Old Alienware, 330 W Power Brick, What graphics card can I get?

[crimsonhawk47]

I have an alienware andromeda r5. I know there's newer versions of this with updated standards, so here are my specs.

Geforce Gtx 555
Intel i7-2600 cpu @3.40 ghz
8 Gigs of ram
64bit

So I'm trying to play dead rising 3, and I don't even meet the minimum requirements. I assume my cpu is fine as a low end i7 to meet their i5, so I imagine it's just my graphics card. Here is a link to their specs. http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=8087&game=Dead%20Rising%203

So, this comp is small because the power supply is on the outside; a brick. I looked up the model number, and it's evidently a 330watt power adapter.

I don't know THAT much about computers, so I have a few questions.

1) Do I need to open up this computer and see if there's an internal section of the power supply I need to look at? Or is the brick everything I need to know and I can assume this is a 330W computer?

2) What is the difference between minimum graphics requirements and minimum system requirements for a graphics cards power consumption? Say if I wanted a gtx 670 http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-670/specifications
It says the system requirement is 500W but the graphics is 150W. Does that mean I can't get a 670?

3) Could I theoretically just replace this brick with a stronger dell brick and then upgrade the graphics card? (Assuming this brick won't be enough).

4) If ALL else fails and I can't upgrade this graphics card, how can I build a new comp with the parts I have? Could I buy a chassis and a power supply/graphics card, then take the motherboard/cpu/harddrive out of the alienware and put it into the chassis?

 

[ManagedMonkey]

1) You do not need to open the computer to check the wattage because there will be no information due to it being an external power supply and not internal.
2) I believe the minimum graphics requirements vs the minimum system requirements for graphics cards power consumption is that for example: the graphics card only uses 60 watts, but it requires a 300 watt power supply because of other consumption and the speed at which it gives that power.
3) You could upgrade the graphics card in the andromeda r5, my suggestion is the gtx 750 Ti so you would not need to upgrade the power brick because power bricks can be hard to find with a high wattage, however the 750 Ti would work with your current power brick.
4) you could build a new computer with a new power supply and chassis, but you cannot take the motherboard and cpu to install in an atx case because of the proprietary form factor, however, you can take the hard drive out. If you would like me to help you pick out some nice parts to install if you get a new build, I can help you out with that, just reply with a budget and whatnot.

 

[James Mason]

I'd also say the the 750 ti would be your best bet.

Dead Rising 3 may very well be a terrible port, so it's not your computers fault it can't run it.

 

[ManagedMonkey]

I'd also say the the 750 ti would be your best bet.

Dead Rising 3 may very well be a terrible port, so it's not your computers fault it can't run it.

Yeah I agree, kind of like GTA IV's pc port.

 

[crimsonhawk47]

Dead Rising has always struggled between features and the amount of zombies on screen, so it would make sense the pc port is super graphically demanding (though not really excusable, considering that it's not the first game to have a lot of models on the screen at once, or demanding graphics).

Why does that ti model require so little power? That's kind of surprising.

 

[ManagedMonkey]

Dead Rising has always struggled between features and the amount of zombies on screen, so it would make sense the pc port is super graphically demanding (though not really excusable, considering that it's not the first game to have a lot of models on the screen at once, or demanding graphics).

Why does that ti model require so little power? That's kind of surprising.

Yea it has 640 cuda cores which is less than the 650 Ti BOOST but it uses PCI-e 3.0 instead of 2.0 which they could use a higher memory bus so I just think it was better managed this time around.

 

[crimsonhawk47]

Well that sounds great. I can probably run the total war games much better with this too (Oddly the Benchmark for performance on Hitman was lower than a lot of other games, though Hitman seemed like a poor use of resources anyway).

Idk if you guys know this off hand, but should I look in the andromeda and make sure this will actually fit? Do I have to worry about anything like "Oh, this requires 300w, unless you happen to have this part).

 

[jeffredo]

The GTX 555 is a 150 TDP part, so you could run something along the lines of a GTX 660 (140w TDP). Its a about 15% faster than a GTX 750 Ti. Still, given that case I'd go with the GTX 750 Ti. Paired with that CPU you'd have a pretty capable little gaming rig ( Dead Rising 3 not withstanding). Your GPU would be 75% of recommended (vs less than 50%). I'd wager that once its released/patched with drivers optimized you'd be able to run it at decent quality settings.

 

[crimsonhawk47]

I think it might just be a bad port.

I mean this new ASUS at my dorm has a gtx 750 and an i7-4790s and it says I don't meet the minimum specs (it being nvidia experience). I'm going to try it out tonight. If it doesn't work, Idk if I'll even get the 750 ti for my other comp.