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Low Profile, yet somewhat power graphics card

diddle

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So my girlfriend wants to play the sims 3 on her computer, but she has an integrated graphics card which gives her less than acceptable performance. I am looking to put in a graphics card, but with her limited power supply (17 amps and 300 watts, i believe) it severely limits what cards she can use. I'm wondering what's the best low profile card that will give her decent frame rates on Sims 3. (Mind you she plays at 1024x768, max resolution, and she has a p4 2.8 dual core. Gonna be putting in another half gig of ram, to bring it up to 1 gig of ram..)
 
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i bought a low profile 8400gs for one of our work rigs that works fine... should have enough power for that res and game ;)
 
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I would try to get a 128-bit card, like the 9400GT, 4650 or 9500GT. They go for around 45-60$ on newegg. The only thing is i am not sure about the PSU, but 9400GT should work i tihnk 300/350 is the minimum
 

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The only problem is i think for the 4650 the official minimum PSU is 400w but 17A on 12V sounds sufficient i have to say
 
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dose it have to be a low profile card due to the power draw or the case?

The case is more likely, you don't usually get a low profile card simply because the power draw is lower.
 
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Isn't a 9800 quite a bit overkill for 1024 x 768? :p
 
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Isn't a 9800 quite a bit overkill for 1024 x 768? :p

Good fit I think. Should be able to play most games on higher settings.
 
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I would very much like to see a w1zzard review of the low power 9800gt and 9600gt, but until then id go with the lower power 9600gt to be on the safe side.
 
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Good fit I think. Should be able to play most games on higher settings.

I will agree it definitely would give the best performance out of the cards available. But that would be getting mighty close to the top of the power supply and depending how old it is won't even work with it.
 
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Oh wait nevermind the title said low PROFILE, not low power. My bad. 9800GT.
 

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the 9800gt is a good card but will add more heat to the comp (mine were a good 10C warmer than the 9600s) and be a bit more $ than she wants to spend.
I would go with a 9600GT or 4650 cards. Any of those cards would be fine with her PS.

However be aware that the 9600GT/9800gt will need an adapter for its 6 pin power.

and why low profile?

This is insane (if you can fit a 9" card in there)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121319
(its like buying the game and getting a free card)

I paid $179 for 9600GT not that long ago.
 

diddle

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So what I'm thinking of doing is getting an HD 4350 for her computer. With the ddr2, it should be able to handle the sims 3 no problem while keeping the power draw low.
So before we buy it, I just wanna make sure that a) the half gig of ram won't too severly limit it, and that the 305 watt w/ 18v on the rail will supply it.
 

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get a better GPU.. It wont cost much and will make a big difference.

1/2 gig of ram is not good...(get at least 1, 2 is best)

305 watt PS will easily run every card mentioned in this thread.(as long as OCing isant used and the PS actually will run while pushing a load of 250 watts)
 
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Integrated graphics? She does have an available PCI-E slot, right (not just a PCI)? Otherwise you might as well not bother.
 

diddle

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Yeah she has a pcie slot
 
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