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Which video card for a small PC with a crappy power supply ?

Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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I got a Lenovo H430 5311430 desktop PC. It has an i5 3330 processor. It's brand new in the box, waiting for Xmas day. (it's a present for the family). I have my own gaming PC in my man-cave that I use, but I'd also like to be able to play games on this PC. So, I definitely need to get a video card for this thing, but I have three major issues to deal with:


Issue No.1 - Power Supply is likely very crappy. (box is still sealed cause it's an Xmas present, but I'll open it up and try to get the exact make and model of the power supply, but lets just assume it's a crappy 300 watt PSU. I need one of those cards that use very little power, so that I might be able to avoid a PSU upgrade.

Issue No.2 - The tower is a small tower. It's not a full sized tower. I'm not sure how much actual room is in there for adding a video card, but I'd imagine that I would need one of those cards that can fit into a small space

Issue No.3 - My budget for this card is about $120 out the door after all taxes, shipping and rebates, etc, etc. I'd really like it to be $99 out the door, but I know that it can be hard to squeeze the price in under that $100 cutoff.

I actually used a Lenovo like that in a build. It has a 250w PSU, you should just scrape by on a 7750 with it. The case is plenty big for a card that small, I had a 7850 in it with bags of room. If you choose to upgrade your GPU in the future you'll need to either get a new case... or saw the lower hard drive cage out :) 
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cookybiscuit said:
I actually used a Lenovo like that in a build. It has a 250w PSU, you should just scrape by on a 7750 with it. The case is plenty big for a card that small, I had a 7850 in it with bags of room. If you choose to upgrade your GPU in the future you'll need to either get a new case... or saw the lower hard drive cage out :) 


I would be very wary about installing a Radeon HD 7750 in a PC with only a 250w PSU regardless of the manufacturer. Even Seasonic PSUs.

If in fact it is a 250w PSU, then the most powerful GPU I can comfortably recommend is the Radeon HD 6570.
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i agree with jaguar, ur not gonna wanna risk that system stability with such a crappy hp powersupply, best bet get a powersupply thats stronger and thats compatible with slim line and get a slimline 7750 :) 

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