Video Card Upgrade

Aukar · 08-25-2004, 08:55 PM

Hey all - I was considering upgrading to an actual video card rather than my onboard video chipset - which has served me just fine until now.

Here is a link to the available cards at tigerdirect
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati....asp?CatId=697

I do not know much about video cards other than I want to be able to run Everquest and some more recent games without any video lag at all.
Here is my current computer setup off the Dell site. My computer currently has Win XP Home and 768 RAM. My big question is - other than which vid card would be best suited for me, will I have to replace any other parts in order to be able to upgrade my vid card? Thanks in advance for your help

Technical Specifications
Dell™ Dimension™ 2300
Microprocessor Video
System Information Audio
Expansion Bus Controls and Lights
Memory Power
Drives Physical
Ports and Connectors Environmental

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microprocessor

Microprocessor type
Intel® Pentium® 4 that runs at 1.80 GHz internally and 400 MHz externally or Intel Celeron® that runs at 1.70 GHz internally and 400 MHz externally
NOTE: Microprocessor offerings vary by country.

L1 cache
8 KB first-level (Pentium 4); 32 KB (16-KB data cache; 16-KB instruction cache) (Celeron).

L2 cache
256- or 512-KB (displayed in the system setup program) pipelined-burst, eight-way set associative, write-back SRAM (Pentium 4);
128-KB SRAM that resides in the processor’s core. The L2 cache runs at the processor’s internal clock speed (Celeron).

System Information

System chip set
Intel 845GL

DMA channels
seven

Interrupt levels
24 APIC mode

System BIOS chip
2 Mb (256 KB)

System clock
400-MHz data rate

Expansion Bus

Bus types
PCI

Bus speed
PCI: 33 MHz

PCI connectors
four

PCI connector size
120 pins

PCI connector data width
(maximum)
32 bits

Memory

Architecture
SDRAM

Memory connectors
two

Memory capacities
128-, 256-, or 512-MB

Minimum memory
128 MB

Maximum memory
1 GB

Memory type
PC133 SDRAM (non-ECC)

Drives

Externally accessible
two 5.25-inch bays
one 3.5-inch bay

Internally accessible
one bay for 1-inch–high IDE hard drive

Ports and Connectors

Externally accessible:

Serial
9-pin connector; 16550C-compatible

Parallel
25-hole connector (bidirectional)

Video
15-hole connector

Keyboard
6-pin mini-DIN connector

Mouse
6-pin mini-DIN connector

USB
two front-panel and four back-panel USB 2.0–compliant connectors

Audio
three back miniature connectors for line-in, line-out, and microphone; one front miniature connector for line-out

Internally accessible:

Primary IDE channel
40-pin connector on PCI local bus

Secondary IDE channel
40-pin connector on PCI local bus

Floppy drive
34-pin connector

Video

Video controller
Intel integrated AGP graphics*

*Integrated AGP graphics uses a maximum of 32 MB of main memory.

Audio

Audio controller
Integrated AC97

Controls and Lights

Power control
push button

Front-panel power light
solid green for power-on state; blinking green for standby state

Hard-drive access light
green

Power

DC power supply:

Wattage
200 W

Heat dissipation
682 BTU (fully-loaded computer without monitor)

Voltage (see the safety instructions in your Owner's Manual for important voltage setting information)
100 to 120 V at 60 Hz; 200 to 240 V at 50 Hz

Backup battery
3-V CR2032 coin cell

Physical

Height x Width x Depth
36.8 x 18.4 x 42.6 cm
(14.5 x 7.25 x 16.75 inches)

Weight
10.4 kg (23 lb)

Environmental

Temperature:

Operating
0º to 35ºC (32º to 95ºF)

Storage
–20º to 70ºC (–4º to 158ºF)

Relative humidity
20% to 80% (noncondensing)

Maximum vibration:

Operating
0.25 G at 10 to 500 Hz at 1/2 octave/min

Storage
1.48 G at 10 to 500 Hz, vibration with the computer

Maximum shock:

Nonoperating (half-sine pulse)
105 G, 2 ms

Nonoperating (faired-square
wave)
32 G with a velocity change of 596.9 cm/sec (235 inches/sec)

Timbo · 08-25-2004, 09:02 PM

Well.. It kinda depends on your budget.. ANd with a 1.8 ghz p4 you can't get a top of line type of vid card because it'd be bottle necked.. I would s uggest something around a 9700 pro. Anything more your system couldn't handle IMO. I would try going for a refurbished 9700 pro, can get em cheap usually around 140 dollars.. Lemme see if I can find one..

: Edit : Okay, after looking over your computer specs again.. I really don't think your gonna bea ble to run newer games well regardless of your video card.. You have pc 133.. and a 200 watt power supply.. ( which is easily changable )... You would want to get the max amount of ram you can, 1 gb, or just save up for a new(er) system. Well, anyways, here is a link to a refurbished 9700 pro, from a very trust worthy site... 150 dollars..

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...type=Refurbish

G'luck t'ya.

Aukar · 08-25-2004, 09:18 PM

Are the ones i linked at tiger direct that good? Thats really what I was looking for, was which one would be the best to get in that link - and would I be able to use it with little to no problems. Besides, that card is AGP and I need a PCI card

Timbo · 08-26-2004, 07:09 AM

Hm..
Doesn't this mean you have an AGP card? Lemme look at those tiger direct cards and I'll give you my opinion on the best one..

Video controller
Intel integrated AGP graphics*

*Integrated AGP graphics uses a maximum of 32 MB of main memory.

:Edit: Okay, after looking through the cards again.. Well.. I really wouldn't go with any of those.. You have a Geforce 4 MX4000, a Nvidia 5200, and a Radeon 9200 SE... If I was in your position, I would do this.. http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...uctCode=320863
It's a NORMAL Radeon 9200.. If there a SE, or a LE behind a card name, it's quite a bit worse than the normal version. Oh yeah.. I'd still HIGHLY suggest putting a 300-350+ powersupply in, and a gigabyte of ram.

Aukar · 08-26-2004, 03:50 PM

Just because my onboard graphics chipset is AGP doesnt mean I can get an AGP graphics card. All of my expansion slots are PCI, I do not have an AGP slot in my machine. Why do I need to go up to a Gig of RAM when its not needed? I run things just fine with 768

**Praetor** · 08-26-2004, 05:36 PM

Quote:

I do not have an AGP slot in my machine

Here are some options:
- http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...3850&CatId=697
- http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...0528&CatId=697
For the price/performance i'd take the GFX5200 only because you probably wont be maxing out the use on the 256MB on a video card and if you do play games that do max out that, your video card wont be able to keep up anyways

Quote:

Why do I need to go up to a Gig of RAM when its not needed? I run things just fine with 768

You dont, 768 is fine.

Aukar · 08-26-2004, 09:26 PM

Thanks for the replies. I was looking up a similiar Vid Card on another site - trying to find power supply requirements and came across one that said it required a 250W PSU. With only a 200W PSU Currently, will I need to upgrade my PSU as well and How painfull will it be in a stock Dell Case?

Timbo · 08-27-2004, 12:55 AM

I suggest a gig of ram because it's pc 133.. And if you want to game with slow ram you really should have as much as possible.. I didn't know you had 768. Then you really don't need more because it'd be a waste of money.. Probably you'd have to take out a ram chip to put a bigger one in..

**Praetor** · 08-27-2004, 04:00 PM

Thanks for the replies. I was looking up a similiar Vid Card on another site - trying to find power supply requirements and came across one that said it required a 250W PSU. With only a 200W PSU Currently, will I need to upgrade my PSU as well and How painfull will it be in a stock Dell Case?

08-25-2004, 08:55 PM	#1 (permalink)
Aukar New Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 4	Video Card Upgrade Hey all - I was considering upgrading to an actual video card rather than my onboard video chipset - which has served me just fine until now. Here is a link to the available cards at tigerdirect http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati....asp?CatId=697 I do not know much about video cards other than I want to be able to run Everquest and some more recent games without any video lag at all. Here is my current computer setup off the Dell site. My computer currently has Win XP Home and 768 RAM. My big question is - other than which vid card would be best suited for me, will I have to replace any other parts in order to be able to upgrade my vid card? Thanks in advance for your help Technical Specifications Dell™ Dimension™ 2300 Microprocessor Video System Information Audio Expansion Bus Controls and Lights Memory Power Drives Physical Ports and Connectors Environmental -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Microprocessor Microprocessor type Intel® Pentium® 4 that runs at 1.80 GHz internally and 400 MHz externally or Intel Celeron® that runs at 1.70 GHz internally and 400 MHz externally NOTE: Microprocessor offerings vary by country. L1 cache 8 KB first-level (Pentium 4); 32 KB (16-KB data cache; 16-KB instruction cache) (Celeron). L2 cache 256- or 512-KB (displayed in the system setup program) pipelined-burst, eight-way set associative, write-back SRAM (Pentium 4); 128-KB SRAM that resides in the processor’s core. The L2 cache runs at the processor’s internal clock speed (Celeron). System Information System chip set Intel 845GL DMA channels seven Interrupt levels 24 APIC mode System BIOS chip 2 Mb (256 KB) System clock 400-MHz data rate Expansion Bus Bus types PCI Bus speed PCI: 33 MHz PCI connectors four PCI connector size 120 pins PCI connector data width (maximum) 32 bits Memory Architecture SDRAM Memory connectors two Memory capacities 128-, 256-, or 512-MB Minimum memory 128 MB Maximum memory 1 GB Memory type PC133 SDRAM (non-ECC) Drives Externally accessible two 5.25-inch bays one 3.5-inch bay Internally accessible one bay for 1-inch–high IDE hard drive Ports and Connectors Externally accessible: Serial 9-pin connector; 16550C-compatible Parallel 25-hole connector (bidirectional) Video 15-hole connector Keyboard 6-pin mini-DIN connector Mouse 6-pin mini-DIN connector USB two front-panel and four back-panel USB 2.0–compliant connectors Audio three back miniature connectors for line-in, line-out, and microphone; one front miniature connector for line-out Internally accessible: Primary IDE channel 40-pin connector on PCI local bus Secondary IDE channel 40-pin connector on PCI local bus Floppy drive 34-pin connector Video Video controller Intel integrated AGP graphics* *Integrated AGP graphics uses a maximum of 32 MB of main memory. Audio Audio controller Integrated AC97 Controls and Lights Power control push button Front-panel power light solid green for power-on state; blinking green for standby state Hard-drive access light green Power DC power supply: Wattage 200 W Heat dissipation 682 BTU (fully-loaded computer without monitor) Voltage (see the safety instructions in your Owner's Manual for important voltage setting information) 100 to 120 V at 60 Hz; 200 to 240 V at 50 Hz Backup battery 3-V CR2032 coin cell Physical Height x Width x Depth 36.8 x 18.4 x 42.6 cm (14.5 x 7.25 x 16.75 inches) Weight 10.4 kg (23 lb) Environmental Temperature: Operating 0º to 35ºC (32º to 95ºF) Storage –20º to 70ºC (–4º to 158ºF) Relative humidity 20% to 80% (noncondensing) Maximum vibration: Operating 0.25 G at 10 to 500 Hz at 1/2 octave/min Storage 1.48 G at 10 to 500 Hz, vibration with the computer Maximum shock: Nonoperating (half-sine pulse) 105 G, 2 ms Nonoperating (faired-square wave) 32 G with a velocity change of 596.9 cm/sec (235 inches/sec)

08-25-2004, 09:02 PM	#2 (permalink)
Timbo Silver Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 119	Well.. It kinda depends on your budget.. ANd with a 1.8 ghz p4 you can't get a top of line type of vid card because it'd be bottle necked.. I would s uggest something around a 9700 pro. Anything more your system couldn't handle IMO. I would try going for a refurbished 9700 pro, can get em cheap usually around 140 dollars.. Lemme see if I can find one.. : Edit : Okay, after looking over your computer specs again.. I really don't think your gonna bea ble to run newer games well regardless of your video card.. You have pc 133.. and a 200 watt power supply.. ( which is easily changable )... You would want to get the max amount of ram you can, 1 gb, or just save up for a new(er) system. Well, anyways, here is a link to a refurbished 9700 pro, from a very trust worthy site... 150 dollars.. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...type=Refurbish G'luck t'ya. Last edited by Timbo; 08-25-2004 at 09:06 PM.

08-25-2004, 09:18 PM	#3 (permalink)
Aukar New Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 4	Are the ones i linked at tiger direct that good? Thats really what I was looking for, was which one would be the best to get in that link - and would I be able to use it with little to no problems. Besides, that card is AGP and I need a PCI card Last edited by Aukar; 08-25-2004 at 09:23 PM.

08-26-2004, 07:09 AM	#4 (permalink)
Timbo Silver Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 119	Hm.. Doesn't this mean you have an AGP card? Lemme look at those tiger direct cards and I'll give you my opinion on the best one.. Video controller Intel integrated AGP graphics* Integrated AGP graphics uses a maximum of 32 MB of main memory. :Edit: Okay, after looking through the cards again.. Well.. I really wouldn't go with any of those.. You have a Geforce 4 MX4000, a Nvidia 5200, and a Radeon 9200 SE... If I was in your position, I would do this.. http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...uctCode=320863 It's a NORMAL Radeon 9200.. If there a SE, or a LE behind a card name, it's quite a bit worse than the normal version. Oh yeah.. I'd still HIGHLY suggest putting a 300-350+ powersupply in, and a gigabyte of ram. Last edited by Timbo; 08-26-2004 at 07:20 AM.*

08-27-2004, 04:00 PM	#9 (permalink)
Praetor Administrator Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canada Age: 25 Posts: 19,955	Thanks for the replies. I was looking up a similiar Vid Card on another site - trying to find power supply requirements and came across one that said it required a 250W PSU. With only a 200W PSU Currently, will I need to upgrade my PSU as well and How painfull will it be in a stock Dell Case? __________________ ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, Q6600@3.7 / ASUS P5ND, E6400@3.8 4GB OCz Platinum XTC 8500 / 4GB CorsairXMS2 6400 5x500GB Seagate 7200.10 / 2x500 Seagate 7200.10 OCz 8800GTX 768MB @ 630/800 / 2x Galaxy 8800GT SLI

08-26-2004, 03:50 PM	#5 (permalink)
Aukar New Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 4	Just because my onboard graphics chipset is AGP doesnt mean I can get an AGP graphics card. All of my expansion slots are PCI, I do not have an AGP slot in my machine. Why do I need to go up to a Gig of RAM when its not needed? I run things just fine with 768

08-26-2004, 09:26 PM	#7 (permalink)
Aukar New Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 4	Thanks for the replies. I was looking up a similiar Vid Card on another site - trying to find power supply requirements and came across one that said it required a 250W PSU. With only a 200W PSU Currently, will I need to upgrade my PSU as well and How painfull will it be in a stock Dell Case?

08-27-2004, 12:55 AM	#8 (permalink)
Timbo Silver Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 119	I suggest a gig of ram because it's pc 133.. And if you want to game with slow ram you really should have as much as possible.. I didn't know you had 768. Then you really don't need more because it'd be a waste of money.. Probably you'd have to take out a ram chip to put a bigger one in..

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