Mighty BOB! 5 Posted May 30, 2010 My roommate needs a new (nvidia) video card. The fan on his current one sort of fell off. >.> (Now he has a floor fan* pointed at it with the side of the case off.)(*MY floor fan, which I am taking with me when I move out in two weeks.) Current specs: http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/1014737R/1014737Rsp3.shtml His budget is probably like $150 max. (He hasn't actually told me.) His PSU is only 400W though. Doesn't care about DX11. Not a whole lot of room in the case for an uber-long card. He's only got about 9.5 inches to work with. A cheaper alternative would probably just be to get him one of those gpu fans that sit nicely in one of the slots under it. His current card does everything he needs it to and still works fine aside from its cooling fan falling off (still has the heatsink).. He also wants a new monitor in the 22 or 24 inch range. Again, I'm sort of guessing that his budget is probably $170 for that. Oh and the reason he has a ****ty Gateway is because he wouldn't listen to me when I told him to just wait a couple extra days and order parts and I would build it for him. NoooOOOooo, "Noodle wants a computer NOW." Now I ride his ass about that every chance I get when something runs afoul. Share this post Link to post
Malevolence 6 Posted May 30, 2010 My roommate needs a new (nvidia) video card. The fan on his current one sort of fell off. >.> (Now he has a floor fan* pointed at it with the side of the case off.)(*MY floor fan, which I am taking with me when I move out in two weeks.) Current specs: http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/1014737R/1014737Rsp3.shtml His budget is probably like $150 max. (He hasn't actually told me.) His PSU is only 400W though. Doesn't care about DX11. Not a whole lot of room in the case for an uber-long card. He's only got about 9.5 inches to work with. A cheaper alternative would probably just be to get him one of those gpu fans that sit nicely in one of the slots under it. His current card does everything he needs it to and still works fine aside from its cooling fan falling off (still has the heatsink).. He also wants a new monitor in the 22 or 24 inch range. Again, I'm sort of guessing that his budget is probably $170 for that. Oh and the reason he has a ****ty Gateway is because he wouldn't listen to me when I told him to just wait a couple extra days and order parts and I would build it for him. NoooOOOooo, "Noodle wants a computer NOW." Now I ride his ass about that every chance I get when something runs afoul. Ok, whenever I see this kind of issue, I would probably turn down whoever the person is. Your roomie has to be realistic, for a low budget and demanding the good stuff (particularly the costly Nvidia cards) is plain ridiculous. First of all, I don't know what to say. 400W PSU is considered way obsolete man. Even if you insist on using this PSU, I doubt it will have the current 2 6-pin connectors to plug to modern graphics card(s). You may have barely enough juice to power the GPU, but what about the other computer components? Next, the card. Oh, Nvidia. You can totally forget the new Fermi GTX 400 series cards altogether. Best choices? Well, try looking at the lower tier cards: Nvidia GeForce 210, GT 220 or GT 240. Oh trust me, with that kind of budget, you won't have to worry of the length of the card. Looking at my three target choices: GeForce 210: Minimum Recommended System Power is 300W. GeForce GT 220: Minimum Recommended System Power is 300W. GeForce GT 240: Minimum Recommended System Power is 300W. Either of the three should cost below USD 150. Monitor, well its your preference, maybe Samsung brand should suffice, otherwise just find whatever brand that fits your bill, since after all, its the cost that limit everything. Share this post Link to post
Gazdude 0 Posted May 30, 2010 He's not got a bad PC at all its just the GPU & case that let it down. Whats he gonna use it for gaming etc? Share this post Link to post
Luk3us 63 Posted May 30, 2010 If the video card still goes, and does what he needs. Just go buy a fan for it, either one of those PCI slot fan thingeys. Or just go buy an 80mm fan, and then just 'attach' it to the card, pugging it into either hte video card or the motherboard. You want the air to be going AWAY from the video card into the case, where the back fan sucks its all out. Monitors are all the same, just buy a good brand and you should be fine. FYI: Gateway SUCK! Share this post Link to post
Malevolence 6 Posted May 30, 2010 (edited) FYI: Gateway SUCK! Correction! D.I.Y. Custom PC RULE! He's not got a bad PC at all its just the GPU & case that let it down. Whats he gonna use it for gaming etc? Even if with his roomie is using for gaming, he can't go far because of the budget issues, and PSU wattage limitations. Edited May 30, 2010 by Malevolence Share this post Link to post
Doctor Destiny 41 Posted May 30, 2010 Hey Bob, I have a used 7900GS I'm willing to part with if he wants it. xD Share this post Link to post
Mighty BOB! 5 Posted May 30, 2010 A bunch of stuff. Your tastes are way too high. Nowhere did I say he wants a Fermi card or "the good stuff," you just automatically assumed it. In fact I specifically said he does NOT need a dx11 card and that his current card works fine aside from not having a fan. I could get him a 9800GT for only $50 and it would only be 1/3 of his GPU budget and still be an upgrade from what he currently has. @DD: I think he'd like to not go to a previous generation of cards. In any case though, he said that the 8500GT is still working fine for his needs, so we'll just get a pci slot fan or duct-tape an 80mm fan in there. So now it's just about the monitor. Share this post Link to post
Doctor Destiny 41 Posted May 31, 2010 Hey! My 7900 is awesome. xD [EDIT] After some research, the 7900GS is better than the 8500GT. xD Share this post Link to post
Malevolence 6 Posted May 31, 2010 Lol, it's your choice, like you just said, since your roomie is fine with the current GT 8500, maybe the easier and cheaper way out is just a D.I.Y. custom fan mod to it. Share this post Link to post
Gazdude 0 Posted June 1, 2010 Lol, it's your choice, like you just said, since your roomie is fine with the current GT 8500, maybe the easier and cheaper way out is just a D.I.Y. custom fan mod to it. Its easy done, ive modded an AMD AM2 fan onto an 8600GT in the past and thats still running like a charm its really quiet too lol. Share this post Link to post
