Upgrading GPU in Acer X3900

[giftig450]

hi,
i have recentley brought an acer X3900 it has an Intel Core i5-650 and 3GB RAM,
i want to upgrade the graphics card on this thing but i am unsure of what to get, what could this computer handle? would there even be a place to fit one on the motherboard? i am looking to spend between 100 and 200 pounds, im not really 1 for the best graphics and all my games run mainly on low settings on an 8600m at the moment, but a fairly good upgrade would be nice, Thanks, oh yeh and i like nvidia 1's, dont wana change, cheers

 

[JMMD]

According to Acer's website you can use a low-profile video card and there is a x16 PCI-express slot. The power supply is only 220W so you're pretty limited to what will run on that machine.

 

[giftig450]

so upgrade the power supply aswell?

 

[Zilpha]

The recommended power supply is usually listed on the product details for whatever video card you are looking at. Most high performance ones need 600+ watts.

You might run into an issue with the power supply as well, though. Computers like that are proprietary designs and you won't be able to just pick up any old standard power supply. In looking at the description, it's even smaller than an HP 5850 and those are small. You'll want to verify with your documentation whether you can even use a standard power supply or if you have to order something directly from Acer.

 

[giftig450]

but acer would sell somthing for the power? i dont want a high performance graphics card just a normal new 1

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
SAPPHIRE 100297L Radeon HD 5830 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ ATI Eyefinity Technology
On second thought
EVGA 768-P3-1360-TR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

 

[giftig450]

both look nice lol are you sure the power supply would fit after earlier concerns with the size and all?

 

[JMMD]

CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

If you look at the product page for his PC you can see it's not a standard chassis. It's a small form factor PC only 4" wide. I don't think it's going to accept a standard ATX power supply.

 

[giftig450]

hmmm after considering all the input here lol have decided to cancel my order for the pc seems to be getting very expensive lol thanks for all your help though

 

[Zilpha]

You're better off building your own machine to be honest. Then you have complete control over what parts to put in it, and if you go with standard parts then you know that you won't have these goofy compatibility issues.

Newegg is a great place to find parts and partial kits.