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Upgrade Graphics card on Dell Vostro 230 Mini Tower
I have a Dell Vostro 230 Mini Tower, and with a NVIDIA GeForce 310 graphics card, which I want to upgrade to something else (probably in the ATI Radeon 5000 series), to do some gaming. I know the power is only 300W, so I would probably have to get a new power supply as well. I was wondering what I should get both in terms of graphics cards and power supplies? And also how difficult it is to change them at home?
I am running Windows 7 SP3, DirectX 11, with Intel Pentium E6500, 4GB RAM
Kelbear1
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October 3rd, 2011 16:00
It depends on the games you want to play and at what resolution and game settings, but you don't necessarily have to upgrade your power supply. With the 300 watt unit, you should be able to get the HD 6570, HD 5670 or HD 6670.
Replacing the power supply would not be difficult by following your instructions HERE <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed / replaced from this post by Dell>
if you want to upgrade to higher performing cards.
Kelbear1
1.5K Posts
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October 4th, 2011 14:00
AMD makes the chip. Sapphire makes the card just like other AMD vendors such as XFX, MSI, Gigabyte, VisionTek, HIS, Asus, etc. The HD 5670 does not require a 400 watt power supply. Manufacturers always overstate the required wattage. The HD 5670 comes in around needing 54 watts under heavy load.
Kelbear1
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October 4th, 2011 14:00
You can look at your manual HERE<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed / replaced from this post by Dell>
for card installation.
Blueteeth95
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October 4th, 2011 12:00
Ok, Thanks. And how tricky is it to change the graphics card?
Blueteeth95
4 Posts
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October 4th, 2011 12:00
and another thing: when i search on amazon for the HD 5670 none of them are actually made by AMD, mostly by Sapphire instead. Is this a problem as I notice some of them say the power requirements are 400W.
Sorry for double posting.