Put a vga in a gateway GM5442

[jkool55]

I am currently thinking of putting in a video card for a Gateway GM5442 that was purchased in 07. Here are the specs for the computer.

-Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 Dual Core Processor
-Intel 945G chipset
-2 gigs o' DDR2, 533 MHz, (PC4200) dual channel memory
-500 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA II hard drive
-Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
-15-in-1 high speed digital media manager
-DVD ±RW, 16X multi-format dual layer drive

There is also a network/ modem card as well as a tv tuner in place. The card will go in a PCIe x16 slot. (It is not 2.0).

Here is the kicker, there is only a 300 watt power supply with no available leads which wouldn't really matter I guess since the graphics card can only get power from the pcie slot anyways.

I am thinking of a 9400 GT however, I am open to other options. Firstly, the recommended wattage on nvidia's site for the 9400 is 300 watts, will I be able to even run the 9400 in the first place?

 

[jay2tall]

BOOM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341020 - 400w OCZ PSU $40

and BOOM BOOM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150337 XFX 4850 1GB $115 (it saysa 450W but this PSU is fine)

 

[jkool55]

Thanks for your response, but with 40+ 115 dollars i would rather take that 155 and put that into a 500 dollar system. The 9400 would be an attempt to help out this 3 year old system. In my opinion anything over 40 bucks wouldn't be worth updating a E4400 in a 945G chipset. In addition, even if I did spend 155 bucks for the power supply and the graphics card (which are very good recommendations and I thank you for the suggestion) it seems like the other hardware would bottleneck the graphics card. As a side note, like all pre built systems, the power supply position is always really awkward and hard to work with. In my mind its just not worth it to put a new psu in. I guess it was my fault not specifying the usage. This will not be used for heavy gaming at all. Its just only a fix to add a little life into a system for my parents that don't want to spend any money at all to update their computer.

 

[jay2tall]

You can always take the PSU and video card with you to a new system. Just a thought. A 4850 will not really be "bottle necked" in your system. Yes, it would run faster on a faster CPU, but that really isn't a bottleneck. ATI cards are less reliant on CPU performance than Nvidia cards. ATI has really FAT drivers that allow it to perform better on older systems. Just keep the old PSU if you ever want to sell the system and keep your upgraded parts.

 

[jkool55]

which do you think would be better an 8600gt 256mb with 128bit version or the 9400 gt 512mb with 128/64bit versions?

 

[jkool55]

I am liking the 8600 because it has 32 over 16 SP.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130297

is that a good deal?

 

[jkool55]

ok what about this card?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131169

so is the 8600 gt 256mb ddr3 128bit better than the hd3850 512mb ddr2 128bit card???? the ati chip is cheaper with rebate and there are 120 sp???????? beast