m8120n Video Card

[ItachiJr]

Hey im new here and im not too sure where to ask for help, and this place looked informative so i decided to register.
I have an HP m8120n Media Centre PC, and recently ive been starting to get dissapointed with the video card. Its a Geforce 7350 LE, and I want to upgrade it to make this computer able to handle the best games. Im willing to upgrade the PSU as well as the video card, but im not sure which ones are adaptable to my computer. Ive been looking at the some 9800's but ive heard that the space is limited in my computer case so im not certain if it will work.

[redwudz]

You might look at this post: https://forum.videohelp.com/topic340460.html

I believe that PC has a 350W power supply, you might want to confirm that. It should be printed on the side of the PS. If so, a higher end card would need a bit more power, probably a ~500W power supply. And a higher end card like a 8800 can put out a lot of heat, so case cooling would be important. The 8600 might be a good compromise, but I would probably still upgrade the PS. You can do a search for that PC for PS upgrades, to see if it uses a standard size PS.

And welcome to our forums.

[ItachiJr]

is 8800 the best card that is compatible with my computer? The reason im asking is because the nearest computer store in my area stopped selling 8800's and carries the 9 series cards now. Also i was planning on upgrading the PSU to accommodate a better video card so thats no problem.

[redwudz]

Sorry, I don't keep up on video cards as I don't game. I'm using a ATI 3870 at present, mostly for HD and MKV playback. It does give me a very high 5.9 Vista score for graphics and gaming, so I'm happy with it.

With any high performance video card, you want to think about cooling and noise levels. They often have problems with both.

Most newer games should give you a listing of what level of card they need and you could go to some gaming sites for better information. ATI has a forum for that and Nvidia probably does also.

Tom's Hardware usually has some decent video card reviews: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Components,1/Graphics-Cards,4/