Yeah, another Dell E310 Video Card Question

[r3claimer]

Okay, I'm sure you're all tired of the Dell E310 questions, but at least I've done a little research already. I know that about the best possible graphics card I can buy is the Galaxy GeForce 7300GT. I also know that my power supply will not support it. What I don't know is where to find a new power supply, and I also do not know where to find the video card. It's almost non-existent. SO! What I would like you guys to help me with is finding this elusive video card, and a new power supply for my Dell. Not that it matters in this situation, but I upgraded my computer to have 2GB of RAM (Low Quality) So im sure it will work just fine. (Games that is.) If anyone knows about the whole power supply issue let me know. Quite honestly, I'm more concerned with finding the video card. If you guys find anything, let me know please. Thanks in advance guys.

 

[mailpup]

What country do you live in?

 

[r3claimer]

The United States. Tennessee if that makes a difference. If you're heading towards the idea that I'll have to buy it out of country, that's fine with me, as long as it's a trusted manufacturer.

 

[mailpup]

It makes a difference only insofar as where you can buy the card. Does the brand have to be Galaxy or can it be another brand as long as it is a 7300GT?

If you will consider another brand, check Newegg here.

 

[vnf4ultra]

It will be difficult to get the 7300gt pci-e x1 card in the US, probably the best bet would be ebay.

You may consider getting this adapter instead so you can use any x16 card, albeit at x1 speed.

You might check this thread out for info from one of our members on using the adapter.

 

[r3claimer]

To answer mailpup's question, yes, I would prefer the Galaxy GeForce if possible because it's version uses DDR3 memory. but if you all think that the difference between the cards will not be substatntial, I might do well to consider one of those cards.

Hmmm, the adapter idea is very interesting. If you have a suggestion on what card I might consider for such a device, let me know. I'd prefer to buy something low cost because I'm going to build a PC (Most likely) next year. If it's at all possible that I'll be able to play a game like Call of Duty 4 or UT3 on this kind of setup, let me know, because honsetly, I didn't expect such a development.

As for the power supply, I have actually found a decent search result on nextag:

http://www.nextag.com/silencer-470-dell/search-html

I was thinking of purchasing the lower power 360W PSU, as I doubt I'll need more than that. Please let me know if it seems to be a legit source.

One more thing. Am I going to have to edit my case for any of this sort of work? I REALLY don't wanna go cutting and reworking my case, having absolutely no experience in anything of that sort, so if I can avoid it, that would be great...

 

[vnf4ultra]

The problem with using the adapter is that it raises the card higher off the board than normal, so it may not fit without case modification. I'd imagine a low profile card would work better with the adapter than a full size card. (edit: the adapter is designed to work with low profile cards, so low profile is what you'd need for a "no mod" fix). Here's what I'd recommend as a budget, yet reasonably powerful low profile x16 card.
Radeon 3650 LP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102754

 

[r3claimer]

Seems like a decent card that will last me till next summer, maybe longer if I tone down the graphics, which isn't a problem. (I have been plaing Call of Duty United Offensive on my computer forever and it can't get over about 20FPS. That's very sad considering that the game was made around 2001 and I have it playing on minimum settings.)

 

[vnf4ultra]

I forgot to address your power supply question... The PCP&C power supplies should be good for your system. It appears that your system takes standard atx supplies, even though a lot of companies sell "specific" models for it. Here's another power supply to consider.
Corsair 450VX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003

I'd imagine any decent supply around 350W and up would be fine. I'd recommend purchasing from a known-good seller like newegg, mwave, tigerdirect, etc.

 

[nickc]

that Corsair 450VX is an excellent PSU.

 

[r3claimer]

Does it matter that the video card is PCI-E x16 (2.0), while the adapter is just is PCI-E x1--- PCI-E x16?

 

[godson]

The video card needs to be a low profile PCIe x16 card.. Not 2.0

 

[r3claimer]

It is low profile. Here is the link vnf4ultra sent me: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102754

It says PCI-E 2.0 but it is also low profile and x16.

Does this matter?

 

[vnf4ultra]

It should not matter. Pci-e x16 2.0 cards are generally backwards compatible with gen 1 slots. My 8800GTS 512 is pci-e x16 2.0 and I'm running it on my board which "only" has pci-e x16 gen 1.

As proof, I present exhibit A.
[CENTER]

[/CENTER]
As you can see under interface it lists the card as x16 2.0, but it's "@ x16" not "@ x16 2.0."

 

[godson]

Would that card be able to play CSS at high res etc? I'm thinking of getting that card and the adapter I have a e310 aswell..

 

[r3claimer]

Well, this pretty much answers all my questions. I see no other problems that could possibly arise for any of these components. If you notice anything I might need to know, well, please let me know. Thanks alot for the help vnf4ultra! =D

 

[vnf4ultra]

Would that card be able to play CSS at high res etc? I'm thinking of getting that card and the adapter I have a e310 aswell..

The card is certainly a fast card, it's a current midrange card, so it's basically like last gen's high end. CSS isn't especially hard to run (depends a lot on the map though), so it should be fine. The main question left in my mind is how much performance is lost by only having 1 pci express lane available. Tomshardware has done some tests and some results are good, like this, while others are not so good. A midrange card will be bottle necked less by the lower bandwidth than a high end card (i.e. 8800) though.

r3claimer: glad to help, best wishes! Let us know how it goes. I'm curious to the performance this setup will give, if you could run a benchmark (i.e 3dmark06, etc) when you get it set up and running, that'd be interesting. Of course, if that's to much hassle, then no worries.

P.S. There is a better low profile card (9600GT) available as well, but I suggested the 3650 mainly because of the budget concerns raised in this thread. The 9600GT also requires more power and needs a supplemental 6 pin pci-e power connector.