new video card

Hi Folks! I have a ZT Systems Affinity 7605Mi with a Core i5, Intergrated Intel HD Graphics, (2) PCI Express 2.0x1 and a 350w PSU. I want to upgrade my graphics to a much better quality but am not a big gamer.

I need suggestions and understand I may have to upgrade my PSU. I am an intermediate as far as my PC knowledge.

Charlie

 

http://www.ztsystems.com/default.aspx?tabid=1239&productid=28046

Welcome to the forum It depends how much you want to spend and how much of an improvement you want.

Unfortunately you only have a PCI-E 2.0 X1 so there are very few cards you can upgrade to,it's hard to recommend one because practically any card will be seriously limited by your computer even if you get the cheapest modern card you can get hold of it will be limited by the socket so there is no point spending more than $30 on one and you will not need to upgrade the PSU for card like that.

 

Thanks for the info. I didn't list one PCI slot, will that make any difference?

 

I'm not sure what you mean:confused

 

Rikky, my ignorance of computers is showing! Let me start over with the slots.

two PCI Express slots and one PCI slot.

 

No biggie It depends what speed the PCI-E 2.0 slot is,any PCI-E slot will accept a video card but the speed of the slot 'X1,X2,X4,X8,X16' will determine what video card you can make the most of.

I posted a link of your computer specs,can you confirm this is your computer?

http://www.ztsystems.com/default.aspx?tabid=1239&productid=28046

If so you have 'Two' PCI-E slots,both of these slots have a speed of X1,for any modern card you really need a X16 slot,this speed number "X16" doesn't denote the number of slots it denotes the speed of the slot.

Does that make sense? If it doesn't just say so

 

Rikky, thanks for taking the time with me. Yes, that is my PC. The two PCI Express slots are x2. It sounds "old".

 

I thought x16 was the size and x2 was speed. My specs don't show x16, it shows 2.9x1. I'm learning!

 

2.0x1 typo error

 

Yup so your hampered by that slot.

Your slot has a maximum bandwidth of 500megabytes a second, a X16 slot has a maximum bandwidth of 8 gigabytes a second

I wouldn't say old because you have an I5 CPU but they don't build those computers with upgrade potential in mind,they are made with economy in mind.

So this is where you are:-D You can still put a video card in there if you want to but it won't perform anywhere near its full performance,will it be worth it?

Here's an article comparing the same video card one in PCI-E X1 and PCI-E X16 versions.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/10...rmance_with_galaxy_geforce_7300gt/index1.html

As you can see they were able to play half life 2 at 1024X768 which I guess isn't too bad,playable. But it is a 7 year old game most modern games would be unplayable.

Your not much of gamer either so I'm wondering what possible you would notice from an upgrade as it won't make video's play any better,your computer won't be faster and it won't look any better because the resolution will be the same.

And it's no trouble,other than cancelling the three dates I had planned for tonightrolleyes

 

Thanks Rikky, you might be glad you canceled those dates! I will look at upgrading to a new PC new year so I'll start saving my coins!
Charlie