Upgrading video on a Dell (ugh)

Sasqui · Mar 6, 2012

Yep, an old Dell with an ATI X300 PCIe... 11 yr olds "playbox" (when he's not using mine, LOL). He's complaining the video is too slow.

Dell has an Intel 630 2GB, XP 32bit , PSU is 305W, so looking for a relatively low power video card to bump up the 3D speed. Card can't require any external power.

Suggestions?

CJCerny · Mar 6, 2012

6670 running DDR5 will work fine in that power envelope. New 7750 also will, but pricey at the moment.

Sasqui · Mar 6, 2012

CJCerny said:
6670 running DDR5 will work fine in that power envelope. New 7750 also will, but pricey at the moment.

6670 Looks like a candidate, some online prices in the $70 range. Would like to spend less on a used card...

Edit: TPU review here: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_6670/

CJCerny · Mar 6, 2012

Used 4670.

Norton · Mar 6, 2012

+1 on a 6670... I picked up the HIS version with the AC cooler for <$70. It's quick enough for what I bought it for and absolutely silent :toast:

Wrigleyvillain · Mar 6, 2012

Used 5770

CJCerny · Mar 6, 2012

Wrigleyvillain said:
Used 5770

Probably not. Isn't going to be a free PCI-E power connector in that PC for such a card. Has to run on the 75 watts that it can get from the PCI-E slot.

repman244 · Mar 6, 2012

CJCerny said:
Isn't going to be a free PCI-E power connector in that PC for such a card

You can always make one

CJCerny · Mar 6, 2012

repman244 said:
You can always make one

Also not a good idea. Remember, it's a 305w power supply. Feed that video card a PCI-E power connector and that means it can potentially suck up to 150 watts of the 305 total available. OP would be wise to stick with a video card that runs solely on the power from the PCI-E slot.

Kreij · Mar 6, 2012

If I remember correctly, not all of the Dell's that used lower end GCs had a full size Pci-e slot either. I think mine at work, which has the x300 graphics card is that way.
I could be wrong as it's been awhile since I looked at it. lol

Peter1986C · Mar 6, 2012

repman244 said:
You can always make one

Yes, (molex-PEG6 adapters exist) but the PSU will not be able to give all the juice being demanded by an HD 5770.
In addition, such a card will probably be bottlenecked by the cpu.
Here at TPU, the HD 5670 is performing not that much less than a HD 6670 in the reviews, assuming that a HD 5670 will be a few dollars cheaper.

Sasqui · Mar 6, 2012

Kreij said:
If I remember correctly, not all of the Dell's that used lower end GCs had a full size Pci-e slot either. I think mine at work, which has the x300 graphics card is that way.
I could be wrong as it's been awhile since I looked at it. lol

Thanks for pointing that out... I wasn't even sure if it was AGP or PCIe before I took it out, LOL. It's sitting next to my rig with a 6850 in it, so I'll pop that in just to try on for size.

And EDIT: For a DELL... I wouldn't be surprised. A real PC builders worst nightmare, Upgrading a DELL!!!

Sasqui · Mar 9, 2012

Kreij said:
If I remember correctly, not all of the Dell's that used lower end GCs had a full size Pci-e slot either. I think mine at work, which has the x300 graphics card is that way.
I could be wrong as it's been awhile since I looked at it. lol

Checked it last night... finally, it does have a full size PCIe slot.

The only catch is that because of the shroud for the CPU heatsink, there is only room for a single slot card. ...but of course, because it's a Dell :shadedshu

Aquinus · Mar 9, 2012

You can upgrade the video but your CPU/Memory will quickly become a bottleneck. I agree with a lot of the other statements that say you should stick with PCI-E power from the motherboard, any more and you run the risk of over-drawing on the PSU which could fry the entire system.

Norton · Mar 9, 2012

Sasqui said:
Checked it last night... finally, it does have a full size PCIe slot.

The only catch is that because of the shroud for the CPU heatsink, there is only room for a single slot card. ...but of course, because it's a Dell :shadedshu

XFX single slot 6670 $79.99 (XFX usually puts out single slot versions of most of their lower spec'd cards :cool:

)

XFX HD-667X-ZNFQ Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 P...

Liquid Cool · Mar 9, 2012

I own the Sapphire HD 6670, it's been at a steady $99 at Newegg. It dips down to $89 infrequently - when it's in stock. I haven't owned any HIS cards...

The others are right though, these low profile cards are expensive even at $70 or 80 in my opinion.

Considering the age of your machine, I'd purchase an HD 6570 instead. The Sapphire's cpu cooler is just about dead silent, mine idles at 28 degress celsius. These run cool, work well...and are just a smidgeon under the performance of the HD 6670. I think my last one was $49 after rebate.

Best,

LC

CJCerny, thanks for the heads up on the 7750, I wasn't aware one of these we're in the works.

Jstn7477 · Mar 9, 2012

You could probably get away with a 6570 or even a 6450 as the P4 630 will probably bottleneck both. Both should be light years faster than an X300, especially the Dell version since it usually has 64bit DDR @ like 350MHz. I bought a Sapphire 6450 GDDR5 for the lulz last year and it could play TF2 @ 1080p at ~30 FPS, faster than my laptop's HD 5650 DDR3 actually.

Sasqui · Mar 9, 2012

Hmmm.... 6670 is around $70

http://www.google.com/#q=hd+6670&hl....,cf.osb&fp=6a03ae6ee2b63e8d&biw=1614&bih=931

6570 around the $50 range:

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&gs_nf=....,cf.osb&fp=6a03ae6ee2b63e8d&biw=1614&bih=931

Lots of single slot designs... now I've got to choose.

The CPU sure isn't much, but these card options will be far superior to the X300.

Norton · Mar 9, 2012

Sasqui said:
Hmmm.... 6670 is around $70

http://www.google.com/#q=hd+6670&hl....,cf.osb&fp=6a03ae6ee2b63e8d&biw=1614&bih=931

6570 around the $50 range:

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&gs_nf=....,cf.osb&fp=6a03ae6ee2b63e8d&biw=1614&bih=931

Lots of single slot designs... now I've got to choose.

The CPU sure isn't much, but these card options will be far superior to the X300.

ANything 128bit that's quicker than a 3650 will smoke an X300 noticeably- I'd recommend anything equal to or faster than an HD4650

My $0.02

brandonwh64 · Mar 9, 2012

TBH I bet you could find a used 5770 or 5830 that would be more powerful than the 6670/6570

Also what CPU's would that motherboard handle? It would be nice if it could handle a quad and you may could pickup a Q6600 and another 2GB to make a quite powerful PC.

Norton · Mar 9, 2012

brandonwh64 said:
TBH I bet you could find a used 5770 or 5830 that would be more powerful than the 6670/6570

Also what CPU's would that motherboard handle? It would be nice if it could handle a quad and you may could pickup a Q6600 and another 2GB to make a quite powerful PC.

He needs a card that runs off of the PCIE power only. Otherwise those would be a real good upgrade for any older machine

Bambooz · Mar 9, 2012

Just to give you a rough idea..

(rank 201 or 210. Ignore that the page is in German. It's self explanatory)
http://pc-erfahrung.de/grafikkarte/vga-grafikrangliste.html

Pretty much anything from the past couple years will smoke it.

@brandonwh64: I bet it's some sh*tty old Dell Optiplex Capacitor-cooker that doesn't support any Core 2 CPUs yet (i915 or i945 chipset or something). Putting something along the lines of a HD5770 or HD5830 in there would be an absolute waste of money and impossible anyhow, cause you apparently didn't read the thread. Otherwise you'd know that it only has a 305W PSU with no PCIe plug.

CJCerny · Mar 9, 2012

Since you have a watt limit, do yourself a favor and buy the best new model you can afford--new models tend to get a lot more bang for the buck when it comes to watts per $$.

Sasqui · Mar 12, 2012

Norton said:
ANything 128bit that's quicker than a 3650 will smoke an X300 noticeably- I'd recommend anything equal to or faster than an HD4650

My $0.02

brandonwh64 said:
TBH I bet you could find a used 5770 or 5830 that would be more powerful than the 6670/6570

Also what CPU's would that motherboard handle? It would be nice if it could handle a quad and you may could pickup a Q6600 and another 2GB to make a quite powerful PC.

Though the board wont support Core 2's (that I know of), I think the card will make a HUGE difference in DX and OpenGL games!!!

CJCerny said:
Since you have a watt limit, do yourself a favor and buy the best new model you can afford--new models tend to get a lot more bang for the buck when it comes to watts per $$.

^Thanks! ...just found a killer deal for XFX 6670, after rebate and painfully slow *free* shipping

... on Amazon for $52!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004Z5GRW6/?tag=tec06d-20

:toast:

Norton · Mar 12, 2012

Good luck with the card :toast:

Improvement won't be earth shattering but definitely better than that X300!

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Upgrading video on a Dell (ugh)

Sasqui

CJCerny

Sasqui

CJCerny

Norton

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