Hi. I'm Bill. I've been messing with computers for years, but not to build or program them, except bits and pieces very rarely.

I've seen how external graphics cards are being used to turn laptops into good graphics/gaming computers, and was wondering if the same could be done for an older (4-5 yo) desktop, and if so, what all would be involved in doing so. Any help appreciated greatly. Here are my rig specs:


      Operating System
         Windows 10 Home 64-bit
      CPU
         AMD FX-8350   34 °C
         Vishera 32nm Technology
      RAM
         16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 798MHz (11-11-11-28)
      Motherboard
         ASRock 970M Pro3 (CPUSocket)   41 °C
      Graphics
         Acer S201HL ([email protected])
         2048MB ATI ASUS HD6450 (ASUStek Computer Inc)   62 °C
      Storage
         931GB Western Digital WDC WD10 EALX-089BA0 SATA Disk Device (SATA )   35 °C
         931GB Western Digital WDC WD10 EZRZ-00Z5HB0 SATA Disk Device (SATA )   34 °C
         57GB SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 USB Device (USB )
         7GB SanDisk Cruzer USB Device (USB )
      Optical Drives
         ASUS DRW-24B1ST c SATA CdRom Device
      Audio
         Realtek High DEFINITION Audio
Operating System
   Windows 10 Home 64-bit
   Computer type: DesktopHi Bill
With a desktop like yours the fastest communication with a graphics card would be to have one connected to the PCI Express 2.0 x16 Slots (PCIE2: x16 mode; PCIE3: x4. There is no external connections which would come close to the speed of that slot in your computer. Does the computer have a small case with a low wattage power supply that you are looking at external? Thanks for answering.

The power supply is 550 I believe. It might be 650, but I'm pretty sure it is 550. The case of the computer is huge - much bigger than I wanted for the size of the mobo at the time, but that was the deal.

The PCI slots won't accept any graphics card larger than 2 gigs, and to use programs for 3d rendering like DAZ 3D and such, that is pretty much useless. In fact, when I use DAZ, it maxes out my CPU and doesn't seem to use my GPU at all. That's why I was wondering about an external card like what is being advertised for laptops.The PCI slots won't accept any graphics card larger than 2 gigs,

This makes no sense...more info on the PC...Hi
With Daz you need a nvidia graphics card with PLENTY of memory and you need to configure Daz to use the GPU. As a budget card which will work with your 550 watt power supply then this one 

 Geforce GTX 1060 - 6GB VRAM they can be had for $250 or less or better still Geforce GTX 1080 ti - 11GB VRAM you may need a better power supply for this card.
Your motherboard supports either of these cards or in fact any pci express card. You are better staying with nvidia running Daz. Quote from: Lisa_maree on December 23, 2019, 10:14:26 PM

Hi
With Daz you need a nvidia graphics card with plenty of memory and you need to configure Daz to use the GPU. As a budget card which will work with your 550 watt power supply then this one 

 Geforce GTX 1060 - 6GB VRAM they can be had for $250 or less or better still Geforce GTX 1080 ti - 11GB VRAM you may need a better power supply for this card.
Your motherboard supports either of these cards or in fact any pci express card. You are better staying with nvidia running Daz.

The PCI slots won't accept any graphics card larger than 2 gigs,

This makes no sense...more info on the PC...

Those two PCIe 2.0 x16 slots will accept any modern PCIe graphics card, what's making you think they won't? Where are you reading about this 2gb limit? If you're looking at the PCIe version (i.e. your board being PCIe 2.0 vs the cards being PCIe 3.0, don't worry, those standards are backwards compatible, a PCIe 3.0 card will work fine in a 2.0 slot with little performance penalty)

Many cases have removable drive cages at the front. I had to remove one of the drive cages from my system in order for a 1070 to fit, for example. perhaps this case does too and you never considered it.

Many cases have removable drive cages at the front. I had to remove one of the drive cages from my system in order for a 1070 to fit, for example. perhaps this case does too and you never considered it.

The mobo is mounted towards the back, and the graphics card I bought to upgrade ran into the back so it wouldn't fit.

I'm still not quite clear what you mean. is it too long, and running into the drive cage at the front, or is it too fat, and unable to plug in due to other components?

Just eyeballing the case and the motherboard the PCI-E 16x slot should be running into the void space above the HDD cage at the bottom. (In my case I had two cages, and it was the middle one I needed to remove to allow my Graphics card to fit)

All expansion cards will "run into the back" because that is where the ports are. Sometimes it has to be finessed, especially when there are lots of cables around, which looks to be the case based on your photo.

Since the case allows for 400mm cards and there aren't any consumer cards that go beyond 260mm right now that I can find I don't think it is a length issue related to the case itself.