low profile card?

[nbovk951]

so i bought my girl a new hp for xmas. pretty sweet deal accually. dual core athlon gig of ram. vista Im going to be upgrading to 2 gigs of ram and then looking for a video card.
obviously Im not trying to make this into a gaming rig by no means, but I would like to be able to play most games out there. and I just mean play. even low settings on some games as long as most are playable. really I guess Im just looking for about the best low profile dx 10 card out there. Any ideas?
thanks all

 

[NTJedi]

nbovk951 ... we need a little more information to help

1) available slots on the motherboard ? (PCI ; AGP ; PCI_Express)

2) HP model and motherboard ? ( could be helpful for advice provided )

3) amount of money you're considering for the purchase of the graphics card? ($35; $75; $105)

4) what games do you plan on playing with this system?

 

[jcovarrubiasu]

I install a rig recently $600 USD (everything)
with a C2D at 1.83GHZ + Nvidia 8500, it is a small card that does not require a pce psu connector!

I can play fairly well Unreal Tournament 3 at 800*600 mid detail settings.

 

[practal]

The low profile powerhouse is the 8600GT from Galaxy or POV(european I believe, hard to find). The 8600GT is currently the most powerful GPU available in the low profile format and I have only found them from those two specific Nvidia partners. Galaxys card can be found for about $120 pretty easily. The 8600GT isnt a whole lot better than an 8500 so it might not be worth the upgrade.

Im starting a low profile build and been reading alot lately. Im holding out to see if someone releases a 3650/3670 or 9xxx series low profile card. If they do Im all over it, otherwise Ill spring for the Galaxy.

Itll also be nice to see the new ati and nvidia chipsets for AMD. Both will have Hybrid Sli/Crossfire features. I want to know if a low profile 3450+780G or a low profile 8500GT+8200 mATX will outperform a low profile 8600GT. Chances are the combos will costs less than the 8600, consume less power from the newer features, and hopefully perfom on par or better. You have Intel so that doesnt help you much now but its on its way.