Curse

wsmcasey · Mar 27, 2006, 06:47 PM // 18:47

If your still unsure of your stats, then maybe you can call Dells tech support to get the details of what you currently have.

Mako · Mar 27, 2006, 06:50 PM // 18:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by wsmcasey

Not really. Because you were looking at a $600 card to begin with. You can buy a 400 watt power supply for about $50 bucks online, then get a mid range video card under $200. 512ram will be less than $50 also.

You could solve your problem for less than $300.

Yeah the main problem is that I have no idea how to hook up something like that. The graphics card I think I could get by with but all those wires + power and electiricity + someone who doesnt know anything about comps = something on fire.. And plus its a dell and it looks like its pretty impossible to even get the case off to see how to disconnect the power supply. Would say a company like CompUSA even except a Dell to install this stuff for me?

Ascalon Chariot · Mar 27, 2006, 06:52 PM // 18:52

hmm if your pc is PCI-Express get a GeForce 7500-7900...but with low ram and slow cpu speed....dunno...I would probally get a GeForce 6800Ultra...I duno if thats faster than a x300 or what...I dont use radieons...

Mako · Mar 27, 2006, 06:58 PM // 18:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serafita Kayin

You can run all the way up to an x1800xt no prob. You probably could run a 1900, I'm betting. If you have the 305, it's lowballing its rating. They've recently stepped up their PSUs, so they don't have the hell I used to go through fixing them.

And 512 of RAM will NOT cripple any card. Go look on XtremeSystems where they routinely run wild benchmark numbers with 256. It's what that memoory is doing, not how much, that affects it, and normally it's more a functionality of an increased frontside bus.

I've run a 6800 on a 200w micro power supply from an HP. Don't think for a second that you're unable to upgrade. Just got to choose wisely.

Yeah I was kind of just thinking about trying it, I have played games in which I havent met the sys requirements before and had no probs... I have a 305 watt and the card reqs a 350... thats a 45 watt difference and IF they are lowballing it... then I should just try it first and if it doesnt work then I will go for a new power supply.

wsmcasey · Mar 27, 2006, 06:58 PM // 18:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mako

Yeah the main problem is that I have no idea how to hook up something like that. The graphics card I think I could get by with but all those wires + power and electiricity + someone who doesnt know anything about comps = something on fire..

LOL, ya. Thats why its probably safer to have a store install it for you.

There are several websites dedicated to computer installation if you search around the internet. They have walk thrus on how to do everything yourself. Installing memory and video cards are extremely easy to do, just the before hand research on what you need to buy can be difficult.

Mako · Mar 27, 2006, 07:05 PM // 19:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loviatar

at lease we saved you the money you might have spent on that 600 dollar monster to do it with.

actually the most important thing has not been asked yet.

are you happy with how it looks and how it plays?

if you are having fun as it is (i am using on this pc a lousy 5600 ultra) and still quite happy with the results.

no need to put a bunch of money into something until you start getting unhappy with how it loks and plays.

and the longer you wait to upgrade the more prices fall and the more things you can upgrade for the same price

Yeah like I said in the first post I have never had any MAJOR problems, maybe a little lag here and there. I run HL2 and play some CS on the card I have now with little lag... But Ive been spending a lot of time lately with Gaming on my PC and I want to enchance my experience if I can and since I got a stack comming from taxes I got the Funds to.

Loviatar · Mar 27, 2006, 07:12 PM // 19:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mako

Yeah I was kind of just thinking about trying it, I have played games in which I havent met the sys requirements before and had no probs... I have a 305 watt and the card reqs a 350... thats a 45 watt difference and IF they are lowballing it... then I should just try it first and if it doesnt work then I will go for a new power supply.

IMPORTANT NOTE

check to see if the power supply wiring is propriatary to them which would make using a regular off the shelf power supply impossible.

Serafita Kayin gives good advice and has the knowledge to go with it.

if you buy a major item from a store they will usually install it for a very reasonable fee

Serafita Kayin · Mar 27, 2006, 07:22 PM // 19:22

I recommend for you the X1600XT, good compromise on cost, power, heat, noise, and performance. You don't have quite enough CPU to force-feed that X1900, and really, if this is all you play it's severe overkill. Use the rest of the money to upgrade your memory, as that will give you an overall general usage benefit.

My 0.02...

Mako · Mar 27, 2006, 08:11 PM // 20:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serafita Kayin

I recommend for you the X1600XT, good compromise on cost, power, heat, noise, and performance. You don't have quite enough CPU to force-feed that X1900, and really, if this is all you play it's severe overkill. Use the rest of the money to upgrade your memory, as that will give you an overall general usage benefit.

My 0.02...

I really appreciate the help and advice. I will try the X1600XT Hopefully I dont run into any problems, its not that expensive anyways (found one for 130 bones) You sound like you really know your stuff so I will ask you what you reccommend for a memory upgrade. You can check out some of my earlier posts for the dxdiag results... I would really appreciate it. From looking inside my tower I have 2 slots left for memory.

OneArmedScissor · Mar 28, 2006, 08:00 AM // 08:00

If you're wanting to drop alot of cash on a new high end graphics card... wait for Nvidia to release their G8 serious cards... it'll be worth the wait... trust me.

OneArmedScissor · Mar 28, 2006, 08:05 AM // 08:05

Save your money and buy a new computer.
You've got like $700... save up another $300 and you could have a bad ass machine.

Here's what you would need:

CPU
Opteron 165 $325
If you want to overclock, this is the processor for you.

X2 3800 $295
Get this if you don't plan on overclocking.

Motherboard
DFI LanParty Ultra-D $125

Memory
Patriot $141

PSU
Aspire $60

Graphics Card
eVGa 7800GT $280

Harddrive
250GB $90

Case
Aspire $57

And that's it!

You can always use your old optical drives (CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs) from your old computer... you can even use your old hard drive.

that's roughly $1080 for a pretty sweet computer... better than anything Dell could give you.

OneArmedScissor · Mar 28, 2006, 08:27 AM // 08:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serafita Kayin

I recommend for you the X1600XT, good compromise on cost, power, heat, noise, and performance. You don't have quite enough CPU to force-feed that X1900, and really, if this is all you play it's severe overkill. Use the rest of the money to upgrade your memory, as that will give you an overall general usage benefit.

My 0.02...

Why wouldn't his CPU be able to handle a x1900? His CPU would be plenty able to run a 1900...

Mako · Mar 28, 2006, 08:49 AM // 08:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by OneArmedScissor

Save your money and buy a new computer.
You've got like $700... save up another $300 and you could have a bad ass machine.

Here's what you would need:

CPU
Opteron 165 $325
If you want to overclock, this is the processor for you.

X2 3800 $295
Get this if you don't plan on overclocking.

Motherboard
DFI LanParty Ultra-D $125

Memory
Patriot $141

PSU
Aspire $60

Graphics Card
eVGa 7800GT $280

Harddrive
250GB $90

Case
Aspire $57

And that's it!

You can always use your old optical drives (CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs) from your old computer... you can even use your old hard drive.

that's roughly $1080 for a pretty sweet computer... better than anything Dell could give you.

Like I said the only game I really play is GW... Spending a thousand dollars and building a new computer would be pointless and a complete waste of time and money when the comp I have now runs fine. I just want to upgrade the graphics and memory. Everyone is saying the x1900 is overkill for GW and i believe them. Im going to go with the card he recommended as it is cheap, and seems like a really good card from the reviews. I also found a website that has memory sticks that are proven compatible with my Dimension 4700. I think im set but thanks anyways.

OneArmedScissor · Mar 28, 2006, 11:18 AM // 11:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mako

Like I said the only game I really play is GW... Spending a thousand dollars and building a new computer would be pointless and a complete waste of time and money when the comp I have now runs fine. I just want to upgrade the graphics and memory. Everyone is saying the x1900 is overkill for GW and i believe them. Im going to go with the card he recommended as it is cheap, and seems like a really good card from the reviews. I also found a website that has memory sticks that are proven compatible with my Dimension 4700. I think im set but thanks anyways.

I agree that buying a 1900 is quite a waste of money. I'm not a fanatic for eye candy. Granted, I like my games to look good, but I'm not gonna be disappointed if the game doesn't look as good as it possibly can.

Game play > graphics

Also... I would open your computer up and see what memory you've got. Find out what kind you have and then go to your local Fry's, CompUSA, or computer store and buy some name brand from them. It'll be alot better than whatever RAM Dell put in there and the timing of the RAM will be the same.

Mako · Mar 28, 2006, 11:47 AM // 11:47

Well from what I know from the dxdiag and looking inside the tower is that it came with 512MB installed which are taking up 2 slots in one bank leaving a bank with 2 slots left, and it uses PC2-3200 DIMM 240-Pin which is what this site has so Im going to buy a 1GB kit (2-512MB sticks) Since the max supported is 4GB I wont even be close to peeking it, Hopefully that as well as the X1600XT card makes a difference.

OneArmedScissor · Mar 28, 2006, 11:53 AM // 11:53

2GB of RAM is the most you will need. You will see a loss in performance if you go past 2GB.

I would also suggest overclocking your graphics card. Why not?
I wouldn't overclock it the first week you got it though... I'd let it "break in" first with some game play, etc.
Then, download this program ATI Tool, which will allow you to overclock your card.
But before you do that... read this first.

Mako · Mar 28, 2006, 12:07 PM // 12:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by OneArmedScissor

2GB of RAM is the most you will need. You will see a loss in performance if you go past 2GB.

I would also suggest overclocking your graphics card. Why not?
I wouldn't overclock it the first week you got it though... I'd let it "break in" first with some game play, etc.
Then, download this program ATI Tool, which will allow you to overclock your card.
But before you do that... read this first.

So I should just go with a 512MB kit (2-256MB sticks)? That certainly would be cheaper...

Im not really sure I understand what overclocking is and how it will help me but ill do some research on that

Mako · Mar 28, 2006, 02:00 PM // 14:00

LOL i've been a bad boy..

My sister and I both got computers (the same modle) at the same time so I was thinking HMMM... I popped the case on hers and took out a mem stick and popped it back on and booted her comp and it seemed to run the same (except the message that said the ammount os sytem memory has changed) So I put the one I took out of hers into mine and now I boosted mine up to 766MB, hers is real low but she ONLY uses her comp for messangers like AOL and Myspace and crap like that, no games at all, sometimes watches a movie.. So she shouldnt have any major probs right? And if so I can just say "Yeh I know how to fix it" anyway, I just saved about 50 bucks.. feeling a little guilty... but still good.

A couple things I have noticed with this small upgrade is it seems like its alot quicker with running multiple apps, when I minimize GW instead of the game slowly turning into my desktop from the top of the screen to the bottom, it just minimizes like MS-Paint or something, No real differences in game that are noticable yet.

OneArmedScissor · Mar 28, 2006, 03:23 PM // 15:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mako

So I should just go with a 512MB kit (2-256MB sticks)? That certainly would be cheaper...

Im not really sure I understand what overclocking is and how it will help me but ill do some research on that

Overclocking is simply increasing the clock speed... in this case, it's increasing the clock speed of your core/GPU chip thingy.

For instance...
My eVGa 6800GS's core clock speed is 450MHz stock. But I used RivaTuner and overclocked it to 520MHz. That's a 70MHz increase... you'll notice a difference.

wsmcasey · Mar 28, 2006, 03:31 PM // 15:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mako

A couple things I have noticed with this small upgrade is it seems like its alot quicker with running multiple apps, when I minimize GW instead of the game slowly turning into my desktop from the top of the screen to the bottom, it just minimizes like MS-Paint or something, No real differences in game that are noticable yet.

Your computer uses Ram to hold temporary instructions and data needed to complete tasks. This enables the computer's CPU (Central Processing Unit), to access instructions and data stored in memory very quickly.

A good example of this is when the CPU loads an application program - such as a word processing or page layout program - into memory, thereby allowing the application program to work as quickly and efficiently as possible. In practical terms, having the program loaded into memory means that you can get work done more quickly with less time spent waiting for the computer to perform tasks.

Think of it in term of this:
memory = A chalk board
keyboard = the chalk
filing cabnet = your hard drive
you = your cpu

You go to the filing cabinet and get the information that you need to write on the chalk board. You go to the chalk board and write the information, if the chalk board isn't big enough to fit all the information then you need a larger chalk board, otherwise you'll have to store some of your information back in the filing cabinet and you have to go back and forth to gather information when you need it which takes longer than having all the information on a larger chalk board. The larger chalk board saves you time so you can get your work done faster because you can easily access your information on the chalk board without having to go back to the file cabinet to find it again.

You see the difference in Guild Wars when you zone to towns and new maps or when entering and exiting the program. Your graphics card is the next step, research some benchmark tests on different graphics cards before making your final decision.

The only other issue I see that you might have is cooling a higher end graphics card in a Dell Case. You might want to invest $50-100 for a better case with fans (it will normally have a power supply included) which you can research to get one over 400w.