Video card suggestion?

W

Wizardhawk

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 11, 2005
Messages
257
My brother just bought an emachine 1831-07, and is going to buy a video card to plop in for gaming. He has an open pci-x16 slot for it, 2 PCI and a PCI x1 and budget is around $100. I looked at a few on newegg and stuff, but figured i'd post here and see what people suggest. Only thing i'm concerned about is I don't know what kind of power supply he has, and the specs on the machine say it's a 250w power supply, but not what type etc.

Thanks in advance for the help.
 
At most I'd recommend the HD 5450 for two reasons:
1) It's an EMachines 250W PSU which means it doesn't have enough amperage on the +12V rail in general
2) It's an Emachines 250W PSU which means that it is of extremely low quality.

So low quality coupled with low amperage means that the HD 5450 is the best and highest card I'd recommend.
 
First: your PC's model number is ET1831-07 (write it down). Next time you want to ask for help on a forum, it could be helpful (because a search for 1831-07 reveals nothing).

http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=ET1831-07

http://support.gateway.com/emachines/desktop/2009/emachines/et/ET1831/ET1831sp2.shtml

Second: yeah, Danny is on the money. But I think you could risk up to an HD 5570 with that stock PSU. It only uses 37w peak (50w furmark, but that's unrealistic), making it a perfect fit for this system. Processor TDP is 65w, so the system total with a 5570 won't top 130w peak.

But it looks like you have a full-size system, and if that's true, you could get a better PSU. That would increase your budget a bit, but that's the price of buying a cheap box from eMachines.

You'll have to crack your case to find out if it's a standard ATX powersupply. Or you can go with the upgrade Danny suggested above (but it won't be that powerful).
 
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I will agree with defaultluser on the HD 5570. It does consume very little power. It consumers lower power than the HD 4670. Plus, its performance is pretty good. The E5400 cpu also consumes low power under idle and load. It consumes lower power than an Athlon X2 250 and its also 65W TDP. The HD 5450 that Danny suggested will definitely work with the 250W PSU but, the performance is poor to where it's not worth getting it. If you want to play it safe, you can do this

PSU - Antec EA-380D for $39.99 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033

VIDEO CARD - Sapphire RAdeon HD 4670 for $62.99 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102854

Total: $102.98 w/shipping
 
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