Best Graphics card for up to £100

[daniel_368]

Hi,

I'm looking for the best graphics card I can get for up to £100. My PC is a Dell Optiplex 740. It only has a 305W PSU and NO power connectors for a graphics card. A dual slot cooler will NOT fit in this case. I'm currently running an ATI X1650 GT which is ok but only supports DX9. I want to upgrade to a card which supports atleast DX10.

Summary

Price up to £100
Single slot cooler
DirectX 10 (or 11)
No power connector needed
Can run with a 305W PSU

I've been looking around but all the cards I have found around the £80-100 mark have dual slot coolers and require a power connector.

Thanks in advance,

Dan

 

[flyinfinni]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150451&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Video+Cards-_-XFX-_-14150451

That might be an option, or some version of the GT 240.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130509&cm_re=9600GSo-_-14-130-509-_-Product

The 9600 GSO is slightly more powerful than the GT 240, but uses a little more power.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150450

Probably about the same as the 9600 GSO and a little better than the GT 240, but again, probably a little more power usage than the 240.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

If you grab a currency calculator to US dollars....

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-310-5970,2491.html

Here's the "winners" from THG's latest (December) GFX Roundup
Best Graphics Cards For The Money: December '09


$50 - HD 4650
$65 - HD 4670 / 9600 GSO
$85 - 9600 GT
$95 - 9600 GT / HD 4830
$110 - GTS 250 512 MB
$120 - GTS 250 1 GB
$155 - HD 5770 / GTX 260
$200 - HD 4890
$240 - 2 x GTS 250
$310 - No winner (HD 5850 Honorable Mention)
$330 - 2 x GTX 260 / 2 x HD 5770
$400 - 2 x HD 4890
$410 - No winner (HD 5870 Honorable Mention)
$465 - No winner (GTX 295 Honorable Mention)
$625 - No winner (HD 5970 Honorable Mention

 

[flyinfinni]

Basically, the 3 I gave are the ones off that list that don't need an external power connector, and are single slot versions.

 

[Mousemonkey]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB-Gainward-GT-240-3600MHz-GDDR5-GPU-585MHz-Shader-1420MHz-96-Cores-D-Sub-DL-DVI-I-HDMI
Less than 100 and with you by the end of the week.

 

[Kari]

actually the 4670 uses slightly less power than a gt240
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Axle/GeForce_GT_240/28.html

 

[flyinfinni]

actually the 4670 uses slightly less power than a gt240
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Axle/GeForce_GT_240/28.html

Good call- my bad on that. Thanks for the correction. I was thinking of the 4770

 

[rawsteel]

go for 5750, you can get wrong there

 

[flyinfinni]

go for 5750, you can get wrong there

Problem is thats a double slot card and requires and external power plug (both requirements of the first post)

 

[daniel_368]

Thanks for the replies. At the moment the 4670 looks the best bet. However I would like to try get something a little more powerful. I can get the 4670 for £60.

The problem is that Dell put the motherboard on the opposite side of the case to most manufacturers. The PCI slots are below the PCI express slot, but due to everything being on the opposite side when you insert the graphics card, the fan faces up and needs a spare slot above the PCI express instead of below. There are some cards which look like single slots but their fans actually take up 2. (One example is Sapphires version of the 4670. http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173708 - You'll notice it says dual slot cooler in the description and if you look at the pic it looks like a single slot but you can see the fan is quite raised from the card.) I have to be careful with this type of card because the south bridge heat sink is just above my PCI express slot and I don't know if it would be in the way of the fan.

It's getting quite frustrating now. If I was to upgrade my PSU to a more powerful one with PCIe connectors are there any more powerful single slot cards which require a power connector?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[flyinfinni]

for under £100, I doubt you'll be able to get much better than the 4670, especially when you drop money on a PSU.
There is this card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130435
But it does take a power connector (one 6pin PCI-E connector). You can get an adapter to plug 2 4pin molex connectors in to get a PCI-E connection, and I would think you might be able to get it to run on a 300W PSU. I don't know your full system specs, but this should give you an idea at least of whether it can handle it:
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine
Hope you can work it out!

 

[deadlockedworld]

I dont think buying a new PSU and everything is worth it in an old optiplex... save the money for a new computer in a year or so. A better graphic card would likely be bottlenecked by your systems other components. (if i am right that you have the AMD Athlon 1640B 80GB/1GB?)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150451&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Video+Cards-_-XFX-_-14150451

That might be an option, or some version of the GT 240.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130509&cm_re=9600GSo-_-14-130-509-_-Product

The 9600 GSO is slightly more powerful than the GT 240, but uses a little more power.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150450

Probably about the same as the 9600 GSO and a little better than the GT 240, but again, probably a little more power usage than the 240.

^^This post is your best answer so far, cept for the fact that newegg is a US only retailer.

The GT 240, 9600GSO and HD 4670 are the most powerful cards that can run on a 300w psu and dont need additional connectors.

Out of these cards the 4670 is the best value, because you should be able to get it about 30% cheaper than the other two.

 

[deadlockedworld]

Single slottage!

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179669#

this is the first i found.. im sure if you take your time to look further you can find more.


Edit:

Check out this underclocked 9600GT!--it looks like it might fit. With the underclocking your PSU can handle it. I dont know about this model, but a reference 9600gt would be better than any of the models listed above. (much better than the 9600GSO)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169152

 

[rolli59]

There are some ECO 9800GT out that don't require a power plug that would be the best performing card in that category.

 

[rolli59]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169557 I believe this is one of those ECO cards.

 

[daniel_368]

for under £100, I doubt you'll be able to get much better than the 4670, especially when you drop money on a PSU.

I'm not going to drop the price of the graphics card to upgrade the PSU. I would still get a £100 graphics card as well as the PSU.

I dont think buying a new PSU and everything is worth it in an old optiplex... save the money for a new computer in a year or so. A better graphic card would likely be bottlenecked by your systems other components. (if i am right that you have the AMD Athlon 1640B 80GB/1GB?)

I think you have it mixed up with a different model or something. The spec is:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (2.61GHz Dual Core)
4Gb DDR2 667Mhz
320Gb SATA II HDD
ATI X1650 XT 256Mb
Win XP Pro (Installing Win7 64Bit in the next week or two)

Thank you for the replies, I will have a look at the other cards which have been posted.

Dan

 

[daniel_368]

The 9800GT looks like the best at the moment. However Zotacs spec says it requires a 400W PSU. So now that I've posted the spec of my PC, going back to my last question, are there any 1 slot cards for up to £100 which DO require a power connector?

Really appreciate all the help,

Dan

 

[deadlockedworld]

Honestly I think you may be limited to a 9800GT no matter what PSU... I dont know of any more powerful cards that dont have larger heatsinks except for this one that is outside of your price range (and not on ebuyer)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162045
Its possible there are other models with this heatsink--but i havent found them.

I had originally posted the 9600GT eco because they generally have lower power requirements than the 9800. I think you could probably get away with either of the low- power eco editions of the 9600/9800 with your current psu. I know for certain that the 9600 would be completely safe, but I only think that the 9800 would be. (the normal 9600gt only requires 350w--so the underpowered one would be totally safe) Companies always exaggerate power requirements on cards just to be safe--so you have some leeway.

If you decide to get a new PSU:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150985
While the wattage isnt a lot higher, the quality and efficiency is--it should run any card in your price range. I have it and it blows cool air out of my case. (if you get a gtx you might consider the 450w)

Its not a slimline model right? that would complicate everything.

 

[daniel_368]

The PSU's I was looking at are:

Coolermaster Silent Pro 500W (£65)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/147112

Collermaster RealPower 520W (£60)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134696

Although they are more expensive than your recommendation, they are both modular and apparently really quiet. (I had a PC which sounded like a hoover once... drove me mad!)

As for the GTX 260 it could be a consideration although it's ~£130. I will have a better look at it when I have a bit more time. So far on ebuyer.com the GT260's I have looked at are dual slot cards.

Thanks,

Dan

 

[deadlockedworld]

Yea the modular option is nice, but costs more. Corsair makes a modular 550w, but apparently its not on ebuyer. (my PSU is dead silent--All I hear are my drives)