Dell 4700 video upgrade

[rayyraay]

i want upgrade my dell 4700 which has 3.0ghz 1.5gb ram and a ati x300SE without changing the psu. I heard the stock psu has about 305w but after a little research i heard dell manufactures overstates their psus. Now ive been seeing alot of forums saying the best upgrade would be the 8600GT or 8600GTS, But after researching once again alot of dell 4700 users are having issue running those 2 types of cards due to the psu not giving the amount of power needed to the card. Can anybody link a cards on newegg that would Definitly work on my dell 4700? my budget is around 50 - 60 dollars and i would like to run games such as cyrisis, fallout 3, and left 4 dead on middle settings.

specs: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4700/sm/specs.htm#wp1043338

 

[delluser1]

The Dell 305 can provide more than enough power for an 8600 GTS, it just doesn't have the required 6 pin power cable.
Look at the Radeon 4670 over at Newegg, a little over your budget but a decent card that doesn't require external power.

 

[edeawillrule]

Your system isn't strong enough when it comes to cpu and ram for you to get an HD 4670, but I think it could handle an HD 4650 although there would still be some severe bottlenecking.

Here is the 4650 I recommend: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102838

 

[rayyraay]

i was looking at this card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129110 would this card work on my 4700? the minium requirements is only 250 watts and i doubt my psu have less than that. Also from a respected company like visiontek seems quite a bargin

 

[edeawillrule]

The Radeon HD 3450 is much too weak for gaming purposes except for maybe Doom 3 or Half-Life 2. Although the HD 4550 delivers almost double the performance for $10 less: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102819

 

[rayyraay]

okay thanks alot ^^ ill be looking into these cards, i just hope their compatible with my 5 years old dell computers without changing psu. I could even run Doom 3 on my current card (ati x300se) at mid setting with no lags what so ever. Anybody else want to give me suggestions on cards before i make my decision/purchase?

 

[AKM880]

Sapphire HD 4650 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102807

HD 3450 isn't a gaming card, mainly used for HTPC like HD and Blu-ray with DXVA.

 

[rayyraay]

are you sure that card will work? requires 400 watts whoa! O.O

 

[edeawillrule]

That one AKM posted uses 1gb of GDDR2 which would never be utilized and is slower than GDDR3 while using more power. Typically the 4650 will work fine on a 300w power supply easily.
The 4550 is pretty much the best you can use without being severely hindered by your cpu.

 

[rayyraay]

after this review http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=671&pageid=1 the 4650 was going to be my choice but edeawillrule stated that my cpu would be severely hindered. What will be the consiquences of picking the 4650 over the 4550? would my cpu not perform the 4650 to its peak? or my computer will reduce its life span?

 

[AKM880]

The computer lifespan probably won't be reduced. The 4550 is a good GPU that probably won't be slowed down by the CPU.

 

[rayyraay]

ok ive made my decision i will go with the sapphire 4550, ill be ordering in a short while. ill keep you guys updated on how this thing performs or if im having installing difficultys ^^ cross your fingers and hope this will work on a 4700 dell computer

 

[AKM880]

Good Luck!

 

[rayyraay]

xD my ati 4550 came in today i installed it with no issues. It ran perfectly on fallout 3 im really happy!!! but ive have been thinking, how do i know if id have any bottlenecking or not?

 

[edeawillrule]

Great!
I really doubt your pc is hindering the card that much but you wouldn't really know if you were having any bottlenecking without putting the card in a modern pc and comparing how many fps it is getting to yours (Or looking up a review for your card and compare how many fps you're getting to the benchmark results).
Besides, it doesn't really matter that much if it is performing as well as you want it to :]
Enjoy your Radeon HD 4550 and don't forget to download the latest drivers!
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx