Dell Optiplex SFF Video Upgrade

[poohbie]

I have a dell optiplex 745 sff
currently

3 gigs ddr2 ram
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400
275 Watt standard sff power supply
Radeon x1300 Pro 256MB pcie video card
PCI-E x 16 slot

2 questions

1. seeing lots of low profile video cards wanting minimum 300 watt power supplies
i want to upgrade the video card to something that is Windows 7 Compatiable
ie true Windows 7 drivers not Vista drivers but i would like 512mb of memory
is there anything out there i could possibly use

2. is it possible to upgrade the power supply to either 1 just run the video card or total over all upgrade from 275 to 300 + watts i know being a sff case this limits things quite a bit.

thanks in advance for any help

 

[Archean]

Can you provide part # of your system's PSU? Although I am skeptical anything compatible can be found as easily for such specialized design.

 

[poohbie]

Dell FR619 power supply 275 watts
unfortunatly this is a small form factor pc
standard size power supplies will not fit

 

[Archean]

That is a devil to find really; also according to dell's specs the chasis's height of your optiplex 745 SSF is 3.65 inches that isn't that roomy at all, however, I would suggest you to have a look at newegg.com and search for low profile graphic cards; and choose something which fits your budget; I don't think you will need to replace your PSU for such card anyway. Let me know if I can be of any further help.

 

[poohbie]

Well for those watching this post, I decided to go with a BFG Nvidia GeForce 210 with 512 mb DDR2 memory, i found a few posts where some have tried this with 250 watt power supplies with success, granted this is only marginally better than my current Radeon X1300 Pro the most important factor at this stage is thats it is windows 7 compatiable ( true windows 7 drivers not just vista) and should expect a little better overall performance, my computer is not designed to gamer so at this stage looks like this is the best i can do. Hope this helps others, btw the new card is due to arrive tomorrow by fedex so will post how it all goes after i get it up and running.


many thanks to Archean for his help

 

[Archean]

You are welcome poohbie; goodluck with your new graphic card; and let us know if you need any further advice. Regards