:
http://www.cputopia.com/psu-replacem...el-pc7068.html

After googling for a long time, this is the best replacement option I could come with (that would fit in my system):
http://www.pointtek.ecrater.com/p/87...ent-dell-power


Is it a huge job replacing a power supply?

Thanks again!

It's tough here because in my mind it's not really worth it to get a low profile card with low profile bracket and also swap out a new PSU. Is there any way you can return the Dell and get something else that already has what you need?

250 watts is very low. Even the two low profile cards I posted require a 400 watt and 300 watt PSU respectively.

Swapping a PSU is not a complicated job, but it may be daunting if you've never done this sort of thing before, especially in a tiny OEM case which already has the cables snaking and tied up all over the place.

This is what the inside of your case looks like:


This thread is all about your computer and what people have put into it. Check it out for ideas. Some people have put a 300w Seasonic PSU in it. One guy has a Sparkle 9800GT that runs Crysis on high in your computer with the stock PSU. A low profile energy efficient 9800GT should be fine on a 250 watter.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1374904

http://www.newegg.ca/product/Product...-126-_-Product

^^^ This is a bit pricey but I would recommend as it you wouldn't need to swap out your PSU and it's actually faster than the more modern GT 430 Fermi low profile cards that require more power. It also has a low profile bracket even though the description doesn't say it, you can see it in the product shots.

I realize you just want to play Civ and not run Crysis but it's worth it to avoid future hassles and to be able to play future games.

[Lionel Steel]

Thanks for the links, I'll definitely take a look through them

Also, I've had this comp for about three years now, so returning it is pretty much out of the question.

[Hack&Lube]

Buy the Sparkle low profile 9800GT, slap her in, and be done with it.

That's actually a nice compact system. It would make for a good portable system for people who goto lans or who want something as a media PC as well.

If you get a decent videocard, you could upgrade the CPU as well and extend the life of that system considerably as there is a lot of choice in 775 CPUs around. A quad core 775 CPU in that plus a good videocard and an SSD would get you a system that lasts many more years.

If you've had it for 3 years, make sure you clean everything out and blow out all the dust. It will help with cooling and airflow if you get a new videocard that runs hot.

[Lionel Steel]

Seems like the Sparkle card is the way to go, I think I'll go with that.

I hadn't considederd upgrading my CPU. I was going to double my RAM (I'm currently at 4 GBs), maybe I should do it all at once.

Thanks for the input guys!

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Lionel Steel

Seems like the Sparkle card is the way to go, I think I'll go with that.

I hadn't considederd upgrading my CPU. I was going to double my RAM (I'm currently at 4 GBs), maybe I should do it all at once.

Thanks for the input guys!

Without knowing what your typical workload is, I'd say going above 4GB of RAM is not going to do much - certainly not as much as a video card or SSD upgrade (which would give you the biggest bang for your buck, for sure)

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Lionel Steel

Seems like the Sparkle card is the way to go, I think I'll go with that.

I hadn't considederd upgrading my CPU. I was going to double my RAM (I'm currently at 4 GBs), maybe I should do it all at once.

Thanks for the input guys!

why not then just build a new system from Memory Express? for a gaming system it's a lot cheaper to do it yourself then buy one from a manufacturer, and it's really not that hard. MemEx will even mount the CPU, fan, and ram on the motherboard for you for no charge, which is usually the biggest pain in the ass in building a system (the CPU fan specifically)

building a full system now will pay off for you down the line, as it will be easier to upgrade and a full sized graphics card will last longer than a low profile one for future games

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Lionel Steel

Seems like the Sparkle card is the way to go, I think I'll go with that.

I hadn't considederd upgrading my CPU. I was going to double my RAM (I'm currently at 4 GBs), maybe I should do it all at once.

Thanks for the input guys!

Doubling your ram from 4GB to 8GB will be pretty much useless as I am assuming you are a typical home user.

Spend that money on a quad core CPU and forget about the ram completely.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Spend that money on a quad core CPU and forget about the ram completely.

Is that even worth it for the OP's intended use? (gaming). I don't know if many games make use of more than 1-2 cores.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Is that even worth it for the OP's intended use? (gaming). I don't know if many games make use of more than 1-2 cores.

Mafia 2 has a 3.0 GHz dual core minimum requirement, but a 2.5 GHz quad core recommendation. DA:O also recommends quad core. Other games I've heard may use more than 2 cores (I haven't verified these): GTA IV, L4D, L4D2, BFBC2, Supreme Commander, SupComm FA, SupComm 2, Bioshock 2, Crysis, Crysis 2, DiRT 2 (?), CoD:MW2 (?), UT3 (?), Mass Effect (?) ... makes me glad I went for the Q6600 over the E8400.

Aren't you a Mac guy?

[Hack&Lube]

^^^ What he said. Tons of PC games perform much better with more than 2 cores these days.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by SebC

Mafia 2 has a 3.0 GHz dual core minimum requirement, but a 2.5 GHz quad core recommendation. DA:O also recommends quad core. Other games I've heard may use more than 2 cores (I haven't verified these): GTA IV, L4D, L4D2, BFBC2, Supreme Commander, SupComm FA, SupComm 2, Bioshock 2, Crysis, Crysis 2, DiRT 2 (?), CoD:MW2 (?), UT3 (?), Mass Effect (?) ... makes me glad I went for the Q6600 over the E8400.

Aren't you a Mac guy?

I'm platform agnostic (although the fruits do outnumber suits at my house, and most of my PC hardware is dedicated to running VMWare)

I don't game a ton on the PC though, other than flight sims, which is why I was asking if many games are benefitting from more than two cores - my general impression was that it was better to go for a faster dual core system for gaming than a quad or better rig. X-Plane and FSX are both notoriously single threaded, although that will be improving with X-Plane 10 apparently.

My last video card was a passively cooled Radeon 4670, which is all I really needed for X-Plane, so I'm a bit out of the loop, hence why I asked.

[Lionel Steel]

Hey guys, need some assistance again.

I purchased this card (the same one Hack&Lube suggested and was in the link):
http://www.newegg.ca/product/Product...-126-_-Product

I'm trying to install it, but cannot find a place to connect it into the power supply.

It came with this cable:



As always, any input would be appreciated!

[gottabekd]

Well, the black end goes into the back of the card. Coming from the power supply you should have a few power cords with the white connectors. They will be plugged into things like your hard drive, optical drive. Find a spare one, and make a connection.