A friend of mine got a PC from Aldi recently ( I know, didn't know they even sold PC's either) and was looking to buy a cheap but decent GPU (I had a GTX 460 in mind), only problem is he has no idea about PC's and I can't tell by looking at the information about the PC on their site if it can handle anything like a GTX 460, any one know if this PC can handle it? http://aldi.medion.com/md8347/uk/?refPage=aldi If not, any alternatives?
It looks very unlikely that that pc would take a 460. Probably doesn't have any pci-e lanes, and I expect the case/psu are too small. Also 460 isn't exactly cheap compared to the price of that pc.
Best option is to open up your friends PC and see what sort of motherboard it has to see if it has a PCI slot for a graphics card, the specs mention intergrated graphics on the board.
It will also have a very cheap PSU, check what rating it has. Probably not alot of spare power for a graphics card.
The 9800GT also needs a PCI-E lane. If the motherboard has one, then that card should be fine providing that the psu has a spare connector. I can't see anyway that you would get a 460 in there, unless the case/psu were unnecessarily large.
Main priority is to check out the motherboard, see if it has a 16x PCI-E slot. Once that's confirmed, the next step is to replace the PSU with a branded model (in the interest of efficiency and safety). Do you have a link for the manual? We can find out from there.
Those machines are HORRIBLE!!!! Think Emachines but even cheaper! I've worked on several over the years and they've always used cheap custom motherboards. The PSU will be rubbish, even if it does have a PCI/PCI-E slot, and the case will have NO cooling, so if you go sticking a hot GPU in there it'll overheat fast, and will be unusable in the summer months... Tell him to get a refund and get soming actually usable. Remind him that that machine will last just beyond it's 1 year warrenty and then he'll have to get a new one anyway, which will last longer and be WAY more usable and user friendly!
Really? Ouch, that's bad then. He should have taken my original advice and just built a PC himself following a guide from CPC, but arh well, I was just looking for a way to pawn off my 9800GT without selling it for a stupid price on eBay.
lol It's from ALDI!!! Surely their is something through Lambda-tek, ebuyer or CCLonline worth considering over something PC related out the front doors of ALDI? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/225774 nice little dual core and PCIe x16 expansion available. Edit: I need to learn to read. They already took the plunge!!!!
You can get 9800GT's with no PCIe power connector, as I have one. The Zotac 9800GT Eco has space on the PCB for a connector, but one isn't fitted because it uses less power than the PCIe slot provides. Palit also does a low power 9800GT, the Palit 9800GT Green. They aren't easy cards to get though, and as far as I am aware, these are the only two low power 9800GT's available. @OP: I think your friend was seduced by an apparent low Aldi price and didn't do his research. I don't know the prices of PC's in Britain at the moment, but 380 quid for those specs doesn't look very cheap to me. Googling the computer I found this thread where somebody wants to do the same thing. The PSU is a 350w FSP with no PCIe cables. This is definitely NOT suitable for a GTX460. A google search for the FSP350-60EMDN/FSP350-60MDN show it has a history of failing, so it is incredibly weak. Don't put a gaming graphics card on it. This image shows it is ATX-sized, so your friend can replace it with a new ATX PSU (see PDF linked further down for space). This link and this link (in German, but with mobo image) say that the motherboard is an MSI MS-7616 mATX motherboard OEM-built for Aldi computers (hence there is little information on the MS-7616), with a P55 chipset and a PCIe x16 slot for a graphics card. In fact other models with this mobo/PSU are fitted with a nVidia GT330 (see PDF). If you look at page 8, you can see that the mobo is 24+4 pin, while the PSU is only 20+4 pin. I wouldn't be happy if I received a computer configured like that. This information should be enough to inform a decision. New ATX power supply needed for ANY gaming card. New ATX power supply needs to conform to ATX size to fit in the case. Any card/PSU choice depends on your friend's budget.
I used to have an Advent built computer from PC World a long, long time ago (worst buy ever). Had a PSU problem since the 380W generci PSU did not have any extra power connectors, but I did not want to upgrade anything else and sink money into a terrible computer. In the end I went with a ATI 4670 as it was the fastest GPU at the time which did not require an external power connector (powered only through the PCI slot). I think the same still applies to the 5670. Any of those two are an option, but frankly don't expect much. For 1440x900 my 4670 was okish in most games, but if you tried running a 1080p monitor from that card, you would probably have to settle for mid or low details to get acceptable FPS. oh and regarding the PSU, even it says 350-400, most likely it outputs 200-220 in reality, so even if it had a power connector I wouldn't get a GPU with a TDP of 100W+ The 5670 has a TDP of 61 W so it should be fine even with this junk. Even if you decide to spend money on a new PSU and a new card, I'd expect that cheap plastic case to be an oven with anything like a GTX460 running inside. And those cards are not even that hot.
I had a Thermaltake Tsunami Dream case that came with a Thermaltake XP480 400w PSU. I used it because the system didn't draw much. After a while I began to have random shut downs, especially during cold starts. The PSU got replaced. Problem solved. About a year later this PSU round-up at xbit tested the XP480. It blew up under a load of 310w! They speculate that it is a 250w PSU branded as 400w (500w peak!!). Quite frankly it is deceptive practices that should be investigated. Shameful.
I know, I think this every time I walk in maplins/PC world. Surely it's a violation of the Trades Discription Act...
It's something that we should get Trading Standards to look into. If it says 400W on the box and can't supply 400W, it's clearly not fit for purpose. Perhaps a quest for Bit-Tech awaits?
If he just got it tell him to take it back because it's a huge pile of junk, then build him something way better for the same money?
