Graphics card for 7-year-old Dimension 8400

[candersen]

I have a 7 year old desktop, give a year or 2. Its a dell dimension 8400. It has a ATI Radeon X300 at the moment and i want to upgrade.

Could any one help on where to look for a graphics card that would suit the system, or even suggestions?

Not too sure on the power supply, and wouldnt mind an old enough one that would suit the system, think its about 350w.

 

[cliffordcooley]

According to the Dell™ Dimension™ 8400 Service Manual, you do have a 350W Power Supply. If you open the case and look at the label on the PSU, it should tell you the ratings for the unit.

Here is a list of cards(newegg search) that should would well for you. I wouldn't worry about a more powerful card as your system would be a bottleneck as well as the 350W cap for power.

 

[tweakboy]

Grab a nVidia 7800GS AGP. gl

 

[dmill89]

Grab a nVidia 7800GS AGP. gl

Considering the dimension 8400 has an intel 925x chipset and PCI express x16 slot that would prove impossible.

As for the PSU a 350w will probably run any modern card that the CPU won't bottleneck. I wouldn't go any higher than a Radeon HD6670 or GeForce GT440 and a Radeon HD6570 or Geforce GT430 would make more sense. However the bigger concern is that the PSU is 7 years old since PSUs deteriorate as they age. This Dell uses standard ATX form factor but only has small cutouts in the back panel of the case for the power plug so if you get a new PSU and the plug is not in the exact same position as the Dell OEM PSU you will have to get out the tin snips and modify the back panel of the case for it to fit.