Graphics card PCIe 3.0 or PCIe 4.0 for Acer TC-1760-UA92

Infoaddict

Have the integrated Intel 730 and found it not able to multitask well unless it is in the forefront. I figure a dedicated graphics card would do the trick. Looking at some to use, the spec of PCIe 3.0 or PCIe 4.0 comes up. The processors specs Intel i5 12400 say it is 4.0 or 5.0. Does my PC support a 4.0 graphics card? I do not use my computer for gaming so I high end graphics card is not in my plan but it seems a PCIe 4.0 card seriously outperforms a 3.0 card for the same money. Can you advise here the specs and any recommendations / steps / cautions I should be aware of in doing this upgrade? Thank you!

billsey

Here's an excerpt from the block diagram:

So PCIe gen 4, not gen 5. Watch for power consumption, you have only a 300W PSU so that will be the limit on which GPU you can install.

billsey

Here's an excerpt from the block diagram:

So PCIe gen 4, not gen 5. Watch for power consumption, you have only a 300W PSU so that will be the limit on which GPU you can install.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/673515/graphics-card-pcie-3-0-or-pcie-4-0-for-acer-tc-1760-ua92

This is the Acer SG guide for the TC-1760s, Installing Add-on Cards and the individual specs of the slots:

The most appropriate gpu for the TC1760s and its 300W psu is a PCIe 3.0 as the PCIe 4.0 require more power, see here "Which Graphics Cards Support PCIe 4.0? GPU List (2022)" as this is a good list of all PCIe 4.0 as you can check their specs of what psu they require.

Infoaddict

Thank you very much for the two responses.

I have done some research and the bottom 3.0 or 4.0 PCIe desktop card appears to be the recently launched AMD 6400 with a TDP of 53 watts. AMD's website recommends a power supply of 350 watts. The MSI 'branded" card matched these stats. This is likely "marginal" to the supplied 300 watt PSU depending on what is already adding up to use the power supply capacity with the Aspire PC. Do I have "room" for 53 watts?

FWIW, from looking around at 3.0 cards, it seems finding one with less than 53 watts is nigh impossible for a reasonable card. My conclusion is that you cannot really upgrade the base PC without upgrading the PSU too if you are staying with the recommendations of the GPU chip manufacturers. One might be able to get away with at most the AMD 6400. Going to check out what that hard drive is drawing v. the SSD and consider a 2nd SSD and removing the HD to cut down the power drawn elsewhere: my hunch is the SSD will requires less than the HD. In my case, the 256 Gig SSD is plenty. I don't need the TB HD.

Thoughts?

billsey

Acer does quite a bit of testing with power in real environments and they have a lot of models shipping with 300W supplies and GPU cards where the manufacturer suggests 350W. When Acer tests in that environment they fully populate memory and drives then measure actual power usage. They are pretty confident that 300W is plenty in those systems. I'd guess the GPU manufacturers fudge things to be conservative.