upgrade video card?

Hello all,

I have a Acer Aspire X3400 with 6gb 64 bit, and looking to upgrade the video card, anyone know where they sell the smaller cards to fix the tiny PC case?

Thanks

 

Hi, strlrd. Welcome to Major Geeks.

The Acer Aspire X3400 already has an Nvidia GeForce 9200M GS graphics card in it. There really isn't an upgrade (not one that would make much difference anyway).

 

I understand, however, world of Warcraft tells me that the vedio card that I have is not combarable now. I have to use the lowest settings now.

 

Have you got the most up-to-date driver for your graphics system? Sometimes newer drivers provide better functionality. Something to make sure of.

From what I have read the GeForce 9200M GS is onboard video, right?

I think that board does have one or two PCI-E slots. I'd check what video requirements your games call for and see what is available in a low profile/small form factor video card.

The GeForce 9200M GS GPU is pretty long in the tooth . . . I'd be surprised if you were unable to find an add-on card that performs better. In addition to having dedicated onboard RAM, a newer GPU will support newer verisons of DirectX and Shader versions. Also, newer video cards have dedicated GPU's which take some of the work off the CPU, much more so than built-in graphics solutions.

Some things to research:

1) What type of PCI-E slot/s do you have? From the brief research I was able to do I gather there may be one PCI-E X16 slot, and one PCI-E X1 slot. It is possible there were different versions of the X3400 system manufactured so consult your paperwork, or research the exact model of the X3400 you have. Small form factor video cards exist that will fit in either slot. The X16 is of course the better choice.

2) Power supply. Any card you find that will fit in your small form factor computer will draw more power then your current on-board graphic system does. Whatever card you look at, check to see what the manufacturer's suggested wattage power supply is. Since you are dealing with a small form factor computer case, you might be better off only considering cards that do not require a seperate connection to your power supply. Such cards draw less energy then cards that do require such a connection. Downside is the more powerful cards usually require a seperate connection.

3) Heat will be a factor. Any card you go with, even low power, passive cooling types, will put out extra heat. You need to make sure your existing case cooling system is cleaned and functioning properly. Not being familier with your case I can't advise on this. You may have to look into additional cooling capacity for the case.

4) Memory Bus. The GeForce 9200M GS only has a 64bit memory bus. If possible, stick with cards that sport at least a 128bit bus. The bigger the bus, the bigger the price though. At the very least, if you can't find an acceptible card with a 128bit bus, don't go below a 64bit bus. Some manufacturers try to suck customers in with the high amount of RAM on their cards, but fail to point out that the smaller the bus, the less advantage the card can take of all that RAM.

5) Your computer paoerwork may list card dimension limitations for your case. Make sure any card you consider will actually fit . . . manufacturers of low profile cards should provide the exact dimensions of their cards.