# Best graphics card for Acer x1200?



## Karder (Jul 18, 2008)

Just bought an Acer Aspire X1200 (the new small design) and was wondering what the best graphic card would be for this desktop.

Here are the specs and hopefully someone can help me.

AMD Athlon™ X2 Dual Core 4850e Processor 
NVIDIA® GeForce® 8200 On-Board Graphics 
4GB DDR2 Memory 
16x DVD+R/RW, DVD-RAM SuperMulti, Double-Layer Drive 
PCI EXPRESS 2.0 1x-16x
Windows Vista® Premium 64 with SP1
I think Motherboard is Geforce 8200 GPU (Maybe someone more knowledgable can confirm)

I am not looking to pay $1500 for a card but up to $3-400 would be alright. Also, i don't want to pay for a card that my motherboard can't handle.

Please help me.


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## OMGmissinglink (Sep 24, 2006)

One of these might slide in there

http://www.galaxytech.com/Product_Details.asp?id=135


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

There hard to find those 8600 slims. Its to bad you chose a slim pc , not gaming friendly.


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## OMGmissinglink (Sep 24, 2006)

Slim pc's are not gaming friendly.. thats a y/n answer, full towers with to many fans tend to move to much dust inside the case .... number 1 killer pc componets is dust tends to build up on the componets causing a short, eventually causing them to fail.. this applies to PSU units .. if you've ever opened a blown out PSU unit you will usuall find its filled with dust, even hi quality PSU units.


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

I'm sure it happens but its a heck of a compromise. Not many peoples parts go because of dust. I would imagine a large pc case with many fans would blow out more dust out then in a tiny case where it just sits and builds up.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

And the larger case will even have enough room for the right PSU to power the card.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com/watch?v=gCu0K_ORpKU

Interesting video on the X1200, Not sure what kind of PCIEx16 card will run on 220w PSU though.


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## guru88 (Jun 26, 2008)

id have to agree, larger cases are more geared for gaming...heavy gaming with a slim case may cause number problems which may arise in the future.. mainly in terms of cooling


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## OMGmissinglink (Sep 24, 2006)

I did not say these were ideal gaming PC's, I noted though even in full tower pc's dust is a factor in damaged componets... you will find on many forums advise "add more fans".. did you know the more fans in a tower draws in dust particals and other impurities depending the pc's enviorment. Do you believe that more fans remove dust in your pc then you''ve been missinformed! There exists no spacific balance of air flow inside any givin PC. Ideal regular PC maintenance should be preformed min. twice a year.

Ever wonder why the television is usually the dustiest spot in the house? Dust and other air impurities are attracted by the electrical charge inside appliances like your TV and PC where they settle. Over time, these materials can build up enough to carry electrical charges and "short" the PC's circuitry. The dust also forms a blanket, diminishing the electronics' ability to release heat and stay cool. This results in heat stress and additional potential damage.


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

I suppose. I think the 8200 thats in it will play games tho. Unless you can actually find one of those 8600 slims then what you have is best for now.


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## OMGmissinglink (Sep 24, 2006)

Even though the mini pc comes with 250w psu those small psu's finding output specks are tough to find.. if you've the extra funds couldn't hurt trying a slim 8600GT... the pci-e slot is on the end of the mobo so blocking air flow shouldn't be an issue.. worst case senerio. If it won't work you can always sell the 8600GT card or .. most retailers will refund most the costs / - restocking fee.


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## Laimo99 (Sep 15, 2008)

My question is will an 8600GT fit/work in the x1200> Does anybody know or have tried it?


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

If you find the slim 8600 gt it will fit.


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## Laimo99 (Sep 15, 2008)

Thanks a Million. I will get one and will let you know how it works.


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## sts9ine (Jan 22, 2009)

Please post an update as soon as possible! I'm in the exact same boat I'm interested to see how it turns out. I hope to get it fixed before Dawn of War II drops. :grin:

By the way, are you guys talking about adding the 8600 via SLi or just replacing the stock 8200?


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

Replaceing the stock 8200.


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## sts9ine (Jan 22, 2009)

This might be a lost cause, but I was hoping for an update.


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

On the 8600? It's still available I think.


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## DZero (Aug 11, 2009)

I have the ax1200, i just purchased an Athlon Windsor series X2.

It is a weak system for gaming but it can be done.

Also in terms of graphics try a low profile 9500 series w/ fan.

NewEgg has one that will work fine. Don't really need the extra HDMI but whatever...

BTW, good luck w/ the cooling, the processor I got runs 125W when the stock is 45W...

I have only found one cooler that will do the job, unfortunately it's noisy, any of the coolers that do are noisy.


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## bburns (Aug 26, 2009)

I would STAY AWAY from ACER!!

I purchased this Acer Aspire X1200 and the audio did not work over HDMI. It took over 25 e-mail exchanges before they would take the PC back for repair. They kept asking me to perform the same steps over and over again!!!

When I shipped the PC back to them, they claimed it was damaged and it would cost $200 to fix. I spoke with Customer No Service and she informed me that the case around the modem port was cracked and that it would now cost only $75. I had inspected the PC very closely prior to shipping it and there was no damage. The PC was packed very well with Styrofoam on all sides of the system, so I doubt very seriously that FedEx damaged it. The modem port on it, is a card installed on the PC and attached to the metal card cage, so what plastic broke around the modem port. I am confident that this is a scam on ACER's part to offset the cost repairs.

When I asked the Service Rep to talk to a supervisor, she told me it was against "policy" and refused to put me in contact with a supervisor. That is unheard of!!!


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## DZero (Aug 11, 2009)

I havn't even tried to use the HDMI port, comp is just too slow to support it, however most reviews i come across if you have the high end ax1200 it should just plug and play, i bought the budget ax1200 and i very much doubt the hardware can support it.

Acer X1200
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+
220W Flex ATX PSU
NVidia integrated GeForce 8400
OCZ 1GBx2 Vista Upgrade RAM @ 800MHz
Windows Vista 32bit

If you want better CPU you will want the AMD Brisbane X2 89W @ 3.1GHz
AX1200 can only support up to 800MHz dual channel memory 4GB max
Cooler Master from what I know makes the best CPU cooling for this case.
I am only able to find a 300W FLEX ATX PSU for max upgrade.
Plus the smallest GPU PCIx16 card that will fit is the NVidia GeForce 9600GT, dunno if largest PCU can power it though...

Hope this info helps!

Please lemme know if you have any information for me, I'm still researching the limits of this platform.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

A 300w won't power a 9600GT for very long.


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## DZero (Aug 11, 2009)

wrench97 said:


> A 300w won't power a 9600GT for very long.


Is that due to power consumption? If so then the only answer for ax1200 owners is to upgrade to a larger case capable of mATX power supply.

That would also solve the cooling issues too, for the most part.

How much does a 9600 GT need in order to work properly?


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## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

We recommend a quality 500-600w unit for a 9600GT running on a typical system (ATX mobo, 65w dual core CPU (quad cores should lean toward the upper end of the recommendation), one or two PCI cards, 1-3 USB devices, 2-4 DIMMs, 1-2 HDDs, 1-2 DVDs, 2-5 fans).


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## DZero (Aug 11, 2009)

Thank you. I also found a new driver that updates ax1200 integrated graphics to 9200 class.

It's totally free, http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_winvista_32bit_190.62_whql.html

that's for 32bit windows however...

Plus the northbridge will run about 5C hotter w/ the new driver.


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## jfirpo76 (May 29, 2010)

Hello.... Just to let you all know that i have this same computer. It originally came with the 8200 video card. I went into device manager and hit upgrade driver and it upated my card to the 9200. Once I did that some of my slower running games moved quicker. 

Although I still have some like ShellShock 2 that freeze every second and drives me nuts. 

Try upgrading driver.


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## jfirpo76 (May 29, 2010)

Great comment DZero. After I posted mine I saw that you already said the same thing,


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Year old thread.


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