Graphics Cards Available for Emachines W5243?

Question

My parents got a new computer a few months ago. It is an Emachines W5243. In my search for graphics cards I discovered that the motherboard was bad(ECS 6100 series motherboard), and the PCI-E slot is only 8x capable (which makes me so mad because the slot says x16.) Also, the power supply is only 250w. I want to play Medieval 2 Total War, and with the built in NVIDIA 6100 n400 I can play it on low detail with little lag (also with not a lot of men on the battlefield.) I want to know if there are any avaiable graphics cards for the computer and if so I also want to know if a more powerful PSU is required.

Answer 1

you can get a GeForce 8600GT that would beat the integrated 6100 by far. this card not even has a PCIe 6pin power plug so the power consumption isn't that high. the ATI equivalent to the 8600GT is the HD 3650.

check first if the PSU is a standard ATX format (unlike in Dell computers where standard PSU's don't fit). if this is given, you can try using one of these 2 cards without upgrading the PSU. if it doesn't work a 400W ATX PSU can be found for less than $40.

i still wonder why those manufacturers equip a PC with that little power supplies. a 350W or 420W PSU is only 20 bucks more but would guarantee head ache free upgrades.

ATI HD 3650 512

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...

GeForce 8600GT 512

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...

i suspect that the case of the W5243 is relatively small (due to the integrated graphics) so be aware that more powerful cards like the 8800GT or HD 3850 won't fit because they're LONG.

Answer 2

you can get a 400W PSU for about $35-45.00, but if your going to

want seriously good graphics...you would get by on an 8600 but do much better on an 8800 X 512...right now about $100.00...the problem is, you will proably need at least two fans and I don't know if there's a place to put one in your machine. An 8600 would proably be ok with just the factory fan...but try to get one with 512mb...usually much better than 256mb, but more costly. Wait for more answers about the two fan thing cause I don't know for sure that you would need one....