Sr. Citizen Questions On Graphics Card (and a few others), Please

Robert11 · 02 Aug 2015

Hello,

What a great Forum and resource for folks like me.

Am thinking about getting a new Desktop PC.

Know nothing about Graphics cards, and would appreciate your opinions.
Typical home user. No gaming, but look at lots of Photos and do a lot of internet surfing.

The Dell units offer as standard an Intel HD Graphics (DV-1, HDMI)
or for about $100 more, an NVidea 2 GB Geo Force GT 730 (DL DV-1, HDMI

Is the Intel standard offering a graphics circuit right on the Motherboard ?
If so, and it conks out, how does one replace it ? I had an Nvidea that stopped working due to the fan, and I was able (very proud of myself) put in a new cheap one on my present old PC.

Worth the $ 100 more for the Nvidea? Why ?

The Lenovo offering is an Intel HD Graphics 4600 on one of their offerings, and
an NVidea Ge Force GT 720M-2GB on another unit.
Comments on these ? (Apparently Lenovo doesn't do customizations like HP does)

Might as well also ask here:

HP still thought of as offering a reasonable quality these days, or is Lenovo
thought of as "better" ? What about Dell ?
Really hard deciding who to go with, and would really appreciate your thoughts on.

BTW: their standard 300 W power supply; adequate, or pay extra for their 500 W ?

Much thanks,
Bob

maxie · 02 Aug 2015

Hi Bob ... Its all a matter of personal taste which brand you choose ... As for Graphics all Intel GPUs are Motherboard components ..

So is a lot of NVidea & Radeon Cards also ...

Replacing the Graphics should be straight forward as most Desktops have PCIe Slots ...

Again you need to check the System Specifications to confirm how many slots are available ...

As for the PSU it is always better to get a high powered supply ... 300W is the bottom line ..

Post a few screenshots of the ones you are interested in and will have a look and compare them ...

Personally I love Lenovos as have found they are well made

ThrashZone · 02 Aug 2015

Hi,
Yes go with the 500w power supply it will insure you can upgrade a bit later 300w is crap.
Personally out of the manufactures I probably would go with a dell I have in the past bough from other manufactures but you really have to read the spec's of the machines to get one worth buying
Good example is the 300w psu = low end product.

Yes NVidia graphic's is worth paying an extra 100 for but you can also get a graphic's card on your own if you want too and might get a little better one for a little more.
Make sure you get a Intel chip set and cpu instead of AMD.

badcrc · 02 Aug 2015

According to this benchmark site, the Intel HD 4600 is 35% more powerful than a GT 720M. I use Intel graphics on one of my machines - the gpu is 'on-die' ie built into the cpu chip. This gives good performance - I use that machine for Photoshop and watching HD movies/TV, so the Intel graphics would be fine for your general use.

The reason for the $100 dollar difference with/without Nvidia is that it's the same computer in both cases, but one has the extra gfx card. As for power supplies - 300W is fine as long as you are not planning to upgrade to an expensive gfx card in the future. You'll only do that if you get into gaming.

The psu that comes with a store bought pc usually has enough watts for the installed hardware, plus a bit of headroom for any extra cards you might install. Adding regular low power cards eg TV tuner or a low end gfx card would be OK (a low power gfx card is typically installed to give extra sockets eg to run 2 or 3 monitors). It's the top end, power-hungry gaming gfx cards that need a beefier psu.

Mellon Head · 02 Aug 2015

I would get the 500 Watt PSU, and go with the Intel graphics. You can always add another graphics card later on if you feel that you need it.

I have had no luck with HP. A Dell might be a better choice.