Upgrading Help on my Compaq SR1950NX Please

[khronikx]

hello all i want to do a bang-for-the-buck upgrade on my comp
cheapest video card possible that can run WoW better than I am currently.
- all settings on low but with view distance on high
nothing fancy, this is just to improve gameplay a bit until I build a new PC

Compaq Presario SR1950NX
AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3800+ 2.41 Ghz
2.5GB RAM (pretty sure its miss-matched will be getting 2GB of the correct RAM to total 3.5GB RAM)
Integrated Nvidia Geforce 6150 LE Video Chip
Stock PSU - 300w
3PCI Slots (2Open)
1PCI Express

 

[knightdog56]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130602 This should work for world of warcraft, and stay within the limits of your power supply.

 

[khronikx]

my RAM isnt DDR3 is that ok?
just ran a scan on my RAM:
DDR PC2700 1GBx2
DDR PC3200 512MBx1 (think this is what came with it)

if DDR3 on the GPU is ok with my comp would this 210 be better?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150640

or this card?? says PCI 2.1x16 - backwards compatiable?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150600

 

[knightdog56]

Never ran any XFX cards, from previous reviews EVGA was a bit better so between the two I chose EVGA. Your motherboard memory will not have any conflicts with video memory.

 

[nbelote]

Spend a tiny bit more money and get a GT 520, it meets the 300W PSU requirement and it'll blow the 210 out of the water.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130680

 

[khronikx]

hmm alright, was going to ask about the 520 think I saw it on tigers for cheaper

 

[nbelote]

I have also put these in a Dell OEM case with a 300w PSU:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=602622&CatId=7005

They're just a bit more pricey, but the performance gain is phenomenal. Well over a GT 520.

 

[knightdog56]

hello all i want to do a bang-for-the-buck upgrade on my comp
cheapest video card possible! Thats why I went very cheap because you did not want spend$ because you were going to build a new PC.

 

[khronikx]

ended up getting a radeon 5450 512mb for free

works great compared to the last ~7 years of WoW/D2 on the integrated 6150 LE
comp responds faster and WoW can be played on "good" at 40fps

now my only question is, is this safe?
it came out of a modern prebuilt with a 300w PSU but ive seen a few spec lists/reviews saying it needs minimum 400w