Graphics Card for Gaming

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Lucasgsl

New Member
I'm looking for some basic information on graphics cards. These are my system specs currently:

Dell Inspiron 546
8 gb RAM
Windows 7 Home 64 bit
AMD Athlon II X2 240 2.80 GHz
ATI Radeon HD 3400

I've been running Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2, and other older source games fine. I've recently purchased Batman Arkham Asylum and Assassin's Creed. To run them with an acceptable framerate, I have to turn the resolution and graphics settings way down. I know that my computer isn't exactly ideal for gaming, but I'm wondering how I can make it better. Could my graphics card be responsible for the poor gaming performance? or is it just that my computer in general can't handle them?

Could someone recommend a better graphics card for my uses?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
your pc is fine for gaming, except your graphics card. its integrated and crap for gaming. whats your budget for upgrades? keep in mind that if you get a new graphics card, you will more than certainly need a new power supply, as the one that came with your pc is a bare minimum for your current set up.
 
My power supply is 300w. What do I need to know if I'm shopping for a new graphics card? What other components do I need to upgrade as well? I don't want to spend too much money, but I'd like to get better performance. Say under 100$ for the card.
 
well for under $100 on a card, your not going to get much, but it should suffice fine. my friend has this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102917

it plays everything pretty well for the most part.

but for $120 you can get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187120
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131330

he also has it on a 300 watt power supply and its been working fine, although i urge him and yourself to invest in some sort of corsair power supply or similar quality one such as this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139017
pretty good deal for that psu and it will run your system safer than your cheapo stock one. you will see a pretty good performance increase in all your games with these upgrades
 
I have to turn the resolution and graphics settings way down. I know that my computer isn't exactly ideal for gaming, but I'm wondering how I can make it better. Could my graphics card be responsible for the poor gaming performance?
 
The 5670 posted is your best bet for your budget, however there is absolutely no point in getting it unless you upgrade your PSU first, because the one you have in there now is dreadful.

You will also need a new case. Your tower is not standard ATX, which for graphics cards doesn't make a difference, but for your power supply does. The size of the case, however, does make a difference to which graphics cards you can get, because your case is very shallow.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119227

I would also swap the power supply that was recommended to:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151072

Although $14 more, it is a better unit than the Corsair is



bigfellla said:
A 300 W PSU is insufficient for any PCIe graphics card.
Click to expand...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151086

2 12V rail with 17A on each isn't enough for any graphics card? You can easily run a lower end graphics card on a 300W PSU, heck, Dell, HP and all the rest do it regularly on much lower quality units than that one
 
No, the PSU will not fit, the one which you have is not standard ATX, your case does not support standard ATX, and getting your hands on a PSU that does will be tricky, and one that will support a half decent card, near impossible
 
dude, all the suggestions we have made so far will work in your case. dont listen to anyone who says that an atx power supply wont fit. yours is a standard atx so anything of the like will work. as for the 5770 and corsair 500 watt, both will work fine in the case you have right now, and will improve your pc performance significantly. let us know if you need anything alse

who ever thinks running a pci e card on a 300 watt psu is impossible, your wrong. although not recommended it is very possible, and is done all the time by dell and hp.

like i said my friend is running his 5670 on a hp 300 watt psu right now and has been for over 4 months now. possible indeed
 
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The PSU and graphics card are a good choice however check that your case is ATX design stanadard (check the book) or ring dell.
 
kdfresh09 said:
dude, all the suggestions we have made so far will work in your case. dont listen to anyone who says that an atx power supply wont fit. yours is a standard atx so anything of the like will work. as for the 5770 and corsair 500 watt, both will work fine in the case you have right now, and will improve your pc performance significantly. let us know if you need anything alse

who ever thinks running a pci e card on a 300 watt psu is impossible, your wrong. although not recommended it is very possible, and is done all the time by dell and hp.

like i said my friend is running his 5670 on a hp 300 watt psu right now and has been for over 4 months now. possible indeed
Click to expand...

The PSU will possibly fit, but it is routing the cables in such a way that you get at least some airflow that is the issue, and the 5770 will not fit.

123683-dell-inspiron-546s-9289.jpg


That is a standard Insprion 546.

To give you an idea, the motherboard is a mini ATX board, so should be 284x208mm. A 5770 is 210mm, a little longer with the stock HSF on because it overhangs the end of the card by ~7mm or so. Now, again, look at the picture, the board is, width ways, 208mm. The card will not fit past the hard drive, optical drive and will be conflicting with the wires. It will also have near no airflow what so ever even if it could fit in.

It would be, without the power cable plugged in, up to the hard drive, and bare in mind said ATX power cable plugs into the end on the standard PCB, so that wouldn't fit in. It will not fit into his case, and just about no gaming card will because it will be too long, and even if you get a shorter card, it will have minimal air flow, which to suggest doing that in a system which already has pretty damn poor airflow is just plain silly advice to give
 
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alright all. so the OP already gave us a link to his case:
http://www.todaygadgets.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dell_inspiron_546.jpg

now this is not the same case as you have posted above this one. the case the OP linked has the dvd drive mounted the standard way, and in the post above this one it shows it mounted up and down rather the traditional side to side. so i think asati may have posted the wrong case. it will fit in the case the the OP Posted which is also at the biginning of this post and will work with out a problem. and air flow will be fine, just be sure to add another fan maybe. i did a simple yahoo search on the computer the OP originaly posted and i get the same case as he did, which is posted agian in this post. i dont know how you got the one above me comfused as his case, especialy since he posted a picture of his case, and its not even close to the one you posted.

to OP. if this IS the same case as you have, then everything we have suggested so far will work great.
 
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Depends on which case he has. A 546 or a 546s. If its a 546 it will work (maybe). If its a 546s it will not.
 
I do NOT have the mini/slim tower version. It is a full sized case. It doesn't look like the picture Aastii posted. I believe I will be able to fit the card and the power supply fine.

Thanks to everyone.
 
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