Cheap-ish graphics card

Shapey Fiend

Hey guys,

I've got a Thinkstation E31 (https://www.cnet.com/products/lenovo-thinkstation-e31-2553-xeon-e3-1225v2-3-2-ghz-series/specs/) in the parents house wanted to play a bit of Hitman 2016 on it but the aul Quadro 600 isn't up to the task.

Any suggestion on a cheapish card I can get off ebay to play some games on it? Not going to be using the machine terribly often so don't want to blow the bank.

K.O.Kiki

I'd look at a GTX 1050 Ti ; the Thinkstation E31 either has a 240W or 280W power supply but you should be running ~180W with that setup.

You should get a very playable 1080p.
Might take some fiddling though:
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkStation-Workstations/ThinkStation-E31-GPU-problems/td-p/3471234

Also note that you it takes half-length (<180mm), full-height cards:
https://geizhals.eu/?cat=gra16_512&xf=2612_180%7E9810_7+1981+-+GTX+1050+Ti

TerrorFirmer

From that link sounds like there's a bios limitation preventing newer cards from working - the same problem can be found on certain HP machines as well.

Something like a GTX650 that doesn't require a power connector may work as it's from the same era. Won't be great but will run the game at low settings for about €50.

Other than that you're likely out of luck.

wshouldieat?

Hi! If you're looking for a cheap graphics card you should consider getting a second hand one.

Shapey Fiend

A second hand one off ebay was what I was thinking. Thanks KiKi and Terrorfirmer for the pointers on the bios situation I'll do a bit more research before pulling the trigger.

TerrorFirmer

The other option is sell your current machine and buy a 2nd hand i5 on adverts/ebay and add your own card, the difference shouldn't be too great (maybe €100) and you'll have a far more upgradable machine.