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Resolved Question

Upgrade of Graphics card

Mar 5, 2015 5:26AM PST

Following up my earlier post, I have been told by Tiger Direct that my ASUS CM1730 has a MB designed for up to PCIe 2.0, and the GeForce GT 750 Ti board I wanted to use is PCIe 3.0, meaning I would not get the full benefit out of the board. Why pay for what you don't get. Instead I am now looking at the EVGA GeForce GT 730 Card, #02G -13-1733-KR, which is the 64 bit version recommended by Tom's Hardware. Does anyone have any feedback on this particular brand/model, and is it a good compromise?

Note to R. Proffit: Yes. I will take your advice and back everything up before proceeding. Always appreciate your common sense.

Discussion is locked

oiptoner has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer
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Clarification Request
Power supply
Mar 5, 2015 6:04AM PST

PS is 350 Watts and +12 V rail is 13.0 amps. Board calls for minimum of 20.0 amp rating. Is this a problem?

Best Answer

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About PCIe 3.0 etc.
Mar 5, 2015 7:16AM PST

I doubt you will find a card that is the 750 but with just PCIe 2.0.

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=02G-P3-2738-KR is PCIe 2.0 so I guess you found your right fit.

OK, power for the 730. We don't know what else your PC is pulling so here's just the 730.
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2398657/nvidia-730-low-profile-bit-ddr3-version-work-sff-dc5800.html

" Long story short, the EVGA GeForce GT 730 2GB GDDR3 64-bit DVI/HMDI/VGA Low Profile Graphics Card (02G-P3-1733-KR) has a listed TDP of 23 watts (this is with a bit of ID-ing based on the specs of the EVGA card and what the Nvidia GT 730 specs webpage shows). In addition, the EVGA site says that there is a need for a 300w power supply with a "minimum of 20 amps on the +12 volt rail". "

OK, so it missed the Ampere rating. Plenty of overall Watts but on that rail, a miss. I don't like pushing any rail hard. It may work but anyone's bet if there will be other troubles like a crash on a render of a video etc.
Bob

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Ordered card
Mar 5, 2015 10:50PM PST

Tiger Direct stated it would work so I have ordered the GT 730card. Give me a week or ten days to get it and install and I will post how well it works. Thanks for your input.

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Dumb question, but don't want to make a mistake
Mar 11, 2015 4:53AM PDT

I went to install the new graphics card and found the slot cover for the PCIe slot is part of three slot covers which are all connected together. There is no obvious way to separate them short of brute force. This is on an ASUS CM1730 computer. How do I properly access the slot?

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(NT) no slice for wiggle breaking them?
Mar 11, 2015 5:44AM PDT
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The board doesn't look like this?
Mar 11, 2015 10:50AM PDT

What do you mean the slots are coverup? What board do you have..exactly?

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Forgot the link.
Mar 11, 2015 11:18AM PDT
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Can you post a PIC....?? We're having trouble envisioning
Mar 11, 2015 11:05AM PDT

what you're talking about. Also GT 730 is a general GPU series but there is variation by manufacturer....so exactly which card do you have ....please give a link.

VAPCMD

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Card installed
Mar 12, 2015 12:00AM PDT

Sorry. I just got the recent posts to this thread. I went ahead with the controlled brute force method and uncovered the slot I needed. Card installed easily and software loaded smoothly. Windows Experience Index for Graphics increased from 4.5 to 5.5 and I assume it would have gone higher with a PCIe 3.0 slot. Gaming Graphics Index jumped to 6.8. Overall I got the improvement I expected and am happy. Thanks for all the advice.