Acer AX3300 small form factor, low power/profile graphics upgrade

[andrewyeah]

Hi guys

So I picked up a really cheap acer x3300 to do basic stuff on.
I wouldn't mind upping the graphical capability.

I know I'm hampered by the small form, space and power supply. Im not expecting miracles
But upon researching this upgrade, I find most forum posts are 4 years old.

So PCi-E ,
Low profile,
low power supply

Currently:
AMD Athlon II X4 630 - quad core 2.8mhz
Windows 7 64-bit
4 gb ram (thinking of going up to 8)
1Tb hard disk
Nvidia 9200 integrated graphics
220w power supply (I could upgrade this too but would prefure not too)

Any help would be much appreciated, just what would give it the best shot in the arm , for some light gaming. Thank you

 

[RCoon]

What processor we looking at? AMD Phenom II 710? That will determine how much wattage it's going to draw. FSP do some decent cheap TFX PSU's around 300-350W.

 

[andrewyeah]

Cheers forgot to include that, AMD Athlon II X4 630 - quad core 2.8mhz
I'll look into FSP thanks.
Idealy I'd like to keep the case, and only get a new PSU if its real cheap.
I paid less then £70 for the computer. Bargain!

 

[RCoon]

Cheers forgot to include that, AMD Athlon II X4 630 - quad core 2.8mhz
I'll look into FSP thanks.
Idealy I'd like to keep the case, and only get a new PSU if its real cheap.
I paid less then £70 for the computer. Bargain!

That is pretty cheap! Not such a bad system either for the price. What kinda budget you looking at for the GPU? Obviously with a low profile GPU you won't be looking at anything near the mid range, as they are all full height and require power connectors.

 

[andrewyeah]

tbh as you say, its not gonna get me near the mid range, so I'd rather not spend that much.
I'm thinking £35 for the 4gb ram (is it worth doing)
and really probably similar for the graphics card

I didn't know something like the sapphire 5450 low profile, if it would work? It says 400 watts, but I've heard people say its not needed
http://www.dabs.com/products/sapphire-technology-amd-radeon-hd-5450-650mhz-1gb-ddr3-pci-express-dvi--low-profile--6L96.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc product search&utm_campaign=Components and Storage - Graphics, TV Tuners and I/O - Graphics

or http://www.dabs.com/products/zotac-...y-edition-low-profile-8BG8.html?refs=11&src=3

But I'm rather behind on todays graphics cards and dont know if there are better out there

 

[GhostRyder]

tbh as you say, its not gonna get me near the mid range, so I'd rather not spend that much.
I'm thinking £35 for the 4gb ram (is it worth doing)
and really probably similar for the graphics card

I didn't know something like the sapphire 5450 low profile, if it would work? It says 400 watts, but I've heard people say its not needed
http://www.dabs.com/products/sapphire-technology-amd-radeon-hd-5450-650mhz-1gb-ddr3-pci-express-dvi--low-profile--6L96.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc product search&utm_campaign=Components and Storage - Graphics, TV Tuners and I/O - Graphics

But I'm rather behind on todays graphics cards and dont know if there are better out there

Try something like an R7 250 low profile as that would be cheap and uses very little power.

XFX R7 250 LP

The best you could do would probably be this

GTX 750ti Low Profile

 

[RCoon]

5450 is fine, it won't do much in the way of AAA gaming or anything. You can look at the GT610 or 5450 for the £30 range, or the GT 720 for a slightly higher up £45 here (Change the co_uk to co.uk)

 

[andrewyeah]

Cheers very much for your help guys.
So do you think these cards would be ok without buying a new Power supply? Sorry to ask , its just I see very few saying 240 and dont know how strict you need to be on them.

(also I have a much better powersuply, 600w in a pc thats broke and I now dont use, could I house it outside and use it to power anything that would fit into the case, I suppose really I could strip this Acer and place it in the much lower old pc case, but in truth I really like having the scaled down size, and its noise free)

 

[RCoon]

With that processor and an Nvidia GT 720/AMD 5450, you're looking at about 190W total usage (100% load, which is unlikely) (including motherboard, RAM, HDD, etc). In other words, you'd be cutting it extremely fine. You might get away with it, but judging by the fact most OEM PCs come with rather average PSU's, I'm not sure I'd risk it. Let me know what make and model your PSU is, I can look it up. If it's a decent make, You could quite easily run on it. My only worry is that it's one of those "over-stated" PSU's that isn't actually the 220W it says it is.