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General discussion

power supply/case size question

by hdkeeton Dec 31, 2004 6:43AM PST

My brother bought me a surplus Kerry campaign computer for Christmas. It's a slim case desktop design, with a Celeron 2.0 processor, on-board intel graphics, and 128 MB DDR RAM. I'm trying to work out what upgrades I can do to it, and have been thinking of putting in:

A.) 512 MB DDR RAM in the second slot.

B.) A nvidia GeForce FX 5700 LE PCI card. The motherboard only has PCI slots, and based on other responses to other topics it seems like the 5700 LE is the best PCI card available. Especially when you overclock it through coolbits.

However, I have a couple of doubts about the card. So here are some questions.

1.) I've only been able to find a 128MB version of the card available. Is there as 256MB PCI version?

2.) What power supply do I need to install this card? The computer comes with a 160W power supply. Is this enough? If I need a new power supply, are these easy to install? Is there one people would recommend?

3.) As this is a slim case, I've been told that only "mini" PCI cards should be installed. Will I be able to fit a 5700 LE card into the case? If not, should I modify the case?

Thanks,

Hunter

Discussion is locked

3 Posts
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I had one of those.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Dec 31, 2004 6:56AM PST

The Celeron is not a big power draw. It run with a FX5200 card on a 350Watt PSU without any issue. My bet is 300Watt will do.

The FX5700LE 256MB card does exist and I have one. It's not much better than the 128MB one... The non-LE card is better at either size if you can find one, but I never did in PCI.

My advice? Get the FX5700LE w/128MB, install from 128 to 512MB more and have fun.

Bob

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Power supply
by hdkeeton Jan 1, 2005 4:50AM PST

The problem I have is that the power supply that comes in the case is 160W. I'm thinking that this will be inadequate to run the system. I had a look at newegg, and found a "mini ATX" power supply which runs at 450W for about $70. Do you think I could install it into this case? The case is a Gatewat E-series slim case, although I don't know which one specifically.

-Hunter

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Never paid that much!
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jan 1, 2005 5:10AM PST

I do have this mATX box with a 230W PSU, but I didn't put in a 3D card so I'm unsure if that would be a good idea. It was however a 2.0GHz Celeron, 512MB RAM, hard disk and everything onboard. Fine for internet and such.

compgeeks.com has cheap cases with 400-450 Watt supplies for 1/2 that. Since you are not in the P4 league, such will be more than adequate.

Bob

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