Curse

madkingbob · May 09, 2005, 02:47 PM // 14:47

Hey Guys thanks for the previous help:: but I am still looking for someone who actually has a Dell dimension 2400 and is running guild wars. I want to know what kind of card you are using. I have gotten a lot of advice on these forums- but I get contradicting answers- some say go for the Radeon 9250 PCI card, others seem to be having problems with the card; some have suggested Geforce 5200. I got other suggestions as well, but I really want to hear from someone who has a Dim 2400- because I know they are touchy machines and I want some assurance that whatever card I get is compatible with the 2400....anyone?

ZennZero · May 09, 2005, 03:03 PM // 15:03

My fiance has a dimension 2400 with a PCI Geforce FX 5700le. It is much more capable than the integrated IntelExtreme stuff. There are a few (expensive) cards that are available in PCI format that are better than the 5700le. What is your budget?

SOT · May 09, 2005, 03:14 PM // 15:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by madkingbob

Hey Guys thanks for the previous help:: but I am still looking for someone who actually has a Dell dimension 2400 and is running guild wars. I want to know what kind of card you are using. I have gotten a lot of advice on these forums- but I get contradicting answers- some say go for the Radeon 9250 PCI card, others seem to be having problems with the card; some have suggested Geforce 5200. I got other suggestions as well, but I really want to hear from someone who has a Dim 2400- because I know they are touchy machines and I want some assurance that whatever card I get is compatible with the 2400....anyone?

I have a Dell dimension 2400. I have 512 megs of ram at the moment, but have been running the game with slightly more. I have this card in my machine, which I purchased at Office Depot for $99:

PCI 128 mb

I run the game with all settings maxed, and not one issue. It is amazingly smooth and I can even minimize the game and run IE

I am sure you know to keep in mind what you are running as backgroundprocesses in windows. If not, now it's on your radar, as the card won't matter if Norton Antivirus is fondling everything that loads into memory in the background (i know, i got charr ambushed once before, as norton's decided to scan the game, and suddenly I was respawned because of death).

madkingbob · May 09, 2005, 05:25 PM // 17:25

Oh Thank you!!! Zen Zero and Sot- great news. Question Sot, on the norton virus thing. So I should turn it off before playing the game and keep it off while playing? Cuz, I didn't know that and I do have Norton. Is that safe? Or is there a safe way to do it? Or do I just tak emy chances?

qix · May 09, 2005, 05:25 PM // 17:25

running on a dell 2400 with an Asylum geforce fx 5200, no problems at all

madkingbob · May 09, 2005, 05:36 PM // 17:36

sweet thanx qix! Made my day.

swaaye · May 09, 2005, 06:40 PM // 18:40

Since PCI's bandwidth is at best about 100MB/s, a "high end" PCI card isn't going to really help much. Get something like a Radeon 92xx or Geforce FX 5200. PCI will just bottleneck the card so bad. PCI literally was topped out by Voodoo5 back in 2000 or so. Once cards started pushing even more stuff across the bus with stuff like T&L (never mind Pixel Shading and Programmable Vertex Shaders), things fell apart quick.

PCI = 100MB/s best real-world (133 theoretical)
AGP 2x = 528MB/s theoretical
AGP 8x = 2.1GB/s theoretical

You really should figure out a way to upgrade your system with a new mobo if it is at all possible.

ZennZero · May 09, 2005, 07:36 PM // 19:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by swaaye

a "high end" PCI card isn't going to really help much. Get something like a Radeon 92xx or Geforce FX 5200.

"Much" is probably the operative word. Here is an older PCI roundup that is still pretty comprehensive. The only modern PCI card missing from the line up is the fx 5700le.

http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=445

As you can see the the "higher end" fx 5600 and venerable (but increasingly hard to find) Radeon 9100 consistently take the top spots, sometimes by ~20%. Now having said that, if money is an issue, an FX 5200 w/ 128bit memory interface can get pretty close to that performance (especially overclocked) but at a lower price point. I personally would avoid the radeon 9100 (even if you can find one) because of older shader support. For the card with the most modern pixel shader support, the 5700le supports SM 2.0a, but the 128-bit version of the PCI card is hard to come by (and pricey). I posted a link to it here in another post if you are interested in digging it up.

aeroclown · May 09, 2005, 08:02 PM // 20:02

Well the problem here is that its not so much a matter of performance but compatibility. Accroding to Dell the specs for the 2400 series systems do not include a "Pci Express" or an "AGP" interface. This user will be limited to a PCI only device. As with development today you will find it hard to find a device of a high class that is not built on AGP or on the verge of PCI Express based interfaces.

The Idea here is to find something that this user can use under the limitations of his system. PCI is the only option beyond a new system that has AGP or PCI Express.

dogluck18 · May 10, 2005, 02:22 AM // 02:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by qix

running on a dell 2400 with an Asylum geforce fx 5200, no problems at all

Is this something like the 5200 card you are using? I am curious because I am looking for a PCI card that will run GW on a Dell Dim 2400.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150040

SOT · May 10, 2005, 06:57 AM // 06:57

mines the one in the link i posted, and its been running without a hitch since january, when I installed it, and the pc has been turned on all that time

dogluck18 · May 10, 2005, 08:04 AM // 08:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by SOT

mines the one in the link i posted, and its been running without a hitch since january, when I installed it, and the pc has been turned on all that time

Yea, I also looked at your link, and tahts why I was wondering if the one I supplied above would also be sufficient, as this is the only game my friend plans on playing on this pc. Lower price range is always a plus if they dont intend on hardcore gaming after GW.