VOSTRO 200 HIGHEST GRAPHIC CARD

[Guest]

Hi all. I have a Vostro 200 Mini Tower with 300 watt power supply. Here link to general spec

My spec is:
Intel core 2 duo E6550@2.33GHz(socket 775 LGA)
The motherboard is Dell model 0CU409(G33/G31/P35 Express Chipset)
2x1GB DDR2 PC2-5300(333MHz)
Nvidia Geforce 8300 GS with 128MB
320GB HDD
DVD+/- rewiter
Misc. usb for mouse, keyboard, 1Gb(for memory boost) and earphone jack also case has an extra fan running

Note the motherboard is micro-ATX with 2 PCI slots, 1 PCIE and 1 PCIE x16 and is a modified Foxcom G33M02 for Dell.

These are some of what people recommend for an upgrade:
9600 GT
8800 GT
HD3850
HD4650
HD4670

Note: I think some of these card need PCIE secondary power connector. Not sure if my power supply come with it.

1)There are people who say none of these is recommended because of the power supply while some say Dell power supply are underrated(not sure if this is true) so its ok to upgrade to any of those cards. So basically mix idea not sure which is true.

2)And some say eeven if you can upgrade those cards there will be bottleneck. How do we know if there is a bottleneck?

3)Will the motherboard even support(handle) any of these card. How can we find out?

4)So any one know what is the highest graphic card that I can upgrade to for vostro 200? Or better yet a list/link of graphic card that vostro 200 can handle.

Thanks for the help.

 

[vladislav227]

i recomendent for you the 3850HD becuas if you want a better then you need a better psu i has the Hd4670 an a 400w PSU and my PSu is always too bad for my video card

 

[IROC_69]

i would recommend 8800gt i have used it and i did great

 

[Guest]

i recomendent for you the 3850HD becuas if you want a better then you need a better psu i has the Hd4670 an a 400w PSU and my PSu is always too bad for my video card

From this site it say the hd 3850 use alittle bit more power than the hd 4670. Also 3850 need a 6-pin Pcie power connected to it.
Since my rig dont have any extra 6-pin pcie power... so 3850 is out.

As for the 4670 from some site it say need minimum 400w PSU....

 

[rockyjohn]

There are a range of cards you can use - with a range of prices. What is your budget?

To get help with power supply issues, and to see what PSU connector to look for to determine if your power supply has the right one, go to upgradevideocards.com - about half way down this page:

http://www.upgradevideocards.com/criteria.html

Dell has had a good reputation for installing capable PSUs in their systems - I think they wisely realize it will minimize electrical problems down the road - while units are still under warranty. I had a Dell 8400 and it worked well. Course that is all historical and who knows for sure today?

Once you have a budget, a good first place to look for good cards is the THG article on the best video cards for the money, updated monthly to reflect new prices and new cards.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2964.html

Depending on your budget, you might want to consider the HD 5670, recommended in the THG article, and by many others, at the $75 price point. And read the THG review to see what that would buy you. I linked to it below on the power consumption page which shows the total test system using only 76w at peak load, os a 300w PSU should have no difficulty. And if you budget allows you may be able to move up to an even more powerful card.

Does you Vostro take a full height video card or does it need low profile?
Here is a good XFX full-size HD 5670, an excellent brand with a lifetime warranty, for $70 AR:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150467

Note" If you go with the HD 5670 get a card with GDDR5 memory - much faster than the DDR3 that many come with.


I would try to avoid those older video card families, because they are less efficient, don't have all the features of current cards, and are generally more power hungry. Note that the HD 5670 uses only 5 more watts than the 4670 but significantly outperforms it - sometimes by 30%.

 

[thently]

Ok I have allot of experience with this system it is quite nice as a dell sysem goes on the mod side. You can overclock it using pad mods I have a e4500 running 3ghz no issues and you can get a moded bios to turn on all the raid options. I have a 2 disk raid 0. And lastly I have a 8800GTX in it with a 400watt (this should explode but been running that way for a year) This is my spare gaming computer but it is very fast for what it is... I have another mini version like yours with the 9600GT LP LP that will run up to 1650x1080 fine..


Thently

 

[Guest]

There are a range of cards you can use - with a range of prices. What is your budget?

To get help with power supply issues, and to see what PSU connector to look for to determine if your power supply has the right one, go to upgradevideocards.com - about half way down this page:

http://www.upgradevideocards.com/criteria.html

Dell has had a good reputation for installing capable PSUs in their systems - I think they wisely realize it will minimize electrical problems down the road - while units are still under warranty. I had a Dell 8400 and it worked well. Course that is all historical and who knows for sure today?

Once you have a budget, a good first place to look for good cards is the THG article on the best video cards for the money, updated monthly to reflect new prices and new cards.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2964.html

Depending on your budget, you might want to consider the HD 5670, recommended in the THG article, and by many others, at the $75 price point. And read the THG review to see what that would buy you. I linked to it below on the power consumption page which shows the total test system using only 76w at peak load, os a 300w PSU should have no difficulty. And if you budget allows you may be able to move up to an even more powerful card.

Does you Vostro take a full height video card or does it need low profile?
Here is a good XFX full-size HD 5670, an excellent brand with a lifetime warranty, for $70 AR:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150467

Note" If you go with the HD 5670 get a card with GDDR5 memory - much faster than the DDR3 that many come with.


I would try to avoid those older video card families, because they are less efficient, don't have all the features of current cards, and are generally more power hungry. Note that the HD 5670 uses only 5 more watts than the 4670 but significantly outperforms it - sometimes by 30%.

Thanks for your reply. My budget is around $75 or less. I think my Vostro(mini tower) can take a full height GPU judging from the bracket.

I was also thinking of HD 5670. But from most of the site i goes, the power minimum requirement is 400w but my PSU have max power output of 300w. What I dont understand about my PSU is it also say on it: "Power output can't exceed 160w".

What does that mean? Which is it my PSU have max output of 160w or 300w?

Even with 300w max output can the HD 5670 run? Some ppl say yes some no...

How about bottleneck? Don't know if my motherboard and CPU will bottleneck the GPU.

 

[Guest]

Ok I have allot of experience with this system it is quite nice as a dell sysem goes on the mod side. You can overclock it using pad mods I have a e4500 running 3ghz no issues and you can get a moded bios to turn on all the raid options. I have a 2 disk raid 0. And lastly I have a 8800GTX in it with a 400watt (this should explode but been running that way for a year) This is my spare gaming computer but it is very fast for what it is... I have another mini version like yours with the 9600GT LP LP that will run up to 1650x1080 fine..


Thently

Hi Thently. Thanks for replying.

Question...what do you mean should explode? Becausse of the load? Will that really happen?

You got a vostro 200 with 300w PSU with 9600GT GPU?

Both GPU run about 100+w each...and both run smoothly?

Well if you rig can run either of those, with 300w PSU then there shouldn't be a problem with mine right?
Since HD 5670 run around 70w. From some site, they got 5670 rank higher than 9600GT and 8800GTX.

Some ppl say that their rig wont even start after install GPU with PSU requirement higher than their PSU.

How about bottleneck? Runs smoothly, no sudden screen freeze?

 

[rockyjohn]

As I explained in the my previous post, you should have no problem running a decent brand HD 5670 on a good 300w PSU - as shown in the article I linked. So you should have no problem - just stick to good brands- like the card I also linked.

You might be able to find a better deal on another brand - you can find a list of the better brands of video cards at this site:

http://www.upgradevideocards.com/brands.html

Regarding your question, I doubt that anything major would explode. But overloading a PSU will cause the electrical system to overheat, resulting in a failure at the "weakest point", which most likely would be the video card of mobo. For instance, capacitors could melt. If you are nearby, you most likely would smell some smoke. I am not sure what would happen if it were left unattended.