|
Which graphics card??! Finding the right graphics card is so hard!!! So I'm asking the experts this question........ What is the best graphics card that isn't too expensive and can run games like The Sims 2, Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, and Simcity 4 SMOOTHLY without gliches. I have already found a good memory card from Crucial Technology (512 MB x2), so I have 1 GB of RAM. My computer is a Dell Dimension 8300. Thanks in advance!:cya: |
Re: Which graphics card??! the games you are running, atleast for the most part, are not overly resource intensive, I'd look into something like a Geforce 7600 or an Radeon x1600. |
Re: Which graphics card??! Is this what you are talking about: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...755319?ie=UTF8 or is it this...? : http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...755319?ie=UTF8 AGP or PCI Express? What are those anyway? |
Re: Which graphics card??! Okay, first off, give me your specs of your computer, then, give me your budget. I just built my wife a gaming rig. and for her graphics card, she's got a 6600gt BFG OC in PciExpress16. I haven't even messed with OCing it and it plays Sims 2, the only other game she plays, very very well. her cpu specs: Asus A8LE AMD3500 1gb Corsair VS 6600gt OC BFG 160gb WD |
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
both are good. i was thinking the 256 MB verson would be more suted for you, 512 MB is still over kill, unless you are playing FEAR or Doom 3 on absolutly maxed out settings Quote:
If i recall correctly, the Dell Deminsion 8300 has an AGP slot. I'd call dell to make sure if i were you. Dell has a funny habbit of saing you have whatever super duper video card you have, but will omit weather or not its AGP or PCI Express, so I have noticed |
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
Concerning the AGP and the PCI Express.... I decided not to call Dell because big companies like Dell make it take forever for you to talk to a human, so I looked in the manual. I found a section called "Adding or Replacing the AGP Card" so I guess that confirms that I have a AGP slot. |
Re: Which graphics card??! Okay, next question. What do you beleive is "not too expensive" cause I can tell you from me to you that will vary quite a bit. Less than $200? Less than $500? Somewhere in between? |
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
|
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
|
Re: Which graphics card??! Thanks StaticX and thanks Steakboy for the warning. Aristotle: TOO expensive would be $250, but something cheaper like less than $100-150 might be TOO cheap... I am not sure. But I am sure that I don't want to spend more than $250, maybe not even more than $200. |
Re: Which graphics card??! Than you can still get a decent card like an x1600 |
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
|
Re: Which graphics card??! More like an awesomecard actually, it will play all of those very well. |
Re: Which graphics card??! Indeed. A X1600 isn't that great in the grand scheme of things, but for those games it's more than enough. |
Re: Which graphics card??! What can't play those games? |
Re: Which graphics card??! Here you go bro... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...SubCategory=48 Like I said, if you are absolutely sure you're only finding something JUST to play the games you listed and your semi strapped for cash, I would suggest a 6600gt, as they clock pretty well. If you look around, you can probably get into a 7800gs. Another great midrange card that clocks well is the Sapphire Radeon x800gt020. With a little polish and some OC'n, you can get it to exceed a x850xt an get somewhere around 560mhz/604mhz from it. This is the card I put in my brothers box and he loves it. Plays COD2 on Mid-high settings fairly well. And benched 2245 on 3dmark06. Not bad for his eMachine. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102675 |
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
:) Now that the graphics card and memory is out of the way, I have a question... Where do I insert the new graphics card and the two 512 MB memory sticks? |
Re: Which graphics card??! If you have a digi cam, I can show you. Remove all your wires, open up your case and take a pic and I'll show you. |
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
|
Re: Which graphics card??! most likely |
Re: Which graphics card??! |
Re: Which graphics card??! yeah, that is the standard layout, although the vc might be lower down, as there might be several pci cards between it and the cpu. |
Re: Which graphics card??! Not really. Show me a mobo with a AGP slot or PCIe slot that wasn't closest to the proc. This is the layout for a VAST majority of Mobo, if not more than 90%. |
Re: Which graphics card??! I have a really old one, don't remember the name, some dell one, the agp was farthest away. |
Re: Which graphics card??! Thanks Aristotle! And this picture is as if you are looking at the computer standing the way it does when the computer is operating, in other words, the picture is of the comptuer right side up and not on its side? And what is Mobo? |
Re: Which graphics card??! Mobo= motherboard Yes, it is right side up. Most modern cases have the PSU (powersupply) mounted on top. There is not any real chance of you goofing it up. Slots are all proprietary and you will not be able to force an AGP in a PCI slot. |
Re: Which graphics card??! Okay, I think I am ready to order the graphics card and RAM sticks TONIGHT!! THanks everyone for everything!!!!:) :) :cya: :cya: EDIT: I just read the review on Amazon.com and the person said that it gets very very hot... should I be concerned about that, because I am not an expert with computers and wouldn't know how to deal with the fan... |
Re: Which graphics card??! review on what? |
Re: Which graphics card??! on the graphics card: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...lance&n=172282 It is near the middle of the page. Will the graphics card come with intructions on how to deal with the chords and other things? I have never bought a new graphics card before. |
Re: Which graphics card??! don't buy off of amazon, though. This is more that enough card for your needs: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161003 Here is a review: http://guru3d.com/article/Videocards/360/ |
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
And why not Amazon? |
Re: Which graphics card??! Okay, I think overheating is a problem with most graphics cards....right? I am going to go ahead and order the RAM and graphics card tonight..... |
Re: Which graphics card??! If you're worried about overheating, I would suggest you get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161005 It's 512 MB like you said you wanted and it has a larger heatsink and fan. It's less expensive, and newegg.com is wayyyyyyy better than amazon for buying computer parts. |
Re: Which graphics card??! And it is compatible with the Dell Dimension 8300? Is it okay that I buy the memory sticks from Crucial via Amazon? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...755319?ie=UTF8 <---RAM |
Re: Which graphics card??! Okay, so I read the reviews on Newegg and one of them said this: Cons: They send really outdated drivers MAKE SURE you update them on ati.com and also this: MAKE SURE that you go to www.ati.com and get the NEWEST drivers for this card cause it comes with outdated drivers which cause artifacting in game One problem there... I don't have internet on the computer I'm putting games on( I have tried and tried to connect the internet again (it lost its connection when I had to completly reinstall Windows XP) and Geeks On Call is some wacko price so forget that), which is the gaming computer, so how would I be able to download the latest drivers so the graphics card can actually....work? And what is artifacting? Ugh I keep hitting these obsticles!! Maybe I should just stop reading reviews because they all give me one more thing to worry about! :( |
Re: Which graphics card??! Installing drivers from a website is one of the easiest things you can do. It's just like installing anything, you run the file and click a few buttons, then restart your computer for the changes to take effect. |
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
But I don't have internet on the computer I am putting the graphics card on... I am not putting it on this computer... my mom wants to keep this comptuer game free. |
Re: Which graphics card??! Does your mum's computer have a burner? Because you could just download the driver's and copy them onto a CD. |
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
Score. My bro just told me the computer does have a burner. I hope he know how to burn it cause I have no clue...YAY! Thank you for bringing that up, I wouldn't have thought of it. :) :) I'll try to get my bro to burn it NOW! On this page which one do I choose?? https://support.ati.com/ics/support/...e&folderID=293 |
Re: Which graphics card??! I'm not 100% sure because I don't have an ATI card anymore, but I think you go to Windows XP Drivers and Software ,then RADEON, then Catalyst 6.6 Windows XP - Driver Download. Then, depending on whether you are on broandband or dial-up, choose which ones to download. It looks like the dial-up ones come in 3 downloads and the broadband ones come in 2 downloads. I'm not 100% sure though, but that's what I downloaded when I had my 9800 pro. Someone can correct me if I am wrong. :p |
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
|
Re: Which graphics card??! Yay, I have the two drivers for the x1600 on a CD, I think I'm ready to order today! SO these are my final choices: My RAM http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...755319?ie=UTF8 My Graphics card http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustRa...82E16814161005 Sound good? And the graphics card is compatible with the Dimension 8300? |
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231079 all you need is value ram as you are not going to be overclocking it, so CAS3 will work for your application and save you some loot. Also, yes, that video card is compatible "to your motherboard". Doesn't matter what model dell, it's your motherboard. and YES it's compatible to your motherboard if it does in fact have an AGP slot. |
Re: Which graphics card??! Just get an AGP Radeon 9550, Very cheap, very reliable and also nice and powerful :) |
Re: Which graphics card??! *sighs at above poster* |
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
|
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
all pci graphics cards suck balls because they drain power from your ram, so unless you've got some uber fucking 1337 pc with about 12 gb's ram your'e f*cked |
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
(pull up a chair and popcorn, this should be good) |
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
The cards we have reccomended to him are not PCI cards. And they were very good cards as well, until you came and screwed it up with some obsolete piece of rubbish. This is 2006 and 2 generations of ATi cards on from the 9550. It's rubbish for gaming, and too expensive for office use. I cannot think of any reason to buy something like the 9550 or it's nVidia equivalent now. And anyway, unless I missed something every card that has been reccomended in this topic is AGP and better than a 9550... PS - Most desktop motherboards can only use 4gb of RAM properly. |
Re: Which graphics card??! Quote:
Quote:
You're recommending a card that's more than two years old, is seriously underpowered, uses a legacy interface and doesn't support anything above PS 2.0. It wasn't the best card on the market when it was brand new, so expecting it to play top-of-the-line games acceptably...well, it isn't going to happen. That X1600 he's getting is much better. |
| All times are GMT -7. |
Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2016, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
SEO by vBSEO 3.6.0 ©2011, Crawlability, Inc.