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Looking for a safe video card upgrade.

M_Callahan
By M_Callahan
in Graphics Cards
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I have a z 400 with a Intel W3540 Xeon 4 core, 64 bit CPU, Mother board is HP, RAM is 16 gigabytes DDR# 1066 EEC, Power Supply is HP 475 watt, with Windows 7 pro.  I am looking for an inexpensive Video Card to replace the FX 1800 Quadro with 768 MB with an updated Video card that will not burn up my computer.  I am planning on spending around 200 to 250 us dollars for the upgrade maybe a little bit more if possible.  This is computer is used for Vray and Iray renders and not much else.  The card dose not have to be a quadro, but it has to be a Nvidia chip set with a decent amount of cuda cores for rendering.  Will be upgrading operating system in March 2020 to one of Window 10 system haven't made up my mind for pro or not.  The card can be refurbished too to cut down on cost if the rebuilders have a good reputation.

 

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https://linustechtips.com/topic/1116271-looking-for-a-safe-video-card-upgrade/
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Get a GTX 1650 or 1660. or a used 1060/970/980.

Ryzen 5700g @ 4.4ghz all cores | Asrock B550M Steel Legend | 3060 | 2x 16gb Micron E 2666 @ 4200mhz cl16 | 500gb WD SN750 | 12 TB HDD | Deepcool Gammax 400 w/ 2 delta 4000rpm push pull | Antec Neo Eco Zen 500w

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After looking at the specification of these card and prices I am starting to lean towards the GTX 1650 with 4 gig of memory.  It looks like very good replacement for the FX 1800 Quadro with 768 MB. One part that I really look hard at is the suggested power supply requirement the 1650 requires 300 watts and gives a good buffer for my 425 watt power supply since my computer is well over 10 years old since it started out with Windows Vista Pro Operating System.   Rendering in VRay and Iray can really be hard on a computer. There are several vendors that have the card just under 200 dollars and with shipping keep the card well within budget. 

 

I would have like to get some of the other cards but some of them have a suggested power supply of 500 watts (but not all of them) which is over 75 watt over the capacity of my power supply.  I really don't want to upgrade my power supply on this computer.  I am planning on saving my money and getting a newer refurbished workstation like a dual  12 core  z820 or z840 with a 1125 watt power supply so I can upgrade this computer when I need to with plenty of ram and more advance video cards.  When this happen I will use the z400 as a web surfer, to post on boards like this one and reading emails.

 

Thank You for your suggestions SupaKompta and Smackaroy.  

 

  

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GTX 1650 is a power efficient card only 65 watt, you system would consume less than 300 total in full load.

So you would get away with a 300 watts PSU. No need to buffer it. it's a max power consumption.

A good power supply can last more than 10 years. So your current one might still be okay.

Nowadays generally a 500w power supply can power 1cpu+1gpu system with "current / latest" lineup. 

Ryzen 5700g @ 4.4ghz all cores | Asrock B550M Steel Legend | 3060 | 2x 16gb Micron E 2666 @ 4200mhz cl16 | 500gb WD SN750 | 12 TB HDD | Deepcool Gammax 400 w/ 2 delta 4000rpm push pull | Antec Neo Eco Zen 500w

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Thanks for that last bit of information SupaKomputa.  I will get a backup hp power supply they are not that expensive to have on hand.  I just wish that HP boards where standard with most of the common power supplies on the market.  It would be nice to get a more uptodate power supply that is more efficient and can put out 500 watts.   

 

By the way I am getting power to the card by adapter from one of the plugs for a hard drive. Sata to 6 pin adapter; the power output works out to be used in cards.   It is amazing if you spend some time researching things what you can come up with to get things running on a computer.  

 

Thank You 

Mike

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  • 2 weeks later...
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This project is finished I like the results.  I had to say goodbye to Windows 7 pro and upgrade to Windows 10 pro so I could download uptodate drivers.  The 1650 works well in the Z400 for rendering and modeling work should be able to keep the Z400 for a few years more.  I am glad to retire the FX 1700 Quadro it was a good graphic card for its' day but really out of date nowadays.  Also I had to adapt a the 6 pin power to the power output to sata power.   The card is a MSI 1650 Gaming Card. 

 

Please overlook the 2006 factory cable management from HP.  This is the way they came back then.  Z400-VideoCard-Update-web.thumb.jpg.fc7aa0f4e0b8650bb4073d6d3e372beb.jpgl 

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