Help Needed, New Graphics Card?

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My kid brother has a health problem that won't allow him to game on a console due to the controller, so he's turned to PC gaming which he can game on. He's a big BF3 fan and wanted to play it, so I bought it for him so he could see if his tower could run it. It does, but really bad and he wanted to know if a new graphics card could help it run just a bit better.

He's gaming on a PC not meant for gaming (an HP S5-1114), so he knows he won't get by with top settings or anything. He'd just like to get it to run something like 30 FPS.

I looked up the specs for the HP S5-1114 and it has a 220W power supply. Is there any card out there that he could buy so he could run the game a bit better?

A detailed list of specs is Here.
 
Hmmm, well I think the two biggest problems with the computer are going to be the case and the power supply. The case limits what kind of card you can put in there. Also, we used to have one of those slimline HPs that came withe a GFX card and the heat fried it out in a few years so that is another concern. I think at minimum you would have to change the power supply and get a GFX card that would fit in there.

I looked online and someone with the same computer reported using this:

Edit: It was actually this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Galaxy-GeForce-Express-Graphics-22TGE8HX2IUN/dp/B002OT6KPY

I would double check to make sure it would fit. Specs say it needs a 300W power supply. I know some sites let you calculate how much power you would need for your system by plugging in your specs.

I think any card would be an improvement over integrated graphics, though I can't tell you if 30 FPS on low settings would be possible or not.

Double edit:

Looks like you would need a power supply something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817338056


So just finding a GFX card that fits your system and upgrading your power supply should do it. I'm thinking it would be around 100 bucks probably. I probably wouldn't expect too great performance but it would be passable.
 
Those seem like doable options, CheapLikeAFox. I'll talk to him about it and see how he wants to go about it. I appreciate your help a lot, I'm such a n00b with PC gaming/hardware that it isn't even funny.
 
[quote name='advanced']Those seem like doable options, CheapLikeAFox. I'll talk to him about it and see how he wants to go about it. I appreciate your help a lot, I'm such a n00b with PC gaming/hardware that it isn't even funny.[/QUOTE]


I just found this thread that suggests you might find some GFX cards that work with no PSU upgrade:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1224011


check it out, a lot of good info in there and a lot of different cards to choose from
 
Easiest way to check on video card options is look for ones that don't require a separate power cable that connects to the video card.

If the card says it needs a 6-pin power connector or something like that, it won't work. Even at 220W, it might be hard to make a card that only draws power from the PCI-E slot work in that system.
 
Thanks for your input, CheapLikeAFox and shrike. I really appreciate it. I'll be hanging out with my brother tomorrow so we'll be talking about it. After the info you guys have given me and the research I've done on my own, I think I'm going to push him towards building a gaming PC instead. He's talked about it, even before he started having problems with his hands. This might be the push in the right direction.
 
I believe that the currently fastest cards that fits in the low power bracket (65W) are the GT 640 and Radeon 7750, both run ~$100. AnandTech had a nice review that can give you an idea of what to expect, here.
 
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