upgrading video card

ilya124

ilya124

New Member
hey, i need some help. i have a weak 128mb video card and i would like to upgrade to a 1gb video card. i'm torn betweem ATI and Nvidia. any suggestions on models? price range maximum 250 bucks
 
RedTECH

RedTECH

New Member
ilya124 said:
hey, i need some help. i have a weak 128mb video card and i would like to upgrade to a 1gb video card. i'm torn betweem ATI and Nvidia. any suggestions on models? price range maximum 250 bucks
Click to expand...

Scout is right! you should give the brand and model of your motherboard. so we can determine what type of video card does your motherboard has supported and which brand are recommended.
 
K

konsole

Member
gonna have a tough time finding a 1 gb card for under 250. I just got one off Amazon for $270 but that was one of the cheapest I could find.
 
ilya124

ilya124

New Member
i have a dell vostro 400, but i dont know what motherboard they put on it. the cpu is intel quad core q6600. 3 gigs ram, 160 gig hard drive. XP, how can i find out the motherboard model?
 
ScOuT

ScOuT

VIP Member
The Dell vostro 400 is a mini tower and there is not much room to expand. The originals could be configured with an 8800GT or an 8800GTS when ordered from Dell. The power supply is weak and will not support much for a graphics card. These are two issues I see you running into. It does have a PCI-E x16 slot which is great for a business class Dell.

1. Make sure you measure the space available for a new graphics card in side your case. Before you buy a card find the exact dimensions of the card.

2. You computer only has a 300w Dell power supply. I would recommend an upgrade with any new card you buy. You don't want to risk your computer to a 300w PSU...you might be disappointed later.

3. With a budget of $250 you can get a nice card and new PSU...that would be the best option.

Here is a link to PC Power & Cooling website. They specifically list the Silencer 500 as Dell vostro 400 compatible:)
http://www.pcpower.com/products/power_supplies/dell/

And here it is on Newegg for $60 after rebate:)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703015

With that said...I would then recommend maybe a 9800GTX+ or a ATI 4850 card for you. Both will fall in your total budget and they both game very well:D Just make sure it will fit before you buy.
 
ilya124

ilya124

New Member
will a new poer supply increase performance from the computer overall? because the comp is pretty fast right now and the only reason i want a new graphics card is to play some newer games on it, but assassin's creed runs fine on it so idk.
 
D

Davoguha

New Member
Well, with the new PSU, you can overclock some parts as well, to boost overall performance.

But the power supply wont boost your performance alone, it does give you a bit of a safety net you can use to upgrade your computer with though.
 
ScOuT

ScOuT

VIP Member
All I am saying is that if you buy a new graphics card (ATI 4850, 8800GT or 9800GTX) a 300w power supply will not push it. You will have system instability and there is a possiblity you might mess up other hard ware.

I personally would not add a card without upgrading the power supply.
 
ilya124

ilya124

New Member
yeah, but i just dont have the time right now to change the power supply and the graphics card, so i guess i'll just get a psp 3000, lol :D
 
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