I want to ut Pci Graphics Card

[wrabit]

Hello
i want to buy PCI Express Graphics Card but i don't know whether my Mother Board will support one and which one would be the best card keeping in mind that i have 100USD
My PC Specs are

HP Compaq DC7800 Minitower Convertible
Core2Quad 2.4 8MB l2 cache
Q35 motherboard
2 GB Ram DDR2
320HD SATA
any help will greatly be appreciated
Thanks

[ShyguyXPC]

This your PC?

HP Compaq dc7800 Small Form Factor PC specifications - HP Small & Medium Business products


If so, you have a single PCI Express x16 slot, but it will only use a half height "low profile" card.

also your Power Supply is really low on power.

240W really doesn't give you much to work with.

only thing you could probably put in, is a Video card that will only be a bit better than the Onboard Video.

but not really enough for Gaming if that is what your looking for.

One option would be to buy a new Case, Power Supply and Video card, unfortunately your Motherboards Design is not a standard ATX style board, and finding a new case would be next to impossible.

From what I can find, the Radeon 2400 XT was an option in that PC, and that uses about 25W of power.

closest decent upgrade I can find would be a Geforce GT 520, but thats another 5W more in power.

Otherwise, a Radeon 6450 with GDDR5 memory, is about 27W in power.

Radeon HD 4550 would be an option as well, 25W.



The biggest issue is that low Wattage Power supply.

Can you open it up and see what it says on the label on the Power supply, and find what it says for the Brand of the PSU, and look for the Amp Rating for the +12V power on the label.

[wrabit]

This is my pc

HP Compaq dc7800 Convertible Minitower PC specifications - HP Small & Medium Business products

Power Supply is 365W it also says 80% Efficient

its a tower casing dont know why its called minitower

SPECS

Core2Quad Q6600
2GB RAM
Intel Q35 Motherboard
PSU 365W

[ShyguyXPC]

then look at the label of the PSU and find the brand, as well as the Amp Rating for the +12V Power rail.

[wrabit]

it says Hp Brand

I am a noob,
this is what written on the label

+5.08V +3.3V +12V
19A 24A 12A

+12Vcpu -12V +5.08Vaux
14.5V 0.15A 3A


Maximum combined power of 5.08V and 3.33V is 150W






a

[ShyguyXPC]

based on what you listed, the +12V rail is atrociously low, at 12 Amp...

barely enough to run anything decent.

From the link you provided of the PC, it looks like a standard Case, but it could be a crappy BTX design as well.

From the looks of it, it is: HP Compaq dc7800 Convertible Minitower PC - Removing and Replacing the Power supply - c01475477 - HP Business Support Center

Does the inside of your PC look like that? (opens up on the same side, and has Motherboard mounted on that side of the case?

If so, its a BTX design layout which are a real pain in the a$$ to work with.

Notice where the Power Supply Plugs into wall via cord, they purposely have a piece of case covering the space next to the plug, to prevent use of Standard ATX Design PSU's from being used with out having to take a tin snip or dremel with metal cutting blade to it.

[wrabit]

yes that's the one so now it means i m out of options, there is any way that i can change my PSU

[ShyguyXPC]

never said your out of options, just that you might have to modify your case to fit a new Power supply.

[wrabit]

I will try to Upgrade my PSU suggest me some PCI Express Cards which are compatible with this system keeping in mind that PSU would be 450W or 500W i will be thankful

[ShyguyXPC]

Are you in The US?

[wrabit]

No i am in Pakistan

[ShyguyXPC]

Do you have any sites in Pakistan that you can order parts from? Or are you ordering overseas and having it shipped?

if you have sites in Pakistan to order from, can you link them here so we can see what they have available for parts?

For the power Supply, take a look at this link, they have a Good and Bad list for brands, not all inclusive, but enough to generally go on.

Power Supply Info

I'd look for a 400-450W PSU on the lower end, and 500W or so if you can afford it.

I'm assuming this upgrade is for PC Gaming? If so, what games are you trying to play?



as to Video card, its hard to say,

[wrabit]

there are no site offering parst here, i have to get PSU from local market
for games i had XFX Nvidia Gt 220 DDR2 1GB card in my old system n i play COD full series
Crysis all games, now i am planning to get a better card bcause gt 220 is not a gaming cards i thinks ,

[ShyguyXPC]

well roughly for the budget of 100 US Dollars, the best we could suggest, along with a Power supply upgrade would be a 400W range Power Supply, like Coolermaster, Antec, Corsair, Fortron Source/FSP, or similar quality brand unit.

And for Graphics card, probably a Geforce GT 440, which should easily be 3 to 4 times better than a GT 220.

or If you can find one a Radeon 5670 or 6570 for similar Price range.

You might even be able to find a Radeon 6670 if the Power supply price is closer to $30.

For Example:

This Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Elite 460 RS-460-PSAR-J3 460W ATX12V V2.31 Power Supply

Plus

This Newegg.com - PowerColor AX6670 1GBK3-H Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

Not including shipping costs would be close to $100 USD

and would make a worth while gaming upgrade, if you can fit that Power supply into your case, or modify the case to fit the PSU in.

Otherwise that power supply and one of these cards:

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100323L Radeon HD 6570 1GB DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

would be ok as well.

[wrabit]

Thanks for your time and help
one more thing that all therse cards are compatible with PCIe 1.0 and PCie 1.1 slot

[ShyguyXPC]

PCI Express is backwards compatible with earlier versions, back when the first Geforce 8800GT cards came out they had some issues with running on earlier PCI Express 1.0/1.1 slots, but since then things have been fixed, was an issue with the cards and not the motherboards.


The only problems you would have is running TOP HIGH END PCIe 2.0/2.1 and 3.0 cards on older 1.0/1.1 due to the bandwidth limitations of the older slot. The cards will still work, but the performance may not be at its best.

for your budget range your looking at, these cards don't even exceed 1.0/1.1 bandwidth yet, so not an issue.

[wrabit]

thanks that was great info,
thanks for your help sir,
i have one more thing which is about temp should i ask here or i should make another threat. i m posting snap if it is suitable in this threat then please answer or i'll just make another threat about it,
are my pcs temperature within normal range ?

[wrabit]

that is when system is started motherboard is dust free clean

[stroyal]

I didn't look it up, but under 40c is good on almost anything.

The Motherboard @ 49c is probably OK, but to judge your cooling, you have to give us context.

What was the room temp, during this measurement.
And you have to test the temps, under full load.
If it is too hot at idle, you have real problems.

It is pretty hard to find a computer nowadays, that idles below 38c to 40c

28c on a cold morning is the lowest, I have ever seen, and that was a p3.



That TMPIN2 @73f appears to be the case temp, and if your case cooling is sufficient, should be pretty close to room temperature.

[ShyguyXPC]

Yep, agree with Stroyal, the Northbridge chipset temps a bit high, but its expected, this is an HP prebuilt system and heatsink might not be all that great, but its with in acceptable temps.

But also agree, need to be running something in background and monitor the temps to see how high they get while the PC is being worked.

Chipset should be hitting high 60's maybe lower to mid 70's at full load, before its close to overheating.

CPU temps are idling pretty low, about what my old Q6600 used to idle at as well.

I've had my Old Core 2 Duo E6400 and Core 2 Quad Q6600 idle as low as 18 and 22C on a cold morning... of course, that was a cold spring/summer morning and I had the Air Conditioner on right behind the PC overnight, but its the coldest I've ever had my CPU's at.