Graphics card advice

[#1]

Can any one suggest a cheap and cheerful graphics card that would be compatible with a HP G5105uk Desktop PC running Windows 7 Home Premium
Specs for this model can be seen here
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=120&prodSeriesId=...
The computer is mainly used for storing / viewing / and editing photographs plus a few fairly basic games.
Any advise would be appreciated
Thanks
Chris

[#2]

Rather obvious question - given your usage why do you want a graphics card instead of the on board graphics
I assume you are seeing problems
Are you running Win 7 64bit or 32bit
The other question is what graphics resolution is your monitor as that can seriously affect the recommendation

[#3]

According to that it's got a PCI-E x16 slot which is the one all recent graphics cards fit in, so pretty much anything would go. Depends what kind of basic games you're talking about though as to what would be recommended - old or new games? Even some web games are using 3d processing now thanks to unity and other web plugins. If you're not playing any 3d games then as Jim says you should be fine with onboard graphics for that kind of usage.
If you are though, it's probably worth a look at the low end of nVidia's 6 series: http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/gpu-nvidia/1037/1038/1039/1057/1273/1301/1274/1188/...
Anything with an HDMI out socket on it should be capable of running basic (and older) 3d games up to and including say half life 2.
Hope that helps.

[#4]

On top of what mat said, not all power supplies have enough grunt or the correct connections to power some modern graphics cards.  So best to start with what you are willing to spend plus what the games are and work from there.

Quote

Power Supply 300W 300W power supply

Will struggle if not fail to boot with anything too powerful, you might end up having to get a new PSU as well, so double check what you are buying

[#5]

Oldjim / Matt / Gus
The images I am editing are fairly large at upto about 12MB
More often than not I'll be working with three or four images at once. I had assumed that a graphics card with maybe 1GB memory might speed things up a bit.
The games I am talking about are fairly trivial sort of stuff of the jewel quest and h.o.g. ilk.
One in particular I bought recently which freezes when run states "The program requires a minimum of a 256MB graphics card" From what I can gather, the "in built" graphics of my computer is 249MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Had a look at scan.co.uk and came up with this
Asus NVIDIA GT 610 Silent Low Profile Compatible Graphics Card - 1GB
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-asus-gt-610-silent-pcie-20-%28x16%29-40nm-1200mhz-gddr3-gpu-810mh...
It doedn't say so on the above page but I read somewhere else that it is rated at 300w
What do you think? Using this card would I see any improvement in my computers performance?
Thank you all for your help and advice
Chris

[#6]

Two more questions
Which graphics program are you using
How much spare hard drive space do you have
And an earlier question are you using Win7 64bit or 32bit
Note that that graphics card draws less than 30watts http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-610/specifications
It may also be worth checking the Virtual Memory settings

[#7]

Jim
Using Photoshop Elements 9
Free disc space: 448 GB
According to the "View basic information about your computer" page in Control Panel
System Type: 64-bit operating system
Virtual Memory is set at 2815MB
As you've probably gathered by now, I'm sadly lacking in know-how of all this tech stuff.
I really do appreciate your help and patience.
Chris

[#8]

In that case having more RAM in the graphics card will be a benefit
How much memory is in your computer - the basic spec is 3GB with a maximum capacity of 4GB
Does windows report 2 hard drives C: and 😧 with the operating system in C: and data in 😧
Have you updated elements to 9.0.3

[#9]

You might be able to change the amount of system RAM allocated to the built-in graphics in the BIOS setup. But getting a graphics card would be better.

[#10]

Jim
Memory 3GB
drive C: is marked as O/S and 😧 as HP_RECOVERY
and yes, Elements 9.0.3 installed.
ejs
Thanks.  Is it save for someone of my limited ability to mess about with the BIOS setup?
Chris

[#11]

I'm actually surprised that a game would throw an error like that as Windows 7 extends the graphics card memory with the system RAM.
My current W7x64 system (onboard motherboard graphics) shows 128MB Dedicated Video Memory but 1851MB of Total Available Graphics Memory and nothing I've tried has ever complained about "only" 128MB.
As noted above you may well be able to change the memory dedicated to graphics in the BIOS. Usually by pressing F10 or F2 at startup (press early, press often to paraphrase the Irish voting cartchphrase).

[#12]

You only have two serious options
Increase the memory to 4GB and put in a graphics card with 1GB RAM - both will help
With respect to memory I suggest running the Crucial Memory tool http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/drammemory.aspx
For the graphics card any will do but you don't need low profile which actually won't fit in your case - compare the depth of the mounting bracket to a regular one
Regarding source for the graphics card - if you don't have free delivery Scan's delivery charges are very high
You should consider Amazon as you can get it with no delivery charge and any problems Amazon will sort it much better than other companies http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_nr_p_72_0?rh=n%3A340831031%2Ck%3Anvidia+610%2Cp_72%3A419153031&bbn=...

[#13]

Quote from: Novocastrian

Is it save for someone of my limited ability to mess about with the BIOS setup?

Usually. You will get asked to confirm any changes.
Just try and get into it and have a look round; see if you can identify anything relevant and report back what it is and what options there are.

[#14]

Thanks to all for the help and advice.
Not too happy messing about with the BIOS, but I feel quite comfortable working with a hammer and a pair of mole-grips so I'll probably go for the graphics card option.
Cheers
Chris

[#15]

Quote from: Novocastrian

Asus NVIDIA GT 610 Silent Low Profile Compatible Graphics Card - 1GB

You realise that low profile means half height and you appear to have a full 'height' case (i.e. full-width in this context).  I'm not sure, perhaps 'compatible'  means you can replace the normal full-height mounting bracket with a half-height one.  Perhaps you should check before you buy?