Another graphics card question

Duke of Ted · Post by **Duke of Ted** » December 11th, 2006, 22:57

i'm looking to get a new graphics card, in the range of £100 - £150, nothing too special, just so i can get better resolution on my current games and be able to adequetly play future games.

My pc is a Dell Dimension 8400 Series
the gfx card at the moment is a 128mb PCI express ATI Radeon x300 SE
it has a 400GB hard drive and 1.5GB of memory
and a P4 Processor 530 with HT technology (whatever that is)

Crucial recommended this one http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/mpartsp ... 66A5CA7304
would it do the job? or can you suggest any other ones?

cheers
sorry, i'm a big spastic at this stuff

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » December 11th, 2006, 23:10

that'd be fine, though personally i'd lean towards a 7900gt as i prefer them. (also a little cheaper than a comparable ati card)

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=360343 would do nicely

Post by **deject** » December 11th, 2006, 23:15

Most PCI-Express video cards should work in your Dell, although I would be concerned with the PSU. Do you know how many watts it puts out?

Honestly, I really wouldn't get anything more expensive than that unless you get a DirecteX 10 card like the GeForce 8800. The X1900GT would be good, also look at a GeForce 7950 GT

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » December 11th, 2006, 23:39

I wouldn't be so worried about the PSU, dell often rate their PSUs very conservatively.

Post by **deject** » December 12th, 2006, 0:02

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:I wouldn't be so worried about the PSU, dell often rate their PSUs very conservatively.

Well, ok it's more curiosity than concern.

Duke of Ted · Post by **Duke of Ted** » December 12th, 2006, 6:40

deject wrote:Most PCI-Express video cards should work in your Dell, although I would be concerned with the PSU. Do you know how many watts it puts out?

i don't know, i'll try and find out

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=360343 would do nicely

that looks good and its about the same price as the one i was considering
you say the PSU shouldnt be a problem? i wont have to upgrade other stuff to get it to work?

Post by **deject** » December 12th, 2006, 6:48

Duke of Ted wrote:you say the PSU shouldnt be a problem? i wont have to upgrade other stuff to get it to work?

A) probably not
2) no

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » December 12th, 2006, 10:39

The Powercolor X1950 Pro has had very good reviews, probably around similar performance to the 7900GT not sure of the price difference

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » December 12th, 2006, 12:46

Duke of Ted wrote:i don't know, i'll try and find out

Before you ask me, this website says 350W. You might want to check the CPU speed matches to make sure, using this: http://kb.iu.edu/data/aiiu.html

Duke of Ted · Post by **Duke of Ted** » December 12th, 2006, 21:44

spoodie wrote: this website says 350W. You might want to check the CPU speed matches to make sure, using this: http://kb.iu.edu/data/aiiu.html

i found the specs for my one and, yeah, it is 350W
and the CPU speed is 2992Mhz

should i go for the one Berk suggested?

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » December 12th, 2006, 21:49

Another thing to remember,

if you go for an nvidia card, you'll have to uninstall your ATI drivers first.

if you go for an ATI card, you'll be fine just to swap the cards over.

Post by **deject** » December 12th, 2006, 22:44

I suggest getting either a 7950 GT or X1950 GT, whichever one better fits your budget. The performance difference is pretty much nil, and both will perform great until you get a DX 10 card.

Duke of Ted · Post by **Duke of Ted** » December 13th, 2006, 21:10

ok dudes, thanks for the advice

i'm going to go for this one:
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Qu ... 4294963789

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » December 13th, 2006, 22:34

Duke of Ted wrote:i'm going to go for this one:
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Qu ... 4294963789

Does it come with a VGA to DVI converter because I think your CRT monitor has a VGA cable?

Duke of Ted · Post by **Duke of Ted** » December 14th, 2006, 6:45

spoodie wrote: Does it come with a VGA to DVI converter because I think your CRT monitor has a VGA cable?

it doesnt say, does it matter then?

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » December 14th, 2006, 6:50

don't worry about it, sapphire stuff comes with a good bundle.

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/ ... 061-06.JPG

for example (as far as I can tell from the same card)

if you're worried I can stick a spare dvi>vga adaptor in the post, i've got a shitload of them about.

Duke of Ted · Post by **Duke of Ted** » December 14th, 2006, 7:39

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:don't worry about it, sapphire stuff comes with a good bundle.

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/ ... 061-06.JPG

for example (as far as I can tell from the same card)

if you're worried I can stick a spare dvi>vga adaptor in the post, i've got a shitload of them about.

thanks mate, but i'll see when it arrives and i might have to call on your services then.

cheers again for the help