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April 10th, 2014 17:00

Upgrading graphics card Dell Vostro 460 mini tower

Hello everyone. I'm completely new at this whole computer hardware thing, and I would like some assistance. I'm looking to upgrade my current graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce GT 420) for my Vostro 460, and I was wondering if anyone else had gone through this process or could give me some detailed help. I don't really know much about graphics cards, and trying to figure out which ones work with the system I have is a bit confusing.

I've gathered that I need to upgrade my power supply (currently 350 watts) in order to get a decent graphics card. I  was thinking about getting this 500 watt one which I saw recommended on a different forum-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151119&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=6146836&SID=f6vge9gxnfbi

That will fit in the Vostro 460 mini tower, right? Don't want to buy something and then not have it even fit. 

As for what graphics card I want, I'm fairly open in terms of price range. Basically I'm looking to run something like Skyrim on higher settings, but I don't need  a crazy gaming computer set up. Could anyone here offer me some advice on what I should be considering to buy?

1.5K Posts

April 11th, 2014 08:00

Just get a GeForce GTX 750 Ti and you will not even have to upgrade your power supply.  They only use 60 watts and GeForce Experience will optimize Skyrim on Ultra settings running at 1920 x 1080 res. with this card.

This one HERE is popular and does not even require any auxiliary power connection because of how power efficient this new chip is and they run very cool so you won't have any concerns at all about heat.  

9 Legend

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47K Posts

April 11th, 2014 08:00

Skyrim on Higher settings REQUIRES a Crazy Gaming System.

Fortunately AMD has a Low Power 75W solution.

Uninstall the NVIDIA Drivers and get back to plain VGA.

Then install an

ASUS R7250-1GD5  (GDDR5) is much better than DDR3

The Radeon Cards won't hurt your power supply or your wallet.

The Asus card fits in Optiplex 755 tower with 305W power supply and works fine with all windows XP/VISTA/7/8

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-R7250-1GD5-Graphics-Cards/dp/B00FW53IDY

 

Discrete: GTX 260, 275, 280, 460 192-bit, 460 SE, 550 Ti, 560 SE, 650 


Discrete: HD 4870, 5770, 4890, 5830, 6770, 6790, 7750 (GDDR5), R7 250 (GDDR5)

 

9 Legend

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47K Posts

April 11th, 2014 08:00

The GTX 750 TI is likely over budget.

Thats what the "don't need a crazy gaming solution" means. I got an R7 250 at microcenter yesterday and it was $89 on sale.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/429764/02G-P4-3753-KR_NVIDIA_GeForce_GTX_750_Ti_Superclocked_2GB_GDDR5_PCIex16_29_Video_Card

2 Posts

April 11th, 2014 15:00

When I said that I didn't want a crazy gaming solution I meant that I didn't want to have to upgrade my system to the point where it would just make sense to buy a new computer. I am willing to spend some money on a nice graphics card so that I can also play the next 2-3 years of games on it without my system being completely obsolete. Oddly enough, someone else on a different forum recommended me a similar graphics card, so I'll have to ask what is the difference between this graphics card-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487025

and the one mentioned earlier-?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487024

$150 dollars is an acceptable price point for me, so I'm seriously considering buying one of these two, just curious to know what the difference is.

1.5K Posts

April 11th, 2014 16:00

I knew what you meant and if you did not have the expense of a PSU, then a little bit more on the video card could be affordable.  The difference between the two is that one is just their superclocked version. Therefore, it is factory overclocked to run stable so you don't have to do it yourself.  Generally, when the standard and superclocked versions are close in price, I usually go with the superclocked one to get a bit more performance so I don't have to go through the tedious process myself of overclocking the card. They are always the more popular versions of the EVGA cards.  

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