Video card for Dell Dimension E510

[Jeffrey B.]

I purchased a Dell Dimension E510 about two years ago and I am looking to upgrade it. It has a 3.2 Pentium D processor, 2 GB of memory, a 250 GB hard drive, Radeon X600 video card and I believe a 305w power supply. I'm looking to upgrade the memory and graphics card for gaming purposes and I want to know what the best graphics card I could get would be without risking the psu. Thanks.

[Steve R Jones]

Your psu willl Really limit you in your selection...Might help if you mentioned which games you play or would like to play.

[Coolzer]

When you say 'without risking the psu' do you mean risking upgrading it or overtaxing it?

[Jeffrey B.]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coolzer

When you say 'without risking the psu' do you mean risking upgrading it or overtaxing it?

overtaxing. i just bought a 32 inch 1080p lcd tv and tried to play counter strike, half life 2, and TF2 on it and i couldn't play anything above a 800x600 resolution with low settings. these are mainly the type of games i play right now and i want to be able to use the highest settings possible to make use of my 1080p screen. right now i cant afford to upgrade my psu so im just looking for the best video card my computer can handle.

[Coolzer]

That PSU needs to be upgraded. How powerful depends on the card you buy. Because you have a 1080p tv you'll need a relatively power hungry card.

Highend
Newegg.com - ASUS EAH4870/HTDI/512M/A Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Midrange (i'm leaning this way...)
Newegg.com - BFG Tech BFGE98512GTXOCE GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Low
Newegg.com - MSI N9800GT 512OC GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

[Jeffrey B.]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coolzer

That PSU needs to be upgraded. How powerful depends on the card you buy. Because you have a 1080p tv you'll need a relatively power hungry card.

Would something along the lines of the Geforce 8600 gt series work on my computer without an upgrade? I was only looking on spending 40-80$ to upgrade my computer. I'm not looking at getting the best card out there just something that'll work much better then the card i have. A friend of mine has a laptop with a 8600 or 8800 series 512 mb video card on his laptop and it plays the games i mentioned in 1080p with a smooth frame rate so I'd be happy with something close to that without a psu upgrade if possible. Like I said I don't have to use the highest settings possible I just want something significantly better then the card I have now.

Newegg.com - EVGA 256-P2-N751-TR GeForce 8600 GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
Newegg.com - XFX PVT84JYAJG GeForce 8600 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

those are the kind of cards i have been looking at but i don't know which ones my psu can handle because i have no idea how much power my computer uses. i just want the best one that my current psu can handle.

[Steve R Jones]

I'm using the 8600gt in my Dell 530 that as I recall has the same psu and it works well...I don't play games so I can't help you there.

[Big_Daddy]

Look at a 4670. It uses less power IIRC

[Coolzer]

IMO i would upgrade the PSU.

[sspikey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve R Jones

I'm using the 8600gt in my Dell 530 that as I recall has the same psu and it works well...I don't play games so I can't help you there.

I hate to bring back an old topic but im ripping my hair out here
What kind of connectors did your Dell have?
i ONLY have SATA connectors on mine and need a 6 pin connector for my video card