Upgrading from a ATI Radeon HD 2400 pro

[mikes1992]

Hello, I just wanted to get a recommendation for a cheap system upgrade. My computers only got a 250 watt power supply even though my GPU (2400 pro) requires a minimum of 300 watts. I think anyway, I couldn't really find much information on this card. I was looking at the 2600 but that recommends a 400 watt power supply and the 2900 a 550 watt. I highly doubt that I will really be able to upgrade the GPU without replacing my PSU. I've been using this computer for 5 years with no problems with the provided 250 watt PSU (Damn retailers skimping out on power supplys!, hahaha).


I also recently upgraded from a Intel E2160 to the E6700 aswell.

My computer is the Acer SA90

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2320059


I have got a gaming system using The GTS 450 along with an i5 2400 but I recently RMA'd the motherboard back to the store and haven't got any replys yet which is really frustrating :/, Especially since I've had time to buy a cheap 2nd hand CPU from ebay.


Thanks

 

[Supermuncher85]

Blast from the past ey? I would probably look at something more modern like the 7750 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161403

 

[mikes1992]

That's PCI E 3.0 though, I think my motherboard only supports PCI E 1.0... I could be wrong that my motherboard only supports 1.0 but not even my new computer supports 3.0 as far as I know. Thanks anyway.

 

[Supermuncher85]

PCIe is backwards compatible. The power consumption of the 2400 and 7750 at least on paper is the same.

 

[mikes1992]

Thanks, I never new that PCI-E was backward compatible! I bought a Sapphire HD 6450 for £26 and It's given a significant boost in graphics capabilitys. Windows Index says 5.1 gaming graphics now and was 3.6 (Vista).