Need a good cheap Graphic card!

[vegal]

My budget is £50 max.
My processor is e2200 which is about 2.2Ghz I think. My desktop is Dell Inspiron 530 and has 2GB ram at the moment and 300w power supply.
What card can I get? I think my PC has PCIE slot and how will I know if it will fit?
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=32856588&highlight=#post32856588
It is PCIE right?
O and I want to run GTA 4 at max settings if thats possible
Help me please guys

 

[Fire&Blood]

300W proprietary power supply severely limits your options. Does it have a 6pin connector or any unused connectors on it?

Yes, that dark (blue or black, can't tell) slot is a PCIE slot.

If you can't upgrade the power supply, even if your power supply has a 6 pin connector, it simply may not be enough to drive the system with a dedicated GPU, Dell wants you spending more rather than upgrading.

I think some 9xxx nvidia cards and the AMD 4670 draw less than 75W so they don't need additional connectors. If you get a card that has a 6 pin connector, don't be surprised of your computer shuts down in the middle of the game.

 

[MrTeal]

I'm confused. Several members here pointed you towards that 5450, which will output HDMI and won't stress your cheap PSU. Is there something about that card that caused you to make a new thread?

If all you want to do is hook up to your LCD TV, a 5450 will do fine.

 

[Wizlem]

The 5450 is definately what you want. It has the lowest power of any card I know of and will do what you want for easily within your budget

 

[Arachnotronic]

NVIDIA GeForce GT 430.

 

[MustangSVT]

9600gt

8800gs

 

[vegal]

I'm confused. Several members here pointed you towards that 5450, which will output HDMI and won't stress your cheap PSU. Is there something about that card that caused you to make a new thread?

If all you want to do is hook up to your LCD TV, a 5450 will do fine.

I decided to also use my computer to run Mw3 and GTA 4 on max and that card seems to do the job.

I will upgrade PSU to 450 or 400 and then get that card. IS that a good idea?

300W proprietary power supply severely limits your options. Does it have a 6pin connector or any unused connectors on it?

Yes, that dark (blue or black, can't tell) slot is a PCIE slot.

If you can't upgrade the power supply, even if your power supply has a 6 pin connector, it simply may not be enough to drive the system with a dedicated GPU, Dell wants you spending more rather than upgrading.

I think some 9xxx nvidia cards and the AMD 4670 draw less than 75W so they don't need additional connectors. If you get a card that has a 6 pin connector, don't be surprised of your computer shuts down in the middle of the game.

I will upgrade the power supply. How do I know if it has a 6pin connector?

 

[bigsnyder]

I will upgrade the power supply. How do I know if it has a 6pin connector?

The 6pin connector is fairly standard on any aftermarket PSU. Just look at the specs, the number of each kind of connector should be listed. Just in case you were asking about your current system, the only way to know for sure is open the case and see if one is in there. If so, chances are it is tied off somewhere.

One more thing to consider. I have seen two different styles of the Dell Inspiron 530. Your system may have a mATX PSU (or some other smaller form factor PSU). If so, a regular ATX PSU may not fit and your choices will be severely limited.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

You're not going to enjoy gaming on a 5450. Your CPU is underpowered for that too, but that video card will slow you down even more. And I doubt you'll be happy with MW3 or GTA4 on that computer with any video card. You're looking at a whole system upgrade for those.

 

[Rambusted]

I salvaged an aging gateway for my kids to game on @ 1280x1024. Like your machine it has an e2200 2gig DDR2 and a 300 watt PSU(it is a delta though and seems pretty solid). I put a Gt440 in it. Pcie slot gives it all the power it needs. But that or maybe a 6670 are the best your gonna do, and it will never be enough to play mw3 or gta4 on high. My kids do get playable frames on borderlands and tf2 but not on high settings.

 

[Denithor]

One thing everyone here has completely overlooked: GTA 4 is a really lousy console port, it's a pig for CPU power. As in, you need a fast quad-core processor to push the game smoothly. And you have a relatively slow dual-core processor.

Video card is not going to help significantly.

 

[vegal]

^ GTA needs 2.4Ghz for recommended and 1.8Ghz for minimum
I got 2.2Ghz so It should be good? Or maybe I should buy one of these processors?

If I get one that says 3GHz will it give my PC the required kick? along with a GPU?
OR maybe this? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Xeo...6?pt=UK_Motherboards_CPUs&hash=item1c206a4f06

 

[KompuKare]

^ GTA needs 2.4Ghz for recommended and 1.8Ghz for minimum
I got 2.2Ghz so It should be good? Or maybe I should buy one of these processors?

If I get one that says 3GHz will it give my PC the required kick? along with a GPU?

I can only assume you are joking! Pentium 4 was one of the worst performing CPUs of all time...

Don't be fooled by MHz, that P4 is less than half your E2200's speed.

But yes, have a look at GTA and CPU usage. That game really needs a quad core because it's very CPU intensive.

 

[vegal]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Qua...boards_CPUs&hash=item43add5e485#ht_971wt_1270 Is this any good? Thanks for your replies

 

[MrTeal]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Qua...boards_CPUs&hash=item43add5e485#ht_971wt_1270 Is this any good? Thanks for your replies

It won't work in your board, it uses a different socket.

What brand of motherboard do you have? If it's not an OEM one, it should be relatively simple to overclock that E2200 to 3GHz even with the stock cooler. The low frequency Conroe chips are massively overclockable.

 

[vegal]

It won't work in your board, it uses a different socket.

What brand of motherboard do you have? If it's not an OEM one, it should be relatively simple to overclock that E2200 to 3GHz even with the stock cooler. The low frequency Conroe chips are massively overclockable.

Downloading CPU-Z I will report back after it finishes

 

[DominionSeraph]

A 9600GT is a good pairing for that processor. I have a 9600GT in my Dell Dimension E521 with a X2 5200+, and our processors run very similarly:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/67?vs=32

Your processor uses even less power than mine, so since my 9600GT works on a Dell 305W PSU, yours should too. You will need a molex to 6-pin power connector, but most cards come with one.

The 5670 and GT 240 are in the same performance range and will also work with that PSU, so if you can find any of these in your price range you're good. (9600GT's go for around $35-40 USD)

This will give you a very nice legacy gaming rig.

 

[vegal]

A 9600GT is a good pairing for that processor. I have a 9600GT in my Dell Dimension E521 with a X2 5200+, and our processors run very similarly:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/67?vs=32

Your processor uses even less power than mine, so since my 9600GT works on a Dell 305W PSU, yours should too. You will need a molex to 6-pin power connector, but most cards come with one.

The 5670 and GT 240 are in the same performance range and will also work with that PSU, so if you can find any of these in your price range you're good. (9600GT's go for around $35-40 USD)

This will give you a very nice legacy gaming rig.

Does it come with hdmi? I couldnt find a decent 9600GT over ebay can you link it to me?

My motherboard

 

[vegal]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-MSI-G...raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item1c2395e38f
and
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PALIT-nVi...raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item41640706d1
there are 2 different models. There both 2GB. Do u think I should get one with 2GB? Will it run nicely for gaming?

 

[birthdaymonkey]

2GB of video RAM is meaningless for such slow cards. Neither of those has much power for gaming. The best you're going to do without a power supply upgrade is a Radeon 6670 GDDR5 or GT 440 GDDR5. Both of these will likely cost a bit more than 50 pounds, but anything less has essentially no gaming potential at all.

 

[vegal]

2GB of video RAM is meaningless for such slow cards. Neither of those has much power for gaming. The best you're going to do without a power supply upgrade is a Radeon 6670 GDDR5 or GT 440 GDDR5. Both of these will likely cost a bit more than 50 pounds, but anything less has essentially no gaming potential at all.

So will they work on my current processor? 2.2Ghz core to duo i think?

 

[Maximilian]

Buy a used xbox 360, play GTA IV.

Your PC will never run GTA IV well.

 

[vegal]

Thank you to every one who helped!
I got the 5450 and I am very pleased with its performance!
I will upgrade ram from 2GB to 3GB and get a better processor about 3Ghz maybe if thats a good idea