Solved Gigabyte 4550 Bad Choice?

[N2Abyss]

Gateway 4300E Low form Factor,
Mother board Intel Corp D915GUX,
CPU Intel Pentium 4,
1391 MB of free memory/2045 MB Total, 350W Athena Power Supply

Looking for a low profile card to up grade a failing ati radeon 4300/4500 series card.
Has to be low profile, preferably with a fan/sink, but thin.
I recently purchased "Gigabyte HD 4550", but can't get it to work!
Display will not function correctly, display has lines and fractured look to it. (looks like an extremely low resolution)

I have re-seated the card, Installed the Catalyst soft ware that came with the card(ATi Radeon HD 4550 Series Graphics Acclerator Driver CD) 12DC1-HD455HM-10CR, and hydro Vision. Have adjusted resolution to 1024x768 Res on a Samsung SyncMaster 19" monitor.

Nothing seems to work, although I can re-install my old ATi Radeon HD 4300/4500 Series card and the display is fine? (less the sparkling green spots) I either picked a non compatible card, or the card is bad.
I don't do a lot of gaming on this machine, just some Myst and Rivien. Mostly photo editing and viewing.
Thanks in advance, for any help
N2

 

[pjhutch]

Definately sounds like the card is bad. I would return it. See if the dealer can offer an alternative...

 

[N2Abyss]

The card was purchased from a vender on e-bay, I have contacted him but am doubtful I will be able to return.

Not knowing a lot about comparing the specs of the card to the specs of my PC, I picked what I thought would work size wise and compatibility wise, Unless there is some type of electronic incompatibility, I would guess I received a bad card as well.

Any suggestions as to a card that might suit the size restrictions,MO board and power requirements would be greatly appreciated! NOTE I'll be buying from a retail vender this time!
I'm afraid I may be missing something as for as mother board requirements, when it comes to picking a card!
And would really like to get one that is compatable with my system the first time. A small form factor (Low profile, Single slot, PCIe) card with a fan/sink would be awesome.
I don't do a lot of gaming on this machine, just some Myst and Rivin, the pc is mostly used for photo editing and viewing.

Thanks
N2

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

Most powerful available Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100326LP Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card

 

[Dwarf]

Could possibly be a power issue. The requirements state for that card a 300W or greater PSU. I note that you have a 350W PSU, however I'm not sure how reliable that particular make is.

 

[N2Abyss]

Thanks for the link Ivan, but I would like to stay around the $40.00 Mark and must stay THIN (Max. 23mm), as well maybe If my 350W Athena Power Supply isn't so great I should go for a lower wattage card?
The PSU is new, I added it because I didn't want to under power a new card, but I have to make this work, I have already sunk too much money into this old box!
I just need to find a video card that will work good enough with I have. I have looked till I'm blue in the face!
Thought you guy's might know of something that would work with what I have....
Thanks
N2

 

[Sardonicus]

I noticed in your specs that you state "Integrated ATI Radeon HD 3200 video /Sapphire Radeon HD 3470".
Is there a way to turn off or disable the Integrated video. Some chipsets require you to disable integrated video to use a dedicated
graphics card. I'd check the BIOS settings, just in case.

 

[N2Abyss]

Primary Video Adapter is set to <Ext PCI Graphics>
N2

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

Low profile under $40:huh:....none come with a fan, best one Newegg.com - PowerColor Go! Green AX5450 1GBK3-SH Radeon HD 5450 (Cedar) 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card
But this is a very low end card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131338

 

[N2Abyss]

That looks perfect Ivan, Thanks a lot! I'll check out the specs.
N2

 

[Joshatdot]

Some benchmark scores from PassMark Software

GeForce GT 430

676
RADEON HD 6450

364
Radeon HD 4550

353
Radeon HD 5450

311

Newegg.com - ECS NGT430C-1GQR-F GeForce GT 430 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-R645SL-1GI Radeon HD 6450 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-R545OC-512I Radeon HD 5450 (Cedar) 512MB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card

I'd spend a tad extra and get the GT 430. According to what I've Google'd, the GT 430 has a TDP of 50 watts, and recommended PSU of 300 watts. You should be fine with the Athena 350 watter.

 

[dsperber]

Just to chime in here...

I've put Gigabyte 512MB fanless HD4550 cards in two machines, and they worked fine in both. As with your situation there was no gaming involved, no extraordinary video needs, etc.

Both machines were older WinXP systems (but one was a "modern" ASUS P5Q3 board).

What was needed in the WinXP environment was an inexpensive PCIe video card that was silent, and the HD4550 hit the mark perfectly. Using Catalyst "clone-mode" worked fine, as it was in a Bridge Club where the Director sat at a desk with an old Samsung CRT monitor and there was a larger LCD on the wall for the players to look at simultaneously with the Director's scoring.

The ASUS P5Q3 setup has also been running WinXP flawlessly with the HD4550 for more than 2 years.

 

[N2Abyss]

OK, lot of well appreciated information here, I'll look at everything.
But whats bugging me is the fact that I need to learn why this "Gigabyte 4550" will not work in the little Gateway E4300?
I installed this card in my Gateway GT 5676 this morning and it works fine (see specs in profile) I am missing something here on card selection vs machine, I'm no expert but I need to learn what it is I lack when choosing video cards!
Here are the specs on the "Gigabyte" card I purchased for the little Gateway E4300
Can anyone tell me where I went wrong Here? (E4300 specs on first post)
Chipset Radeon HD 4550
Core Clock 600 MHz
Shader Clock N/A
Memory Clock 1600 MHz
Process Technology 55 nm
Memory Size HyperMemory to 512MB (On board 128MB GDDR3)
Memory Bus 64 bit
Card Bus PCI-E 2.0
Memory Type GDDR3
DirectX 10.1
OpenGL 2.1
PCB Form Low Profile
Digital max resolution 2560 x 1600
Analog max resolution 2048 x 1536
Multi-view 2
I/O HDMI * 1
DVI-I * 1
D-sub * 1
Card size H=21mm, L=179 mm, W=126 mm
Power requirement 300 W
Thanks
N2

 

[Joshatdot]

bad/faulty card

edit: whoops .. read your post wrong .. I thought you installed a different GFX card in your system and it worked. But in fact you installed the card in a different system and it worked .. in that case I agree with Ivan below .. prolly bad slot.

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

If the card works in a different system the most likely you have a bad slot

 

[Joshatdot]

do you have another known working gfx card to test in your system? .. to check if that works or not.

edit: also could you check and tell us your PSUs +12v amperage? that could be an issue .. but TBH the 4550 only draws 25w TDP.

 

[N2Abyss]

Yes, I have tried the old Sapphire 4350 that was in there to begin with and it works fine now.
At the start of this whole mess...I noticed after installing a new Arctic cooler PCU fan, my display was starting to show tiny green dots in one corner and thought the display card was going bad due to overheating in the small case. That was the reason for purchasing the Gigabyte card, after several attempts seating and unseating the gigabyte card, updating drivers, checking to see that the on board graphics was disabled and checking all adjustments, I gave up and put the Sapphire Radeon 4300 back in, and now it's working fine?
I added a 120mm fan to the case, above the graphics card to pull air out of the PC as well, And I don't understand if that helped, or If the thermal contact on the PCU just hadn't had enough time to break in. I'm really confused here!

But for future reference, I would still like to know everything I need to know to make a proper card selection for this machine, or for any machine!

As well, I still don't understand if the "Gigabyte HD 4550" is a compatible card for the Gateway E 4300! If it is, why does it work in my Gateway GT 5676, but not in the E4300?
Thanks
N2

 

[Joshatdot]

Those tiny green dots are classic signs of an overheating GPU or an underpowered GPU .. and in your 1st post "display has lines and fractured look to it" I would say are signs of overheating/underpowered GPU.

Too bad you don't have another (better) PSU to test with the E4300 to see if that will work. As the E4300 is a lowpro system .. a normal ATX PSU will not fit .. but you still can hook one up to it .. if you feel up to it.

 

[M1GU31]

Low profile under $40:huh:....none come with a fan, best one Newegg.com - PowerColor Go! Green AX5450 1GBK3-SH Radeon HD 5450 (Cedar) 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card
But this is a very low end card

i have that card it's pretty reliable never broken down on me or had any problems with it

 

[N2Abyss]

I can't believe it's the power supply, although who could know for sure without a voltage test? but the stock Newton 225w PSU powered the Sapphire 4300/4500 series fine for about two years!


And the Athena 350w is presently powering the Sepphire 4300/4500 series with no problems!


Here's what the Gigabyte manual say's for "Minimum System Requirements"
Intel® Pentium® 4/core™2 or AMD Athlon™ / Phenom™ (I have only a pentium 4) *****


1 GB or more of system memory for best performance (I have 2GB)


Optical drive for software installation (got that)


A power supply that provides at least 400-watt is required. The power supplyshould be with a known brand and certified to conform to saftey regulations. (thier web site says min. PSU 300w)


And the manual says it will work with Windows XP Pro (SP2) (What I Have)


I guess in typing this I finally answered my own question, could it be the first requirement, A QUAD CORE processor? Reading between the "Registered" and "Trademark" symbols was confusing at the time of installation, but wouldn't you say, this could be my problem?



N2