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Do I just need a new graphics card?
Dell Dimension 1100 Celeron 2.6Ghz 512 MB RAM
Windows XP Home 80GB Hard drive, 30GB free *Onboard Intel 855G Graphics Card *15" LCD Monitor I am going to get Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and Pandora Tomorrow, Splinter Cell Double Agent, Hitman 3 and 4, Black and White 2, Sims 2, Half-life 1 and 2, Warcraft III and WoW, maybe final fantasy 10 with all expansion packs, and many other games. I want to know if I just need to upgrade my graphics card, as I am aware that it is really bad card. What is the best kind that will run my games a normal speed without any skipping or slowness. How about my CPU, I can't really upgrade it too easily but is 2.8Ghz that fast, as I'm not really aware what *FAST* CPUs are today. RAM, I probably could get an extra 515MB to make it 1GB, probably better performance. I am getting another computer with a 17" CRT monitor, will that bring better gameplay with my new graphics card soon to come? I hear that CRT monitors are better as they can take more damage and don't have the 90 degree viewing angle. Please don't recommend a new computer, as I can't get a great 3GHz+, 2 gig ram computer with a $600 graphics card and 21" Inch monitor |
#2
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Do I just need a new graphics card?
In article . com,
"Travis" wrote: Dell Dimension 1100 Celeron 2.6Ghz 512 MB RAM Windows XP Home 80GB Hard drive, 30GB free *Onboard Intel 855G Graphics Card *15" LCD Monitor I am going to get Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and Pandora Tomorrow, Splinter Cell Double Agent, Hitman 3 and 4, Black and White 2, Sims 2, Half-life 1 and 2, Warcraft III and WoW, maybe final fantasy 10 with all expansion packs, and many other games. I want to know if I just need to upgrade my graphics card, as I am aware that it is really bad card. What is the best kind that will run my games a normal speed without any skipping or slowness. How about my CPU, I can't really upgrade it too easily but is 2.8Ghz that fast, as I'm not really aware what *FAST* CPUs are today. RAM, I probably could get an extra 515MB to make it 1GB, probably better performance. I am getting another computer with a 17" CRT monitor, will that bring better gameplay with my new graphics card soon to come? I hear that CRT monitors are better as they can take more damage and don't have the 90 degree viewing angle. Please don't recommend a new computer, as I can't get a great 3GHz+, 2 gig ram computer with a $600 graphics card and 21" Inch monitor One problem I have with Dells, is getting thorough and correct product information. For example, this description mentions three PCI slots for expansion, but no AGP slot is mentioned. Are you absolutely certain there is a place to plug a video card in that computer ? http://www.dell.com/content/products...=04&l=en&s=bsd Game play requires a balance of CPU power and video card power. If you have a wimpy CPU and the world's best video, it will still be slow. If you have the world's fastest CPU and integrated graphics, the result will also be slow. So both aspects have to be balanced, to get your money's worth from an upgrade. You say you are getting another computer. It is possible the video card slot type in that new computer is PCI Express x16. That kind of slot would not be compatible with an AGP video card. So you may not be able to move a video card from one computer to the other. It may be best to forget about the little 1100, and purchase a system with better CPU and expansion capabilities. To do effective planning, you need precise details about both systems, to figure out whether video cards can be moved around, or whether a video card can even be installed. The single biggest surprise for Dell purchasers ? Opening the computer and discovering there is no place to put a video card, when they find out just how bad game play is with "integrated graphics". Really low end Dell boxes don't have video slots, while the more expensive models may have room for expansion. If buyihg pre-built machines, this is a detail to be checked out, before you buy it. If you have to buy a prebuilt computer, some things to check for: 1) Uses latest processor ? A computer purchased today should have a Core2 Duo in it. Buying a box with an older processor in it, may limit future upgrades. On the AMD side, an AM2 socket processor would be current technology, and still good for gaming. Both choices are likely to use DDR2 RAM. 2) Video card slot uses the latest standard ? The computer should have a PCI Express x16 slot, that really runs at the x16 rate. Some "budget" chipsets only have x4 lanes to offer, so be careful with the really cheap computers (more of a problem with a mom&pop computer store build). 3) Is the power supply beefy ? Is the power supply a standard ATX type ? Is the computer case a full sized box, and not something with a microATX motherboard in it (9.6"x9.6") ? If there is room for a standard ATX power supply, you can always upgrade the power later, if using a really hungry graphics card. And having room to work inside the computer is important if you like to tinker inside. To summarize, if you don't want to build your own, then accept whatever crap comes in the box. Upgrading a pre-built, is admitting you made a purchase mistake. Either buy a pre-built that claims to be a "gamer box", or build your own, if you expect to be satisfied with the resulting box. Don't expect to be able to buy a bargain computer and "fix it later" - the builder of the bargain computer cuts corners on features needed for later upgrades. The example of finding no video card slot, is just one way that the bargain computer saves on parts cost. Paul |
#3
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Do I just need a new graphics card?
On 23 Aug 2006 15:44:17 -0700, "Travis"
wrote: Dell Dimension 1100 Celeron 2.6Ghz 512 MB RAM Windows XP Home 80GB Hard drive, 30GB free *Onboard Intel 855G Graphics Card *15" LCD Monitor I am going to get Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and Pandora Tomorrow, Splinter Cell Double Agent, Hitman 3 and 4, Black and White 2, Sims 2, Half-life 1 and 2, Warcraft III and WoW, maybe final fantasy 10 with all expansion packs, and many other games. I want to know if I just need to upgrade my graphics card, as I am aware that it is really bad card. What is the best kind that will run my games a normal speed without any skipping or slowness. How about my CPU, I can't really upgrade it too easily but is 2.8Ghz that fast, as I'm not really aware what *FAST* CPUs are today. RAM, I probably could get an extra 515MB to make it 1GB, probably better performance. I am getting another computer with a 17" CRT monitor, will that bring better gameplay with my new graphics card soon to come? I hear that CRT monitors are better as they can take more damage and don't have the 90 degree viewing angle. Please don't recommend a new computer, as I can't get a great 3GHz+, 2 gig ram computer with a $600 graphics card and 21" Inch monitor I recommend a new computer. If you can't get a "great" one then get a reasonable one. There's your box, then there's high-end, then there's the middle road which is what most gamers use. Figure out if your current system has an AGP slot, you'll have to look inside because software might suggset AGP but the slot might not have been put on the board. Get something like a Geforce FX6600GT, or whatever http://www.tomshardware.com likes on their VGA CHARTS on the day you're looking to buy. You will need to at least up the memory to 1GB, and I doubt you'll enjoy the game very much on a 15" LCD or a 17" CRT, but it'll work and the lower resolution will make the most of a slower system/video. Then again, the cost of these items is not delaying the inevitable for very long, soon enough you'd want to upgrade again and you won't be able to reuse an AGP video card, and maybe not DDR(1) memory either. The best long-term strategy is to replace the motherboard with one using DDR2 memory and PCI Express video. This gives you the longest useable life on newly purchased video card or memory, and as for the CPU, what's an old Celeron 2.8 worth anyway? Sell it on ebay, you should be able to recoup enough to buy a new CPU for less than $50 difference. If this all costs too much, don't buy all those games yet, put some of the $$$ towards the hardware. |
#4
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Do I just need a new graphics card?
On 23 Aug 2006 15:44:17 -0700, "Travis" wrote:
Dell Dimension 1100 Celeron 2.6Ghz 512 MB RAM Windows XP Home 80GB Hard drive, 30GB free *Onboard Intel 855G Graphics Card *15" LCD Monitor I am going to get Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and Pandora Tomorrow, Splinter Cell Double Agent, Hitman 3 and 4, Black and White 2, Sims 2, Half-life 1 and 2, Warcraft III and WoW, maybe final fantasy 10 with all expansion packs, and many other games. I want to know if I just need to upgrade my graphics card, as I am aware that it is really bad card. Well there's not a lot you can do with that computer. But you could get a PCI video card. They don't make any high end video cards in PCI anymore. But there are a bunch of budget cards that would look fairly good with those games. Go to NewEgg.com and look for PCI video cards NOT PCI-Express video cards. The most expensive one is 50 bucks right now. At one time their type of performance was top of the line. You should also max out the memory on your computer. All these games need memory like crazy. I think you can fit one gig of memory in that thing. That's pretty good. Memory is cheap these days. That's a good start. If you spend a certain amount of time gaming you should invest more in your machine. that's up to you. Video Card ~ 50 bucks http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...SubCategory=48 Memory about 130 bucks http://www.crucial.com/store/listpar...1100&submit=Go That's the best way to go. If you play a lot of games I'd tell you to build a new machine with maxed out memory and get a video card worth at least 250 bucks. If you play as much as I do 350 for a video card is cheap for the amount of enjoyment I get out of it. BTW try out Battlefield 2 It's great. 40 Bucks you can also download the demo Gulf of Oman Multiplayer Demo (546MB) http://www.ea.com/official/battlefie.../downloads.jsp |
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