Gaming Updating my graphics card?

Costello

Headmaster
OP
Administrator
Joined
Oct 24, 2002
Messages
14,198
Trophies
4
XP
19,646
I am looking into replacing my graphics card but it looks like it won't be easy.

First of all my desktop PC comes in a micro-atx case using a Gigabyte H55M-S2 motherboard
GI-GA-H55M-S2.jpg


here's some pics of the case:


the graphics card I'm using at the moment is an ATI Radeon HD 4300/4500 series, RV710.
it runs off PCI-Express 2.0 16x, which I guess is good since the replacement cards I'm looking into mostly use that.
couple of pics of the card:


now the problem as you may see is that my current card seems to have been connected in very special manner, it looks as though the external panel was split in 2 small parts, aligning the connectors onto 2 panels-- first panel with HDMI and DVI, second panel below with just VGA. You can 'clearly' see it on the second case picture linked above.

I found a better pic on the net:
ati4350.jpg

As you can see it wasn't a problem to separate it in two different slots.

I'm worried because I can't find any information on that type of card. I'm pretty sure here the problem is the computer case. The motherboard shouldn't be problematic. I know you guys are going to tell me to get a new case but I'd rather keep mine since it's nice and small. Changing cases will be last resort and it would annoy me.

Any ideas, anyone?
thanks in advance!

edit: looking it up on google, it seems that the type of card I should look into is called "low profile" cards. I google-image'd "nvidia low profile" and found a bunch of cards that seem to have the correct form factor.
lowprofile.PNG


thats correct, confirmed here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conventional_...-height.29_card

now... what low profile card can I get
tongue.gif
 

Costello

Headmaster
OP
Administrator
Joined
Oct 24, 2002
Messages
14,198
Trophies
4
XP
19,646
thats great, thanks guys.

now... anyone knows where I can get low profile video cards?
strangely I have difficulty finding anything decent...
 

Costello

Headmaster
OP
Administrator
Joined
Oct 24, 2002
Messages
14,198
Trophies
4
XP
19,646
that's still interesting to know, RupeeClock
wink.gif
i can note the reference and look for it on other sites.
anyhow, yeah I found that exact link after a few google-ings... but... isnt' that a kinda crappy old card?
tongue.gif

would there be any improvement over what I currently have?

in terms of price range I'm looking at something like $100-$200 ...
$50 card sounds a bit crappy
tongue.gif


I was thinking more of a GTX460, but I can't find anything low profile?
There doesnt seem to be any decent GeForce low profile cards...
 

RupeeClock

Colors 3D Snivy!
Member
Joined
May 15, 2008
Messages
6,495
Trophies
1
Age
34
Website
Visit site
XP
2,928
Country
If you want to know how much of an improvement it would be, look up your current graphics card and a new one on a benchmarking website and compare scores.

Over a HD4300, that HD5570 should make a nice improvement on a budget.
 

Sicklyboy

#JOYCONBOYZFOREVER
Global Moderator
Joined
Jul 15, 2009
Messages
6,297
Trophies
2
Location
[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°̲̅)̲̅$̲̅]
XP
7,950
Country
United States

raulpica

With your drill, thrust to the sky!
Former Staff
Joined
Oct 23, 2007
Messages
11,056
Trophies
0
Location
PowerLevel: 9001
XP
5,716
Country
Italy
Hey Costy, give a quick look at this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming...force,2997.html

It'll help you enormously (especially the last page).

Also, if you need to do some quick comparisons: http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php

Costello said:
I was thinking more of a GTX460, but I can't find anything low profile?
There doesnt seem to be any decent GeForce low profile cards...
The GTS 450 comes in a special low-profile version, but I fear it'll be quite rare to find:
Sparkle-Single-Slot-GeForce-GTS-450.jpg


I'm pretty sure that there isn't any low profile version for models over the 450.

EDIT: Well duh, there's also a special 460 out there. http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=28457
 

Tom Bombadildo

Dick, With Balls
Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2009
Messages
14,573
Trophies
2
Age
29
Location
I forgot
Website
POCKET.LIKEITS
XP
19,186
Country
United States
Other than Newegg I'm having troubles finding low profile for the GTX460, but I found a couple of low profile cards that should suit your needs on Amazon.


@raulpica There are low profile cards for the 500 series I believe, but the 460 beats out all of them.
 

raulpica

With your drill, thrust to the sky!
Former Staff
Joined
Oct 23, 2007
Messages
11,056
Trophies
0
Location
PowerLevel: 9001
XP
5,716
Country
Italy
suprgamr232 said:
@raulpica There are low profile cards for the 500 series I believe, but the 460 beats out all of them.
I'm not counting things like the 520 and the likes, since they're a lot worse than a GTS 450, and they should actually be avoided.
 

Tom Bombadildo

Dick, With Balls
Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2009
Messages
14,573
Trophies
2
Age
29
Location
I forgot
Website
POCKET.LIKEITS
XP
19,186
Country
United States
Ahh right. Yeah, Amazon is really the only place I personally can find low profile cards that ship to China. So you can try your luck there or I believe AMD will sell you cards right off their site, although I might be mistaken or they might not ship to China.
 

Originality

Chibi-neko
Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2008
Messages
5,716
Trophies
1
Age
35
Location
London, UK
Website
metalix.deviantart.com
XP
1,904
Country
Aside from the need for a low profile graphics card, it must also be a graphics card that doesn't produce too much heat. That case has no ventilation that I can see, so I imagine it will become something akin to an oven.

EDIT: If you invest in a better case, you'll have a much easier time finding graphics cards that fit. And that better case can still be small if you need it to be (e.g. the Antec 100).
 

raulpica

With your drill, thrust to the sky!
Former Staff
Joined
Oct 23, 2007
Messages
11,056
Trophies
0
Location
PowerLevel: 9001
XP
5,716
Country
Italy
Costello said:
Raul, the cards you linked seem to be "single slot" which are different from "low profile".

read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conventional_...-height.29_card
Oh wait, you meant half-height? Low-profile just makes me think of single-slot nowadays
tongue.gif


There's some special versions of 450 out there, mainly for HTPCs
1003.jpg


But as I said earlier, don't expect any version of the 460 in half-height
tongue.gif
 

RandomOddness

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
111
Trophies
0
Website
Visit site
XP
132
Country
Nvidia 450 and ATI 6750/5750 are probably your best bet for a half height GPU, though changing case would still be the best method of upgrade, another thing to take into account is if the PSU in your case can handle the bigger cards, the 4550 uses very little power but the newer cards obviously use more and smaller cases usually have smaller PSU's.
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    SylverReZ @ SylverReZ: @salazarcosplay, Morning