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Any body have experience with this video card. I'm budget constricted for a new video card. I am NOT a gamer, I'm looking for a card that will improve my ability to handle large graphics files in laying out the kids books I am writing. I use Serif PagePlus X4, Serif PhotoPlus X4 and Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9. Also does anyone know if it will physically fit in an Acer Aspire AX1301-U1302 Athlon?

Thanks,

Bill

Hey there, welcome. Looks like it will work. The card is low-profile ready, and you'll have to be sure you get the low-profile bracket along with it (edit: one of the product pictures shows the bracket, so you should be fine there).

The PC has a single PCI-express x16 slot which the card will work in no sweat. It doesn't require external power, so you should be able to just pop it in, plug your monitor into it, and start up. You'll need drivers, but since you're not gaming you can just use the drivers that come on the CD with the card.

I do wonder how much a new graphics card will help with what you're doing. The system requirements for PagePlus only state "3D-accelerated graphics card with DirectX™ 9 (or above) or OpenGL® support" which your PC has already got (nvidia 9200 by the looks of it). I doubt the software you list is actually passing off any of the processing to the video card so all the card is doing is displaying picture on the screen and I can't see the upgrade making any difference to that.

What you really need is a faster CPU but you probably can't do anything about that given what you've got to work with... saying this a Radeon 5450 can't be that expensive so I suppose it's worth a try but I'd be prepared not the be amazed at the results of the upgrade

cheesyking wrote:

I do wonder how much a new graphics card will help with what you're doing. The system requirements for PagePlus only state "3D-accelerated graphics card with DirectX™ 9 (or above) or OpenGL® support" which your PC has already got (nvidia 9200 by the looks of it). I doubt the software you list is actually passing off any of the processing to the video card so all the card is doing is displaying picture on the screen and I can't see the upgrade making any difference to that.

I know nothing about the software in question, but it does appear to offer a few 3D effects -- though probably not anything that is taxing the existing system. Nevertheless, while it may not be particuarly GPU-accelerated per se, the stock IGP in that Acer Aspire will be using system memory to do its work. Just switching to a discrete GPU with its own memory may show some improvements when simply scrolling around in huge files -- especially if the system in question is short on RAM to begin with. How much memory do you have? And what OS (XP/Vista/7, 32 or 64bit)?

The Newegg listing says 4GB and Windows 7 Home Premium, which if we're talking about supremely large files where only 3.5 or 3.75GB is available, freeing up any RAM and any used bandwidth possible will probably have a bigger effect than the card itself.