Acer M3450

[ccspizza]

I have a friend that got a new computer, the Acer Aspire M3450. I have an old hd4550, which is better than the stock 4250 that comes with the aspire. Thing is, I'm not sure what kind of motherboard he has, and if he has the pci express slots needed to use the card. I haven't been able to get any info on this motherboard, and seeing as how my friend lives a few states away, I cant check myself. Plus, would he need a new psu? It comes with a 300W and the card requires 300. Is that pushing it or can he get away with continuing to use the 300w?

thanks

 

[tsnor]

HD4550 is a 25 watt card. It will work fine with the 300w PSU.

Google should be able to tell instantly if the PC has a x16 PCIe slot. but I couldn't find it. The closest I came was "Graphics1 ATI Radeon™ HD 4250 Graphics, featuring:

Microsoft® DirectX® 10.1 support

Discrete card support for high-end NVIDIA® GeForce® and AMD™ Radeon™ high-end graphic cards
Microsoft® DirectX® 11 "

that implies that it has a pcie x16 slot.

The case said "tower" not "small form factor". Odds are high that the card will fit (that he doesn't need a low profile card)

Agree with you the 4550 is an upgrade, and think install should be fairly simple. Suggest you ask you friend to open case and see if there is a slot. Look at the PCIe x16 slot photo in Wikipedia to get a positive ID. If they can't open case and find slot then they cannot install. If they can find pcie x16 slot then install is easy.

edit: or have them open case and take photos of the MB and email you.

 

[kevin_63]

The card will fit, however you will have to move the wireless network card and antenna to a different PCI-E slot in order to use the x16 PCIe slot. Have fun it's kind of a pain.

HD4550 is a 25 watt card. It will work fine with the 300w PSU.

Google should be able to tell instantly if the PC has a x16 PCIe slot. but I couldn't find it. The closest I came was "Graphics1 ATI Radeon™ HD 4250 Graphics, featuring:

Microsoft® DirectX® 10.1 support

Discrete card support for high-end NVIDIA® GeForce® and AMD™ Radeon™ high-end graphic cards
Microsoft® DirectX® 11 "

that implies that it has a pcie x16 slot.

The case said "tower" not "small form factor". Odds are high that the card will fit (that he doesn't need a low profile card)

Agree with you the 4550 is an upgrade, and think install should be fairly simple. Suggest you ask you friend to open case and see if there is a slot. Look at the PCIe x16 slot photo in Wikipedia to get a positive ID. If they can't open case and find slot then they cannot install. If they can find pcie x16 slot then install is easy.

edit: or have them open case and take photos of the MB and email you.