low-profile AGP video card for Dell GX260 SFF

[Ugadata]

I would like to use a Dell GX260 SFF pc as a client.  I attempted to install an low profile Radeon 4350 graphics card, however the card required at a minimum a 300 watt power supply (the GX260 SFF doesn’t have a 300 watt power supply).  This card did not have an additional power plug, it recieves all power through the motherboard.

 

Any suggestions on a low profile AGP video card that might work would be great.  There is one additional 4 pin molex plug available (IDE power plug).  I would be running SageTV client for recorded TV and Arcsoft Total Media Theatre for ripped Blu rays.

 

[htpc_user]

Did you try the card?  I wouldn’t worry about it.  You won’t find a card that can do what you want it to and have any less power requirements.  I have a pci-e 4550 in a Dell Inspiron 530s.  It only has a 200 ~ 250 watt power supply I believe, and the card works fine.  It might cause the power supply to fail eventually but it’s been working for about a year, and I figure I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.  I don’t have much choice if I want a video card that’s capable of HD playback because I haven’t seen the type of power supply that the Dell uses that has a lot of power to even replace it.

[Mike Garcen]

it looks like that Dell has a 250W PSU, but includes a P4 1.8Ghz, 40gb HDD, and 512MB of RAM. A rough calculation shows approximately 166watts required (not knowing extras or which P4), and assuming your PSU has 80% efficiency (which is not a given), that puts you at about 200Watts…meaning you should EASILY have enough headroom for that card which shouldn’t be more than 8-10watts.

If my numbers are correct 🙂 it won’t hurt to try. if it’s not enough, it just won’t power up!

[Ugadata]

I appreciate the replies.

[quote=htpc_user]Did you try the card?[/quote]

Yes, I have tried the card.

[quote=Mike Garcen]it looks like that Dell has a 250W PSU, but includes a P4 1.8Ghz, 40gb HDD, and 512MB of RAM. A rough calculation shows approximately 166watts required (not knowing extras or which P4), and assuming your PSU has 80% efficiency (which is not a given), that puts you at about 200Watts…meaning you should EASILY have enough headroom for that card which shouldn’t be more than 8-10watts.

If my numbers are correct 🙂 it won’t hurt to try. if it’s not enough, it just won’t power up![/quote]

Yeah, when I tried the card it didn’t power up.  It was about that time when I looked at the requirements on the box and read it requires a 300 watt power supply – DOH!

I’m at work and don’t recall the card manufaturer (i.e. XFX, BFG, PNY, etc.) other than it is Radeon 4350 based.

This box actually has a 2.0 Ghz cpu and currently 1 GB of ram.  There are no “extras” – no floppy and no CD/DVD drive.  I was actually expecting this to have ~145 to 200 watt power supply.  The GX260 has 3 case formats – one “normal” size and 2 smaller, this is the smallest of the 3 case sizes.

The video card does work I am currently using it in a full height case that has 500 – 600 watt power supply in it.  

I don’t expect changing the PSU is an option since it is a non-standard design not to mention it’s a Dell.

[PAPutzback]

I am running the same GX260 except mine is a mid tower. I think I might be running the same card also. The only difference between our setups is I dumped the HDD for a Kingston SSD thinking it would help it out. The system boots quick enough but BD does not play well at all. DVD and netflix works well.

[PAPutzback]

I would check the BIOS to make sure the PCI-e slot is set to be the primary port. 

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3515/p/19344552/19742898.aspx

[Ugadata]

[quote=PAPutzback]

I would check the BIOS to make sure the PCI-e slot is set to be the primary port. 

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3515/p/19344552/19742898.aspx

[/quote]

“Small Form Factor – SF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(3.57” H x 12.54” W x 13.93 D): one 3.5″ x 1″ internal hard drive bay; one 5.25” slimline peripheral
bay; one 3.5″ slimline FDD bay; one low profile PCI expansion slot; one low profile
AGP slot; 160 Watts power supply”

The card is an HIS Radeon HD 4350.  And the power supply for the SFF is 160 watts.  The next larger case called a small desktop has 180 watts PSU (I have access to one of these as well. same results, no boot) then the mini tower which has a 250 watt PSU.

I am aware of the BIOS setting mentioned but I am not sure what it is set to, so I will be checking that setting.

By the way,  I have an AGP slot not PCI-e

[htpc_user]

160 watts?  I guess I understand why it’s not working.  My 4550 is on at least a 200 watt power supply, maybe 250.

[Crim]

I’m running a 5450 (PCIe) off of a 150w pico PSU, it’s weird that you can’t do the same with your 160w PSU. Either way, you don’t really have many options, Dell’s older systems like that one use custom wired PSUs so you can’t upgrade them.

 

I would just get something else, something that will actually work.

[Ugadata]

I appreciate the suggestions.

[quote=Crim]I would just get something else, something that will actually work.[/quote]

Get something else?  is that a different video card or diferent PC? j/k.

 

Yeah, although I suspect something could be done to make it all work, I didn’t intend for this to be that kind of project.

 

I did find a web site that had PSUs for Dell PCs with more power.  The real PSU issue is the shape.  This has a “slim line” power supply and has a different shape than a normal PSU.  This has a really small case.  It just seemed like a good canidate to re-purpose as a Sage client.

At work, we have some of these with Quadra 280 (I think) video cards so we can run dual monitors.  However the Quadra isn’t going to do any HA acceleration for HD video.

 

[wally2914]

Hi.  I’m new here, so I apologize if I’m going about this the wrong way, but has this issue been resolved yet?  I, too, have a GX260 with a 160w power supply, and I need to add a video card so that I can watch Netflix on my computer.  The video cards that I have tried to add have needed so much power to run that they have not worked at all.  Is there any card that is known to work with this computer?  I have an AGP slot, and a spare PCI slot in my computer, but even the smaller cards have not been able to boot up.

Thank you.

 

[Ugadata]

My solution was to give up and not use this PC as a client.

It maybe that a video card exists that will work in this PC and do the needed acceleration, however I have no idea what card that is.

The power supply is just not going to be up to snuff. And being a Dell of a “certain age” (vintage 2003?) it may have a proprietary PSU. On a long shot, it maybe possible to have the power supply modified so it would work but I expect it would be expensive (presuming it could even be done).

If you had access to a power supply from a GX260 mini tower case, you could at least test the MT PSU (although, if you had access to a mini tower case, you could just use the mini tower case and save the headache of finding a half height card)

[griho_amrut]

http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?s=dhs&c=us&l=en&cs=19&k=GX260&cat=all

 

There are power supplies that have been refurbished for the optiplex gx260 listed on dell’s website, and you may find what you need there.  Also, the graphics card recommended for the computer is listed on the site as well, and if you don’t want to purchase there then at least you know what works and can look elsewhere.

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