Best VGA card?

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Discussion

Caduceus

Original Poster:

6,100 posts

279 months

Sunday 4th March 2007
quotequote all
Title says it all. What is the best graphics card you can get for a Dell pc, Win XP, Pentium4 2.53 GHz, 512m of RAM?

MOHAA is crashing all the time and I'm getting a bit annoyed now.... ranting

Many thanks
Cad

rsvmilly

11,288 posts

254 months

Sunday 4th March 2007
quotequote all
You would need to post a lot more detail on the Dell. Does it have a PCIe slot? If so, is it 16x? If so, 8800 GTX is currently top of the tree.

robbieduncan

1,992 posts

249 months

Sunday 4th March 2007
quotequote all
If I were you I'd invest in more RAM first. A current top of the range graphics card as 768Mb of it's own RAM. Your main memory should be at least 1Gb, possibly 2Gb to get the best out of a 8800 GTX!

rsvmilly

11,288 posts

254 months

Sunday 4th March 2007
quotequote all
robbieduncan said:
If I were you I'd invest in more RAM first. A current top of the range graphics card as 768Mb of it's own RAM. Your main memory should be at least 1Gb, possibly 2Gb to get the best out of a 8800 GTX!
Good call on the RAM.

You could also investigate what processors your mobo would accept.

What is your current graphics card?

PJ S

10,842 posts

240 months

Sunday 4th March 2007
quotequote all
2GB mainboard RAM for starters, and on older 7900GT will be more than plenty.
Even a GTX might be worth the extra depending on the difference.

rsvmilly

11,288 posts

254 months

Sunday 4th March 2007
quotequote all
PJ S said:
Even a GTX might be worth the extra depending on the difference.
Still flippin expensive - starting circa £360

PJ S

10,842 posts

240 months

Monday 5th March 2007
quotequote all
Don't know where you shop, but if you use www.pricerunner.co.uk - you'll see the GTX can be had for under £200.

rsvmilly

11,288 posts

254 months

Monday 5th March 2007
quotequote all
PJ S said:
Don't know where you shop, but if you use www.pricerunner.co.uk - you'll see the GTX can be had for under £200.
I'm still thinking about 8800GTX and forgot the 7!


eta: Inno now do a 8800 GTX for just over £300.



Edited by rsvmilly on Monday 5th March 08:52

Caduceus

Original Poster:

6,100 posts

279 months

Monday 5th March 2007
quotequote all
rsvmilly said:
Does it have a PCIe slot? If so, is it 16x?


confused

Caduceus

Original Poster:

6,100 posts

279 months

Monday 5th March 2007
quotequote all
rsvmilly said:
What is your current graphics card?


NVidia GeForce 5600

Caduceus

Original Poster:

6,100 posts

279 months

Monday 5th March 2007
quotequote all
Thanks for all the replies so far chaps.

Mucho appreciated. thumbup

Zod

35,295 posts

271 months

Monday 5th March 2007
quotequote all
The fastest AGP card is an ATi one, I believe, an X1900or X1950, although a Geforce 7800GS will be quick enough too.

AGP is the interface you will have in that PC.

rsvmilly

11,288 posts

254 months

Monday 5th March 2007
quotequote all
Caduceus said:
rsvmilly said:
What is your current graphics card?


NVidia GeForce 5600
Which would appear to be an AGP card.

Your options are limited to this sort of thing

www.overclockers.co.uk/search_results.php?sortby=&groupid=701&string=agp

eyebeebe

3,330 posts

246 months

Monday 5th March 2007
quotequote all
I've got an 8800 GTX. Fantastic bit of kit but that's no use to you.

However when I decided to upgrade my old system I'd just bought a pre-overclocked AGP 7900GS, which is sitting at home doing nothing barely used. I haven't got round to ebaying it yet, but if a PHer wants it I'm sure we could come to an arrangement, say current ebay price less a reasonable percentage.

PM me if you're interested.

flossythepig

4,131 posts

256 months

Monday 5th March 2007
quotequote all
Best VGA card is like asking what is the best car. Without knowing what you want to do all the suggestions can belong to the mine is better than yours argument.

Your current card may be more than adequate.

Agree with suggestions to upgrade other things first.

A car with a 0-60 under 6 seconds is pointless if all you use it for is driving through the centre of London. Although that doesn't stop people buying them.

Caduceus

Original Poster:

6,100 posts

279 months

Monday 5th March 2007
quotequote all
flossythepig said:
Best VGA card is like asking what is the best car. Without knowing what you want to do all the suggestions can belong to the mine is better than yours argument.

Your current card may be more than adequate.

Agree with suggestions to upgrade other things first.

A car with a 0-60 under 6 seconds is pointless if all you use it for is driving through the centre of London. Although that doesn't stop people buying them.


A card that will stop 'Medal Of Honour Allied Assault' from crashing. In a nut shell.

PJ S

10,842 posts

240 months

Monday 5th March 2007
quotequote all
See my first post above!
What exact Dell model have you got, and when did you get it - presuming it was new rather than second hand?

Caduceus

Original Poster:

6,100 posts

279 months

Monday 5th March 2007
quotequote all
PJ S said:
See my first post above!
What exact Dell model have you got, and when did you get it - presuming it was new rather than second hand?


A Dell Dimension DIM4550
Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.53 GHz, 512 MB of RAM

It was bought new. Can't remember exactly when I bought it, but about 3/4 yrs ago.

Thanks

PJ S

10,842 posts

240 months

Monday 5th March 2007
quotequote all
Thanks, that helps a lot.
You need an AGP based card for a start, so that lets you only look at the 7800GS - and my choice would be Gainward ones.
Your board supports DDR 333 RAM, so 2GB is available to you.

That should keep you sorted for a while yet.

Caduceus

Original Poster:

6,100 posts

279 months

Tuesday 6th March 2007
quotequote all
Thanks PJ thumbup
Will look into getting that sorted asap.