Graphics card for old Intel Core 2 Duo E8400

burbly

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Feb 7, 2011
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A friend of mine wants to put a graphics card into a pretty old PC, to make it able to run some games. Nothing cutting edge -- handling most games from say 3 years ago on low settings would be fine. [Or if more concrete suggestions are helpful: last time I visited I tried to get Crusader Kings II and Endless Space to run, but neither would run on the integrated intel chipset.] A CPU-Z log from his computer is available here:

http://people.ds.cam.ac.uk/mg262/CPU-info.html

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
 

Dom_79

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I agree with rolli59 as long as your friend has a 400W PSU. Since the system is a Dell OptiPlex 780 it is unlikely that it can provide that much power. But if your friend is willing to upgrade the PSU also, most ATX PSUs will fit in there.

Without upgrading the PSU you probably can't get better then a HD6450- which won't run Crusader Kings II either I'm afraid (and if the PSU is getting wonky it may not do well with that GPU either).

If your friend wants to get a new PSU here's my suggestion:
1. Corsair cx430 : http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026
2. SeasSonic 400 OEM: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151076
 

Dom_79

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Didn't mean to contradict you rolli59 :) I had an OptiPlex 760 with the 305W delta and (possibly because it was 4 years old and had seen heavy use) it had trouble with a GT 640 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130969 and four sticks of Corsair XMS2 800MHz. So I was just basing my PSU suggestion on that :)

But I have heard that Radeon cards do draw less power than NVidia, so I guess their 400W PSU recommendation is just overkill to cover their butts. Seems like PSU overkill is the new "fad" or something :D
 


Recommendations are always high because of all the crap units that are on the market but card manufacturers cant be biased and have to include in their recommendation.