New Acer Desktop Graphics Upgrade

[Sheeblasta]

I have just recently purchased a new desktop more specifically the,

Acer Aspire AX3300-U1322 Athlon II X4 620(2.6GHz) 4GB DDR3 1TB NVIDIA GeForce 9200 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Heres the link from Newegg where I bought it.

Heres the catch, 220w psu

I was aware that it did not come with a graphics card but I figured If I had to i'd upgrade the PSU and buy a cheap graphics card as well.
What I want to know is would it even be worth it to upgrade if its being used for photo/movie viewing/editing & very moderate if any gaming would significantly improve quality as well as performance at the lowest price possible. I am also concerned about the one and only fan is enough or making the hardware a ticking timebomb.

Someone that also purchased this computer off newegg left this review,

Pros: It is a great little HTPC. It is silent and runs cool with its massive CPU cooler. I added a Sapphire 4650 to it and it runs perfectly, even with the 220W power supply. It runs L4D2, CS:S, and WoW at near max settings @ 1900x1200. There is an opening at the top of the case right where the video card fan is, a near perfect placement.
Cons: There is a PCIx1 slot but I am worried about airflow to it and the video card directly above it. I bought an external TV tuner because I didn't want to risk cramming another card inside the case.

The DVD drive works fine, though the button to open the tray is not very responsive.
Other Thoughts: Don't let the power supply worry you, even at max load the Sapphire low profile cards won't draw more than 75W. It won't run the newest games at max settings and super high resolutions, but it will run them well enough to play on my HDTV.

 

[-Fran-]

Well, the "other thoughts" part says it all... Since it's a low profile case, you won't put a "heater" card in it. You're very limited in options, but that doesn't mean they're bad options.

Look for a nice Ati 5670 or a nVidia 9600GT/9800GT-ECO according to your needs. Ati has DX11 and eyefinity (3 monitors), but you won't be using high quality over Full HD resolution (1920x1080) or HD (1280x720) while gaming, but might be useful for a lot of displays at the same time.

And with most low profile cards, you don't need extra power. At least, I don't know any that needs extra power.

Cheers!

 

[Sheeblasta]

I don't need one that supports dx11 or eyefinity, mainly photoshop / watching movies on my http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16889160016.. any other suggestions anyone?

 

[rolli59]

Hd5570 would be a max card for your PSU but based on your use a HD4350 or HD5450 would be enough card. Here is a test of the HD5570 http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5570,2552.html
And HD5450 http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5450,2549.html
As the benchmarks show both cards pull very little power.

 

[photonboy]

Unless you want it for playing games then there's no reason to buy a graphics card.

The onboard graphics does what you need it to. Very few non-gaming programs have any processing done on the graphics card.

My advice is to leave things as they are. if you are going to buy a card it should be for playing games and for that I'd get one of the ATI 5xxx cards that costs $150-$200.

Again, unless you want to play games there's little point to an upgrade.

 

[rolli59]

Unless you want it for playing games then there's no reason to buy a graphics card.

The onboard graphics does what you need it to. Very few non-gaming programs have any processing done on the graphics card.

My advice is to leave things as they are. if you are going to buy a card it should be for playing games and for that I'd get one of the ATI 5xxx cards that costs $150-$200.

Again, unless you want to play games there's little point to an upgrade.

The dedicated card handles HD much better than the onboard. Another thing it does is it frees up his system memory.

 

[Sheeblasta]

Yea thats what I was thinking, im not looking to go big time... just the best cost : efficiency i can get for about 50-75bucks

 

[rolli59]

5450 you get for mas or minus $50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048%20106793261%201067955197&name=Radeon%20HD%205450
5570 for $75 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048%20106793261%201067955283&name=Radeon%20HD%205570
4350 for $35 in the 64 bit version http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048%20106792627%201067944922&name=Radeon%20HD%204350

 

[Sheeblasta]

Best answer selected by sheeblasta.