PCIe x1 video card suggestions

[Hokiefyd]

In an effort to rehab this little desktop computer I picked up for free a few years ago, I'd like to add a video card to it, but it unfortunately only has ONE expansion slot, and it's a PCIe x1 slot. I see very few video cards that fit that and, I assume because it's so rare, the prices are more than I'd probably care to pay.

Am I looking for something that really doesn't exist here? Onboard video is nVidia GeForce 6150SE, which isn't super. In fact, it's rather thin as far as graphics horsepower goes.

I suppose another option is replacing the motherboard with a different mini-ITX board. I see some embedded solutions at Newegg that look interesting, something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138365

I just put Linux Minx on this computer and it runs awesome, so I'm looking to spend no more than 100 bucks on hardware to really bring it up to speed, so to speak.

 

[Ramblejam]

What are the specs for the desktop as it sits now?

 

[Hokiefyd]

It is an eMachines EL1200 from 2009.

AMD 2650e processor (1.6 GHz, 64-bit, 15W TDP)
2 GB DDR2 RAM (maxed for this mobo I think)
160 GB Hitachi HDD (SATA)
Chinese 220W compact power supply

It's a SFF desktop. This is it exactly. The one expansion card that did come with it is a modem. It does also have an RJ-45 jack. If you look closely below that cable running horizontally across the top, the mobo has the "provisions" for a PCIe x16 expansion slot, but the plastic base isn't soldered in...so it's just a blank spot on the mobo.

 

[redhat]

How about this card? You think it'd fit or hit the CD drive?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161354

Your options sure are limited, but as far as Newegg's stock, this here looks like the *best* they have.

Should be an upgrade from the onboard.

 

[Ramblejam]

Thanks for the specs, Jason -- are you planning on doing anything special with it, or just browsing the web, etc.?
Having any particular issues with it now, or just want more graphics horsepower?

 

[Michael_P]

Some PCI-e video cards have provisions for USB or 1394 which could enable you to add on from that. My son has a similar configuration. The network card runs from an internal USB off the video card.

 

[Hokiefyd]

redhat, that does look to be the best choice. But then I start thinking that if I'm going to pay 70 bucks for a graphics card that has a very specific (and limited) use, would it be a better value to completely replace the motherboard with a more current processor with DDR3, USB3 in some of them, etc?

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Thanks for the specs, Jason -- are you planning on doing anything special with it, or just browsing the web, etc.?
Having any particular issues with it now, or just want more graphics horsepower?


This is really a toy at the moment. It was sitting on my 8yo daughter's desk, but we've taken her monitor and are using it with our new Dell desktop, and I plan to set our Compaq laptop on her desk (the one on which I installed Linux this weekend and was having problems with the B4311 wireless driver -- fixed, thank you!).

So anyway, this eMachines will be somewhat of a "spare". At this point, my plan is to bring it out to the garage for car-fixing YouTube, playing Pandora when I'm working out there, etc. It'll be my "play" computer. So I'd like to run YouTube, stream Netflix, etc. But at the same time, because it's an "extra", I really don't have a ton of money to put at it.

If I'm asking for something I simply can't get given the cost and equipment with which I'm working, then I can accept that, too.

Edit: I don't do any computer gaming; this will be internet/streaming video only.

 

[redhat]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
redhat, that does look to be the best choice. But then I start thinking that if I'm going to pay 70 bucks for a graphics card that has a very specific (and limited) use, would it be a better value to completely replace the motherboard with a more current processor with DDR3, USB3 in some of them, etc?


Yep, I go through thinking a lot of the same when these situations pop up, I agree in this case the new video card may not be the wisest use of funds. Not sure if you'll play a lot of 1080 HD on this little box when all is said and done, but a friend of mine tried out one of these ITX AMD Fusion systems about a year ago and the thing struggled to playback 1080 MKV files back. Times, performance, designs, etc. could and probably have changed since then so maybe now it's fine.

Best case IMO, I'd replace it with an ITX Core i3 or something Sandy/Ivy Bridge or even Haswell. But then you're probably going way past your budget.

EDIT: For you internet streaming, I think the new ITX Fusion board idea would work great. I highly doubt any 1080 YouTube streams would be that intense; if they are, you could knock down to 720.

 

[Colt45ws]

What Ive done before, is cut the PCI-e connector on the video card to the correct length.
I have two cards Ive modded in this way to x8. Works great.
You have to be careful though, as low watt cards, generally dont have a PCIe power connector, since the PCIe spec is 75watts...on the x16 slot only. On the other sizes you are limited to 25watts only.

 

[UG_Passat]

The PCIe is taken by something else, which leaves you with an open PCI slot.

the PCI video cards aren't particular powerful, but, what this means is with the discrete video card, you should be able to get something comparable to the on-board video.... however, the benefit is that you no longer have to share any of the 2 GB of memory with a GPU.

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
It is an eMachines EL1200 from 2009.

AMD 2650e processor (1.6 GHz, 64-bit, 15W TDP)
2 GB DDR2 RAM (maxed for this mobo I think)
160 GB Hitachi HDD (SATA)
Chinese 220W compact power supply

It's a SFF desktop. This is it exactly. The one expansion card that did come with it is a modem. It does also have an RJ-45 jack. If you look closely below that cable running horizontally across the top, the mobo has the "provisions" for a PCIe x16 expansion slot, but the plastic base isn't soldered in...so it's just a blank spot on the mobo.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: UG_Passat
The PCIe is taken by something else, which leaves you with an open PCI slot.


Again, all this mobo has is the PCIe x1 slot, taken by a modem (which I will remove). The area above that that looks like it should have a PCI expansion bay is empty on the mobo. The provisions are there, but there's no plastic base for the card. So this mobo has only one expansion bay, and it's the PCIe x1 bay where the modem currently is.

 

[Ramblejam]

You're most certainly welcome for the fix (I dealt with the same thing).

As for the desktop, there's nothing wrong whatsoever with slapping a new embedded motherboard in there -- just to offer another option though for keeping the cost as low as possible:

http://r.ebay.com/Z5nKdl

Higher-spec version of the EL1200, with eSATA & HDMI (nice options), but more importantly for you, NVIDIA GeForce 8200 integrated graphics.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
As for the desktop, there's nothing wrong whatsoever with slapping a new embedded motherboard in there -- just to offer another option though for keeping the cost as low as possible:

http://r.ebay.com/Z5nKdl

Higher-spec version of the EL1200, with eSATA & HDMI (nice options), but more importantly for you, NVIDIA GeForce 8200 integrated graphics.


I think that's a fine idea. In fact, I think I'm going to buy one and up-fit mine. I can swap the processor and the RAM over for a very inexpensive upgrade.

The only thing I need to check is I see one internal SATA connector on that board, and I need two (one for the HDD and one for the optical drive). I do think that one may be hiding in that photo behind the RAM blocks. I will compare with mine this evening. Edit: never mind regarding the second internal SATA connector; I see it sitting just in front of the RAM blocks.

Great suggestion.

 

[Ramblejam]

Good deal -- just make sure to utilize GPU acceleration/rendering for everything (OS, flash, browser, etc.), and even with the single core 2650e, you'll be good to go.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Good deal -- just make sure to utilize GPU acceleration/rendering for everything (OS, flash, browser, etc.), and even with the single core 2650e, you'll be good to go.


Is this a setting in Linux Mint? I'm amazed at the array of software that came with Mint. I did see the option in Google Chrome to use (or not) hardware acceleration. I haven't noticed that option in Mint, but I can't say that I have specifically looked for it yet either.

It looks like the EL1210 came with an Athlon dual core 45W processor. So it looks like the case and cooling system can handle up to a 45W processor, so that's good to know for future reference. I sometimes come across dual core AM2 chips that I can scavenge from recycled working machines. For now, though, I like the 15W single core. It runs nearly silent, and has a much larger (and thus, quieter) cooling fan than the embedded mobos did on Newegg. The fan and heat sink look to be the same as those that come on Intel's Core i3/5/7 processors, for example. The fan never runs above about 920 rpm.

I don't know if a 15W vs. a 45W processor will be better for higher ambient temperatures (this computer will probably be in the garage as my "man cave" computer), but I suppose it can't hurt.

 

[Ramblejam]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Is this a setting in Linux Mint?


1. sudo apt-get install mesa-utils
2. glxinfo

Check for the following info:

Direct rendering
OpenGL renderer string

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Is this a setting in Linux Mint? I'm amazed at the array of software that came with Mint. I did see the option in Google Chrome to use (or not) hardware acceleration. I haven't noticed that option in Mint, but I can't say that I have specifically looked for it yet either.


Chrome is sort of on an island all to itself, which is why you can enable or disable hardware acceleration independently. Mint - especially if you're using Cinnamon - *has* to have acceleration cooking in order for the 3D compositing stuff to work at all. The beauty of Ubuntu and Mint, etc. is that they auto-detect your card, auto-install the driver when you tell it to and set it all up automagically for you. I forget if Mint auto-prompts you to install a proprietary driver for AMD and NVIDIA cards, but Ubuntu does. Running the open source drivers will be OK, but the proprietary drivers are a must-have for graphics-intensive activities.

I am pretty sure that both Mint and Ubuntu these days some with mesa-utils pre-installed btw.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I'm running with the MATE environment instead of Cinnamon. (And MATE runs FANTASTIC on both of these older machines, one with a single core AMD Athlon and one with a single core Intel Celeron M.)

As I recall, Mint did find the graphics hardware and install the driver for it. It found the onboard Intel video stuff on the laptop, and it also found the onboard nVidia stuff on this eMachines desktop. Curiously, it did give me the choice of about three different driver versions for the nVidia hardware on the desktop computer. I think I enabled one, I'm not sure. I don't have a monitor at the moment for this desktop, so whenever I play with it, I unplug our Dell desktop and plug the eMachines in...

 

[Ramblejam]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
As I recall, Mint did find the graphics hardware and install the driver for it.


It should -- glxinfo just verifies that, and assures you that the software rasterizer isn't being utilized.