Question

Aianiel

Aianiel

New Member
Hello! I read the video cards 101 guide but still have some questions. I have never really done anything myself in terms of upgrading anything but my hard drive and now i'm looking at getting a new video card.
Here are the system specs. off the top of my head:
- Dell Dimension 4700 desktop
-Windows XP Home Edition
-504 MB memory (it was supposed to be 512, but either windows or my antivirus is taking up much needed space for gaming)
-250 GB hard drive
-Pentium 4 processor
- Ok this is my video card. I believe that this was the free card that came with computer. It is called Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family (Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset)
-Unfortunately I do not know what kind of motherboard I have. Another question :P . I do not have the PC manual my parents have seemed to misplace it, is there a way to check it on a website?

I play a lot of games (or try to play a lot of games) and it seems to say that my video card is not powerful enough to play it or it requires 512 MB memory. (also looking into getting this upgraded)
I do not want a $400 super video card either. My price range is between $60-$130. I'm looking for a video card that meets these requirements:

-Video RAM: Required - 128 (pref. 256)
-Video Card 3D Acceleration
-Video HW Transform & Lighting
-Vertex Shader Ver.: 1.0 or higher

I am pretty sure that this is the right type of video card for my motherboard. I notived Express

So far, I have been looking at this card

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6832779&type=product&id=1093468042109

I'd have to buy a video card in a store. I am only 14 and do not have a credit card.

I believe it will run on my motherboard but i'm not sure. (I don't know if this is possible but is there something written in my current video card to tell me what type of mother board I have)

Ok thats it my questions are jumbled in there somewhere :D
 
And also, I forgot to post this.

Will I be able to install a video card myself? Or is it insanely hard.
 
Installing a video card is very easy. The problem is that you have a Dell computer, not good for upgrading. The PSU is almost always just enough for the default specs and their PSU's don't usually follow the ATX standards when it comes to size. So fitting a new PSU can be tricky.
 
That Radeon 9250 isn't really any good, to be honest it's junk in my oppinion. I'll post some suggestions soon. The Radeon 9250 is better then your current integrated Intel piece of shit, though.
 
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hmm...will I be able to get a better one in the same price range?
Also, will either ATi or nvidia be easier to install on a dell? Or are they pretty much the same.
 
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ceewi1 said:
It seems that the Dimension 4700 has a PCI-E slot, not an AGP one.

As 7600GS would be a good choice.
Click to expand...

None of the sites I found the specs on had any information on the slot, no AGP or PCI-E or plain old PCI.


The only problem with getting a new card is, like I said before, you might need a new PSU.
 
Thank you all for your help so far :cool: . I appreciate all of it.

I looked up PSUs on Newegg and now that I see them I know what they are hehe. It also looks hard to install. I'm seeing a lot of wires. Out of common sense I'm guessing the PSU supplies power to the whole computer. So that means I have to replug in everything in the computer into the new PSU i. Keep in mind that i'm very new to upgrading PCs. And, when you unplug a hard drive don't all of your files disappear?

This sounds like something I'd have to take into a guy. Or would I probably have to get an external drive to back up all of my files? Sounds like this is getting exspensive :P .

And, how much should I spend for one of these things if I need one? If I install a video card will my PSU notice it's a power overload and turn it off. Or, will it try hard to run and my PSU blows up damaging everything in the computer...this reminds me of a bomb squad clipping the correct wire lol


Oh, and just to make sure I know where everything is, here's a picture. (Sorry , if you can't see the captions bottom is video card. top is PSU..Note to self:Must get canned air)

Picture084.jpg
 
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