GPU and/or PSU and Tower case modifications.

[lamp]

Hello.

So my issue, well a friend of mines issue is, he was recently invited onto the RRB beta (and i wasn't!!) yay for him.

Unfortunately, although he has only bought a new PC recently, for whatever reason in his readiness to get it bought for the WoW expansion it seems he may have been duped into buying a media low-profile type device and not the gaming rig he was promised.

The crucial specs are i5 processor with 8gb of ram, not sure of the spec on processor, pretty sure it is one of the quad core varieties, assuming there are some that aren't?

Below is a manual to his model of PC.

http://download.lenovo.com/consumer/...mm_20120627.pd

The two options i have come up with for him are:

1) low profile GPU i had my eye on this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-GeForce...1811069&sr=1-7

First concern is would this be able to run RRB at all? and if so at what spec? Second concern is, would the already installed 180-220w PSU be adequate?

2) Strip the thing out of the low profile tower, bump it into a large tower with a 500w+ CPU and buy a better Graphics card. Unfortunately money is a major factor.

Here in the UK components can be quite pricey and my friend is unfortunately out of work atm.

One card i was looking at is http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-Nvidia-...1909130&sr=1-1.

Considering all the other things needed to upgrade that is probably about the max of his budget, how does that fair vs the GTX range? i think i could get a GTX 550 for just a fraction more.

Thanks =]

[Sonomaa]

i5s are all quad no hyperthreading
that video card would work but the performance he gets wont be near what a full size card would be. I have a 520 low profile in my work machine that I occasionally fire up wow on and it works for most things no problem, but I wouldnt want to try raiding on it tbh

stripping out of the tower would be the easiest approach but Im not 100% sure the power supply isnt proprietary. If it isnt then you could handle it for not much money, a cheap case for 20-30 bucks and a nice power supply for 50ish. a decent video card full size would be about 100. it sucks that he picked the wrong tower basically (since almost assuredly they make these in both compact tower and mid size tower)

[Jojimbo]

HD 7750 is the only option for gaming capable low profile GPU, it's the fastest low profile and the best <50W GPU you can get by a large margin. GT 610 is probably slower than Intel HD4000 and the GT 640 pales in comparison to the 7750, neither are worth considering.

That said it's still a budget GPU and will only play games on low-medium settings with good FPS

EDIT:: Oh and the PSU isn't standard ATX, it's one of the long thin things

[lamp]

Yeah.. I think we will have to total up how much its gonna cost to just strip it out and throw it into a new tower with a better PSU. So whats your opinion on the GTX 550? I'm currently using a a ATI 5770 1GB and i was happy with my benchmark and the performance i got from FFXIV, just looking for a modest piece of gear that gets the job done relatively comfortably on medium settings.

[Jojimbo]

Is it not possible to just return it? It uses a last gen i5 and an mATX H61 MB so it isn't that amazing anyway.

550 Ti isn't much of an upgrade over a HD 5770 either, how much would you be willing to spend upgrading from a 5770?

[lamp]

Unfortunately it can not be returned as he has had it since November. Phoned a guy earlier and he has quoted us £60 to have the components installed into a new tower with a 500w power supply.

Budget for graphics is around £70-£80 now, or perhaps i may just let him have my 5770 and i could manage a budget of around £100, but like i said earlier, components here are pricey..

No issue being stuck on medium settings at all.

[Jojimbo]

Is that £60 for the case + 500w PSU + installation? Because that sounds like it'll an awful case and shitty "500w" PSU, try and get info on the PSU at the very least as bad PSU that get bundled with cases look like this, which is what someone I was helping on reddit has and yes that is a "480W" PSU with 12v*13A=156W output on the 12v rail. Oh bad PSUs also have a habit of breaking, along with most of the stuff connected to them.

GPU wise, for £100 the HD 7770 for £89 or 650Ti for £108 would be the best options if buying new (650Ti sits between 7770 and 7850 in performance), might be able to get a good deal on a 560Ti or HD 6870 on ebay or something though.