Video Card Rec'd?

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sleddriver

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Spent some time this evening with the Optiplex 790 SFF I recently purchased. On-board video is Intel HD 2000. Only output is Sub-D VGA which won't play with the DVI Apple display I picked up at a garage sale.

The old machine (Dell dimension 5150) had an Asus Radeon HD 5450 in it with DVI, HDMI & sub-d outs, so I pulled it out and stuck it into the O790. The bracket is a bit tall, but I found the box and inside is the shorter bracket. Currently I have the side panel off the O790, but the Asus card is working fine with the Apple display.

I re-ran the "Win experience index" and the score dropped from 4.5 to 3.9 with the 5450! I looked it up on videocardbenchmark. 5450 scores 231. Intel HD 3000 scores 311. Didn't find Intel HD 2000 (only has 64MB devoted to video?). The 5450 has > 1GRAM but that's not saying much.

So what would you suggest, for $50, as an upgrade for the O790?

I'm going to pick up a sub-d to DVI adapter so I can plug the Apple monitor into the Intel on-board HD 2000 for now.

TIA.
 
The 790 doesn't have an HDMI out? We have a lot of 390s at work and they all have HDMI out as well as VGA. Unless you plan on playing games, just stick with the onboard video. The HD2000 is fairly capable.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick R
The 790 doesn't have an HDMI out? We have a lot of 390s at work and they all have HDMI out as well as VGA. Unless you plan on playing games, just stick with the onboard video. The HD2000 is fairly capable.


His computer supports only VGA, and his monitor does not support VGA, so he needs another option.

OP, are you concerned only about the numbers reported from your 5450? Does it work fine otherwise? I'm of the mindset to not fix what's not already broken -- if the card works well for your needs, then the WEI number doesn't really matter in my opinion.
 
Agreed on the Displayport adapter.

I'm no Mac user but I believe that Apple monitors will not work with a VGA to DVI adapter. I read that online somewhere.
 
As already recommended, if the on-board video has Displayport output then I would take out the Radeon card and use the Intel HD 2000. Just get a Displayport to DVI adapter, don't put an adapter on the analog VGA output.
 
Re: HF on WEI: Originally the graphics score of 4.5 seemed low compared to ~ 7.8 for processor speed. With no DVI, I used an old Dell 4:3 LCD monitor, which worked fine, despite its lower resolution compared to the Apple.

With about 15 FF tabs open, I noticed it began to slow down. IIRC, the on-board video was borrowing heavily from the current 4G Ram (W7Pro-32b) so adding more RAM was needed. I noticed last night it does have four slots. Two slots are occupied with 2GB modules, leaving two vacant.

Q: Will going to 8GB total on a 32-bit system work?
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Re: Rand on DP: You're correct! Completely missed that. Never heard of it either. DVI & HDMI I'm familiar with, but not DP. Interesting. Thanks!

Re: 790 TG: That's exactly the sys. info. I needed!! I sure wish Dell would have linked that under "Manuals" when I typed in the ST#. I read through it and saved a copy. Answers a lot of additional Q's I had. Great find! Thanks!
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Re: BF on Apple display adapter. OK. I agree getting a DP to DVI adapter is the better route. Thanks!
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Re: BZD. Yep. Better route.
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Thanks guys! I appreciate the info. I'll have to look up the tech guide for the M17 Alien that recently landed in my hands. A document like that will sure save me a lot of search time.
 
Just a heads up that using the Displayport interface may change the default audio output device in Windows. It's certainly fixable but frustrating when you discover your audio isn't working anymore.
 
Update:

Picked up a DP to DVI adapter today, removed the old Radeon card and I'm back to internal Intel HD-2000 graphics.

Intel%20HD%202000%20GPU%20Prop._zpsmwfble19.jpg


Is the total avail graphics mem specific to the HD 2000 video section itself or is it borrowed from the system mem of 4GB? (of which only ~ 3.2GB is actually avail. for use).
 
If you are proficient with computers.
you can probably reinstall with a 64bit windows.
seems odd they would even sell that with 32 bit windows.
 
I don't have a $50 recommendation for you. For $90 you can get an Nvidia Geforce gt740 with 2gb GDDR5. It is low profile and will fit your case. It does not use external power, and draws little enough power that your existing PSU will suffice. videocardbenchmark score is 1570 BTW, and I get 70-80FPS while playing warframe. Warthunder also plays very well. Before running Windows 10, this card performed very well on Linux Mint. I have P/N:02G-P4-3740-KR

EVGA-GeForce-GT-740-2GB-GDDR5-128bit-DVIHDMIVGA-Low-Profile-Graphics-Cards-02G-P4-3740-KR-0-1.jpg


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...mp;gclsrc=aw.ds
 
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Thanks for chiming in with that suggestion. I don't game, but have strangely found out with my older machines that most astronomy planetarium programs can really bring those machines to their knees. Inadequate Intel on-board gpus on P4's for example. The Dell LT's I was given had the same problem. When I bought the Asus card 5-6yrs ago, that worked for the desktop.

I'm not expecting any problems however, with this W7 box. I'm still in the process of config'ng it before I load programs & data on it.

I'll report back with any issues.
 
Originally Posted By: Bottom_Feeder
Just a heads up that using the Displayport interface may change the default audio output device in Windows. It's certainly fixable but frustrating when you discover your audio isn't working anymore.
No worries here. Audio out works fine using the DP interface.
 
I think the main issue is the 32bit OS that has a 3gb limit for running software....
I've run the same 1gb ATI 5450 card in the 64bit OS with 8gb RAM with no problems...now running 16gb and have 12gb available for running programs.
 
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Could be. Haven't experienced any of the earlier problems lately. Even with 40 tabs currently open.

Re: 64bit. What do you do with older 32-bit SW running on a 64bit system? "New SW" isn't an option here.
 
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