Upgrading Graphics on AX1301-U1312

[rienone]

Hi there all,

Hopefully you guys can help me out. I have a ACER AX1301-U1312 low profile desktop with an Athalon II X3 425 Rana proc. and integrated GeFore 9200 graphics. I am going to attempt to move it to a new Rosewill Challenger case, give the proc an aftermarket heatsink, upgrade the psu, and get a new graphics card. The mobo has 1 PCI Express 2.0 expansion slot and one PCI 1 slot. The profile of the new card will not be an issue since it will be in the new case and I will have sufficient power, but I'm looking for recommendations on what card I should get and how to get it to work. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks all!

 

[whatismyproblem]

with that cpu a 7770, 6850 or 550 Ti, 560 should be more than enough

 

[rienone]

Awesome! That's what I have been putting in and out of my cart for a week now. 550s and 560s fermis. Any idea on a budget card? like 80 bucks? I have been wanting to buy a 500 series but I will be ultimately buying an i5 2500k and an asus z68 mobo so I may wanna just buy a 100 budget card and buy a beastier $300 card (like 660ti or something) when I get the proc/mobo. Any cards even worth buying for under 100 bucks? I imagine that any card will be better than the integrated nvidia 9200...

 

[whatismyproblem]

what resolution do you run at and what games do you play?

 

[rienone]

swotor

 

[rienone]

1900 on my HDTV... some wow, starcraft, minecraft, AOE3, CIV4....

 

[rienone]

Also, will I have to change anything for it to utilize the new card, or should be pop in and go?

 

[rienone]

yeah, seems like a good plan.... Thanks a million!

 

[whatismyproblem]

get a 550Ti and download the latest drivers from Nvidia something like 30x.xx

 

[jtenorj]

was checking out prices on the egg

you can get a OCed evga gtx550ti for 105 after a rebate of 15 and free shipping.
you might get that reference looking cooler to push the core from 950 to 1ghz.

you can get one of two HIS 7750s for 100 after rebate of 10, free shipping.
one is passively cooled so not a good overclocking candidate but would be good
in a home theater environ. some 7750 results show near 5770/6770 performance
levels. the other 7750 has a decent hsf for a card with this low of tdp and should be
fairly overclockable to surpass the 550ti. Don't forget the latest drivers from AMD
that give the entire HD700 series a sizeable performance boost compared to how
they fared back when they first launched.

 

[jtenorj]

do you live in US(bucks)? california(20%of population and home of the egg)?
i guess there is tax on purchases by folks in CA for that site. haven't checked
others like amazon but maybe similar prices/rebates/shipping?

 

[rienone]

Great stuff! Thanks! I have that EVGA in my cart right now! Might go that way. Here's my upgrade parts list... I have the Rosewill Challenger case already...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131767
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130625
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182132
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231426
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

What do you think?

That PSU goes Shell Shocker deal tonight...

 

[jtenorj]

and I know you will be eventually replacing your proc and this cheaper GPU but since
you Athlon II x3 425 Rana is 2.7 stock I wonder how far can you push it with an
aftermarket cooler and is it possible it might still bottleneck your selection of games?

 

[jtenorj]

a little confused...

you already have a Athlon II x3 and mobo but are buying another mobo when you
plan to get i5 2500k and a z68? why? limited/no tweaking options on your current
mobo?

Also noticed the hyper 212 evo(better than plus?) is also 30(after rebate of 5) ships free.

Didn't like the 7750 idea?

 

[rienone]

you mean the proc might be too puny to utilize the 550ti fully? I was hoping to unlock a stable 4th core but that's hit or miss with these x3s.

 

[jtenorj]

ram looks good for price. wonder about heatspreader cllearance vs. hsf.
PSU good too. How much will the shell shock drop the price?

you want a shell shocker...

AMD reference HD6770 1GB gddr5 for 80.00 free shipping! Today only and in stock!

 

[rienone]

yeah the stock asus board is crap and might not even have the mounting holes. It def doesnt have a io sheild and I can use ddr3 ram with a new board. the stock board has ddr2 maxed out at 4g. forget the other build... (i5+z68 mobo) that was going to be a project in this case but now I am going to put this X3 in there and see what it can do. Then, when I have the money for the i5 build, I will move this x3 to a home theater build.... maybe if it isn't crap by then or I haven't killed it. LOL

 

[jtenorj]

yeah, you might be able to unlock that core which would be pretty sweet.
is that why the new amd mobo? you cant try to unlock on the old one?

 

[jtenorj]

oops. you already answered the question. a little slow on the draw I guess...