OK folks, I know this isn't "cutting edge" but I'm looking to upgrade my graphics card. I limited in that I run an HTPC so needs to be a low profile card. I have a 1GB Nvidia GEForce GT430 at present but I'm upgrading to a 32" monitor and want to be able to run the display at 2560 res which I think needs to run over a DVI port to achieve this!? Anyway don't think I can get any 4GB LP card to run on that power supply unless someone can tell me different? With regard to the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750Ti Graphics Card (PCI Express 3.0 x16, 2GB, 5400GHz) the lowest comment on power I've seen is at 220w and seeded to be stable. Does anyone have experience of running at 160w or could suggest an upgrade card that would? I don't play games just want to use office documents, surf web, stream HD material. Any help or advice would be most appreciated, many thanks in advance.
Low Profile cards to run on 160 watt power supply
- Thread starter brakes508
- Start date
Solution
brakes508 :
lol hang the 9, I'm guessing I'd be "onto plumbs" now as it was built some 6 years ago! 
I'm waiting for the monitor to arrive and will obviously test it was just trying to suss if I could get a performance upgrade for my nice new screen! it's more the HD steams I was thinking may struggle at 2k over DVI. I know that normal web surf and office tasks will be fine and my thinking may prove unfounded when I actually try it was just keen to explore the best option given I was upgrading my monitor as well.
I'm waiting for the monitor to arrive and will obviously test it was just trying to suss if I could get a performance upgrade for my nice new screen! it's more the HD steams I was thinking may struggle at 2k over DVI. I know that normal web surf and office tasks will be fine and my thinking may prove unfounded when I actually try it was just keen to explore the best option given I was upgrading my monitor as well.
That card would run HD video with no issues, you won't be running 4k and 1080p will be fine. If you are upgrading for movies, don't, a 1080p screen is just fine or go to 4k. The higher res monitor would be for gaming or maybe...
FnaticMeister
Respectable
- Aug 9, 2016
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it depends on the rest of your computer specifications, but if you have a 160w power supply, there isn't really a space for upgrading, if you know what I mean. One of the lowest TDP's I know is the RX 460, which only takes 75 watts of power running on a PCI 3x-16 with no 6 pin power connector if you get the 2gb variant. Anyways, good luck!
blazorthon
Glorious
- Sep 24, 2010
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Displayport, HDMI, and DVI can all run the 1400x2560 resolution on modern cards. However, as above, I'd be concerned about using almost any graphics card with that power supply. AMD and Nvidia don't tend to make many newer very low power cards because integrated graphics from Intel and AMD already has that level of performance. A GT 630 (Kepler) 25W model or something similar may be fine, depending on the rest of your computer as FnaticMeister said.
blazorthon
Glorious
- Sep 24, 2010
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Hold up, the GT 430 should be able to output to a 2560x1400 display or a 2560x1600 display using HDMI or dual-link DVI. Why are you looking for a new card?
Thanks folks! it was a custom build 6 years ago by PCSpecialist in the UK and has been a great stable machine no issues. The board is a Intel DH57JG with an i5 680 dual core (3.60GHz, 4mb Cashe) processor, 8GB ram 2TB HD along with a DVD writer. The GT430 card has run fine no issue and given I don't play games on it I'm guessing (maybe incorrectly) that the load on the power supply would not be that heavy. Don't know if this info makes it any easier for folks to work out a potential solution. Oh and chucking it in the bin is not an option!!! lol.
I was looking for a new card as the original is only a 1GB and some 6 years old now and thought I like to get "a boost" in performance but do understand I'm limited with both the low profile and power supply option. I was basically looking for the "best bang for my buck" I can get with these limitations.
blazorthon
Glorious
- Sep 24, 2010
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Getting more memory on a card won't help performance unless you're doing some sort of GPGPU computation that needs more memory. 1GB is already overkill for a graphics card with a GPU as weak as the GPU on the GT 430. Don't buy weak cards with a lot of memory, they're a trick 
A GT 730 is a good option if you really want to upgrade, but don't worry about the memory capacity of the card. 1GB is plenty for you. More doesn't help performance if you aren't playing games or things that utilize the memory.
A GT 730 is a good option if you really want to upgrade, but don't worry about the memory capacity of the card. 1GB is plenty for you. More doesn't help performance if you aren't playing games or things that utilize the memory.
Cheers Blazothon! A crumb of knowledge in this game is a dangerous thing! that's why I came here for informed info!!Could anyone give me a hyperlink or exact model as when I put GDDR5 GT 730 into Amazon UK it lists loads and I'm not sure which one I should look at!? thanks appreciate the knowledge.
blazorthon
Glorious
- Sep 24, 2010
- 14,022
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The GTX 750 Ti uses more power than your GT 430, so I wouldn't recommend trying it.
Here is a UK link:
http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127830&cm_re=GT_730-_-14-127-830-_-Product
Here is a UK link:
http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127830&cm_re=GT_730-_-14-127-830-_-Product
blazorthon
Glorious
- Sep 24, 2010
- 14,022
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2GB versus 1GB won't have any difference at all for what you do. If the GT 730 had 0.75GB, it would still be faster. Companies slap 2GB, 3GB, 4GB, and sometimes more on these low end cards because they think the people who buy these cards don't know any better. The amount of memory does not have an effect on performance. More does not make the card faster, it only means that you can use more memory before the card practically stops working at all. If you have something using 0.5GB out of a 1GB card, then it uses 09GB, it doesn't speed up. If it then uses 1.1GB, then performance drops like a rock because there isn't enough memory to run properly.
If you don't play games, just do regular stuff, then you'll never need more than like 0.25GB or so. If you did play games, then any game settings intense enough to need more than 1GB on a GT 730 would run just as bad on a 2GB GT 730 because the card's GPU is too slow anyway. Like I said, higher memory capacities on low end cards is a trick to make you waste money on something you can't use.
If you don't play games, just do regular stuff, then you'll never need more than like 0.25GB or so. If you did play games, then any game settings intense enough to need more than 1GB on a GT 730 would run just as bad on a 2GB GT 730 because the card's GPU is too slow anyway. Like I said, higher memory capacities on low end cards is a trick to make you waste money on something you can't use.
Ah ha! the things you learn along the way!! Blazathon, thank you for sharing your knowledge always thought the higher the GB the better the performance but understand a bit better now from what you say. The hyperlink above shows the card ships from the US (although in £ price) and struggling to see a listing on a UK site! is it a US only card? see it on Amazon.com but not Amazon.co.uk nothing in life is ever straight forward!!
is it a US only card? see it on Amazon.com but not Amazon.co.uk nothing in life is ever straight forward!! 
James Mason
Titan
- Jan 2, 2014
- 13,553
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Well, the extra memory on these cards can be used to compensate for their slower processing speeds, so they can hold more info in memory as they're working through it, where as better cards can work through it faster and thus need less memory.
Also running larger resolutions can use up more VRAM, and you can connect quite a few large displays to a single low-end card like a gt730, so you CAN push the limits of those cards with multiple displays.
Also running larger resolutions can use up more VRAM, and you can connect quite a few large displays to a single low-end card like a gt730, so you CAN push the limits of those cards with multiple displays.
Is the £47.99 (top one) in the hyperlink the same as you see in the US blazorthon? Just quite a few the "look" the same so want to get it right. Being Scottish stupid would get me a refund!
http://www.ebuyer.com/search?q=MSI+GeForce+GT+730+DirectX+12+N730K-1GD5LP%2FOC+1GB+
http://www.ebuyer.com/search?q=MSI+GeForce+GT+730+DirectX+12+N730K-1GD5LP%2FOC+1GB+
hang-the-9
Titan
- Mar 25, 2010
- 60,387
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If they put in a 160 watt power supply in a computer with an add-on video card and an i5-680 CPU they need to have someone check over their qualifications as a computer builder.
Did you even see if your current video card can run the monitor fine? A few have already suggested you just keep what you have and that is probably the best thing to do.
Thanks James, I'm only going to run a single 32" QHD display at 25640x1440 and use office software, web surf but want to be able to steam and play HD streams and was worried the card I have at present would not be the best hence me asking for my best option given my low profile and 160 watt restrictions. blazathon explained a bit better for a thick Scotsman but always welcome more info and knowledge as I'm not really up on this kind of info.
lol hang the 9, I'm guessing I'd be "onto plumbs" now as it was built some 6 years ago! I'm waiting for the monitor to arrive and will obviously test it was just trying to suss if I could get a performance upgrade for my nice new screen! it's more the HD steams I was thinking may struggle at 2k over DVI. I know that normal web surf and office tasks will be fine and my thinking may prove unfounded when I actually try it was just keen to explore the best option given I was upgrading my monitor as well.
I'm waiting for the monitor to arrive and will obviously test it was just trying to suss if I could get a performance upgrade for my nice new screen! it's more the HD steams I was thinking may struggle at 2k over DVI. I know that normal web surf and office tasks will be fine and my thinking may prove unfounded when I actually try it was just keen to explore the best option given I was upgrading my monitor as well.
hang-the-9
Titan
- Mar 25, 2010
- 60,387
- 1,081
- 152,940
brakes508 :
lol hang the 9, I'm guessing I'd be "onto plumbs" now as it was built some 6 years ago! I'm waiting for the monitor to arrive and will obviously test it was just trying to suss if I could get a performance upgrade for my nice new screen! it's more the HD steams I was thinking may struggle at 2k over DVI. I know that normal web surf and office tasks will be fine and my thinking may prove unfounded when I actually try it was just keen to explore the best option given I was upgrading my monitor as well.
I'm waiting for the monitor to arrive and will obviously test it was just trying to suss if I could get a performance upgrade for my nice new screen! it's more the HD steams I was thinking may struggle at 2k over DVI. I know that normal web surf and office tasks will be fine and my thinking may prove unfounded when I actually try it was just keen to explore the best option given I was upgrading my monitor as well.
That card would run HD video with no issues, you won't be running 4k and 1080p will be fine. If you are upgrading for movies, don't, a 1080p screen is just fine or go to 4k. The higher res monitor would be for gaming or maybe having more items on the screen for spreadsheets, multiple windows for monitoring stocks, etc...
Thank you hang-the-9 I'll run the card on the new monitor when it arrives. Was just trying to work out if I could do a noticeable upgrade video card wise and it would kind of look like it's not worth doing! Guess I'll save some dollar but bit sad that if I want to upgrade i'll basically have to replace everything!
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