Ultra Small Form Factor Graphics Card?

[Jonj1611]

Hi,

My dad gave me his old pc so I could use for my daughters computer. Unfortunately when we went to run Lego Batman it's a little underpowered at best. But I have never had one of these small pc's before and I don't even know if its possible to get a graphics card for it.

Its a Fujitsu Esprimo C5730 Star 4, the base specs are ok but the only expansion slot I can work out it has is a half height standard PCI slot.

So, does anyone know if it is possible to get a graphics card for it?

Any help appreciated

Thanks

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Does it have a PCI-E slot and can you list the PSU it is using? What motherboard and CPU does it have??

I would say perhaps a low profile HD7750 GDDR5 might be doable if the system is not ancient.

[Jonj1611]

Thanks for the response mate, I will have to pull it open tomorrow to check the PSU but I think its 200-250W !!! As for the PCI-E, I really can't tell, there seems to be next to no documentation around for this particular model, well in ref to the free slots.

[Jonj1611]

Well the manual was next to useless, it talks about PCI/PCIExpress but doesn't actually say whether the free slot is a PCI-E slot.

Monofunctional expansion cards
PCI/PCI Express expansion cards require a maximum of one interrupt, which is called the PCI
interrupt INT A. Expansion cards that do not require an interrupt can be installed in any desired slot.
Multifunctional expansion cards or expansion cards with integrated PCI-PCI bridge
These expansion cards require up to four PCI interrupts: INT A, INT B, INT C, INT D. How many
and which of these interrupts are used is specified in the documentation provided with the card.
The assignment of the PCI interrupts to the IRQ Lines is shown in the following table:
On board controller
PCI INT LINE 1 (A) 2 (B) 3 (C) 4 (D) 5 (E) 6 (F) 7 (G) 8 (H)
UHCI USB 1.1
Dev 1A Fn 0 1th - - - - x - - -
Dev 1A Fn 1 2nd - - x - - - - -
Dev 1D Fn 0 3rd - - - - x - - -
Dev 1D Fn 1 4th - - - - - - x -
Dev 1A Fn 2 5th - - - x - - - -
Dev 1D Fn 2 6th - - - - - x - -
EHCI USB 2.0
Dev 1A Fn 7 - - x - - - - -
Dev 1D Fn 7 - - - - x - - -
SATA #1 - - - x - - - -
SATA #2 - - - - - - x -
SMBus - - - - - - x -
Intel LAN - - - - - - - x
HD Audio - - - - x - - -
Onboard Graphik x - - - - - - -

Mechanical slot
PCI INT LINE 1 (A) 2 (B) 3 (C) 4 (D) 5 (E) 6 (F) 7 (G) 8 (H)
PCI
Slot 1 - - D C - B A -
Slot 2 - - C D - A B -
PCIe x16 A B C D - - - -
PCIe X4 x - - - - - - -
Use first PCI/PCI Express slots that have a single PCI IRQ Line (no IRQ sharing). If you
must use another PCI/PCI Express slot with IRQ sharing, check whether the expansion card
properly supports IRQ sharing with the other devices on this PCI IRQ Line.

Soooooooooo, erm.

[DDY]

Here's a great resource;

http://uk.ts.fujitsu.com/rl/services...primoc5730.htm

From that I can tell you have a single low profile PCI slot to play with, which, unfortunately limits you to older and slower graphics cards. The sort of cards that are compatible will be less than mediocre and quite expensive, in my opinion I think you'll have to find another machine to play games on.

[Jonj1611]

Hi,

Thanks thats really handy, I looked everywhere for specs like that, funnily enough I did find those exact same pictures but the spec wasn't with it, and hmmmm pci only graphics card, did they ever make such a beast and even if they did I am going to guess its not going to run anything even remotely modern??

And yes think you maybe correct. The machine itself is really good at doing simple things, watching films, internet, email etc and is silent virtually, I guess thats what they were designed for. If I can find someone giving away preferably lol a LGA775 mainboard that takes DDR2 I could just take the CPU and memory/hard drive from the smaller machine and use that I guess? I already have everything else as my daughters old computer is still in the corner of her room and then just get a graphics card.

[grayg1]

http://globalsp.ts.fujitsu.com/dmsp/...730-EStar5.pdf

Page 3, looks like PCI low profile only

[DDY]

Thanks thats really handy, I looked everywhere for specs like that, funnily enough I did find those exact same pictures but the spec wasn't with it, and hmmmm pci only graphics card, did they ever make such a beast and even if they did I am going to guess its not going to run anything even remotely modern??

Funny thing is I didn't even read the spec, I went by the pictures

Anyway, the following are some of the problems you'll face finding a PCI graphics card;

- There are no current gen cards on PCI so you'll have to find something that is 'end of life', i.e. good luck finding one new,
- The fastest card I've seen is a Nvidia GT430 - which isn't very fast. Will be sufficient for less demanding games but PCI cards this fast are rare,
- The low profile requirement adds another layer of complexity to your search, as both regular and low profile versions of the same card can exist, low profile cards can be even rarer,
- Due to the rarity of these cards, expect to pay well over the odds for one.

In short, what your looking for will be very hard to find and expensive. Hence, you will be better of with another machine.

And yes think you maybe correct. The machine itself is really good at doing simple things, watching films, internet, email etc and is silent virtually, I guess thats what they were designed for. If I can find someone giving away preferably lol a LGA775 mainboard that takes DDR2 I could just take the CPU and memory/hard drive from the smaller machine and use that I guess? I already have everything else as my daughters old computer is still in the corner of her room and then just get a graphics card.

In your shoes, I'd sell the Fujitsu and rebuild your daughters old machine using newer used parts, e.g. from the classifieds.

[Jonj1611]

I think you maybe right, well so long Fujitsu, I never knew you long if at all lol