Graphics Card help

I am wanting to purchase a decent graphics card for my father for christmas. He does not have the best computer in the world(specs below) but he has recently gotten into alot of video editing for bands and stuff. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Computer:
Emachines ET1810-01

CPU:
Intel® Celeron® Processor 420
(1.60GHz, 512KB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB)

RAM: 4GB DDR2

Chipset : NVIDIA® GeForce® 7050

Operating System:
Windows 7 Ultimate x86

Current Video Card and specs:
Integrated NVIDIA® GeForce® 7050

Memory speed: DDR2 667
Graphics clock: 500 MHz

This computer only has a 250W ATX power supply, so if needed I know that a standard ATX supply thats P4 ready will work.

Open slots: 1-PCI-e x16, 1-PCI-e x1, and 2 PCI

Thanks again.

How do you incrementally upgrade a horse and cart without the result looking silly?

Your rig as it stands is a fairly balanced set of components (chosen to meet a price-point) which work well together. Replacing just one of them with something "much better" would generally mean that the extra money you spent on "much" is wasted, because the rest of the system can't keep up.

You can put an engine in the wooden cart, but it still won't do more than 20mph, otherwise the stresses imposed by the engine would just tear it apart.

> This computer only has a 250W ATX power supply,
Top rated graphics cards would use all of that by themselves
Typically, if your rig needs X-Watts of power, then you need a good power supply (not something cheap in a "budget" machine) rated at about 2X-Watts (so it is loaded at 50%).
The max rating is to cover transients without it shutting down completely. If you run it close to it's max from the outset, it will get very hot (and inherently less efficient with it), the fans will be audible in the next room and it's life will be measured in months at best. The system will be prone to shutdowns and reboots in the meantime.

250W will only be enough to cover what you have, and replacement on a "like-for-like" basis. Significant upgrade would require a new PSU.


TBH, finding something 6 to 12 months old on ebay which has a much better base spec might be the way to go, for not a lot more than what you might pay for a spiffy new graphics card (which you couldn't use all of anyway), and a new PSU.

I fully try to appreciate any and all replies that I do recieve on any message board. The only thing that I ask is that my whole post be read before attempting to degrade what I am doing. As stated before, this is a simple upgrade for my fathers computer. I stated that it had only a 250W power supply, but if need be, could be upgraded. I am not looking to acheive gaming speed graphics here. Just something that is above what is preinstalled. I understand that this is a "budget" computer, but it was his purchase choice. I am just attempting to perform a small upgrade to help the performace of the graphics for the purpose of video editing.

Now if someone could please reply with an actual direction or even better, a known upgrade card for this computer, it would be much appreciated.

Well, nearly any stand alone card will be an improvement from the integrated graphics. As stated before, plan on updating the power supply as well. That being the case, a combo like this or this will offer both the needed psu upgrade and video upgrade at a reasonable price. Obviously you can get much better graphics cards than those, but I would say it is not worth the cost given the rest of the components.