Choosing the right Video Card?

[concort]

Can someone please help assist me with choosing the proper video card for my Dell Dimension 2400. The box is about 3 years old and has an onboard video controller. However there are two PCI slots that I can install a new video card into. I want to play Medal of Honor Pacific Assault and BF2 on the thing. I already installed a Radeon 9250 PCI card and it did not meet the requirements of the game...It looks like I need to move to a GeForce FX model. I found some at newegg.com but will THEY work since it's still a PCI card?? Does anyone else out there run either of these games on a similar box with success? Can I make this happen on this PC? BF2 requirements call for either:
- NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 or greater
- ATI Radeon 8500 or greater
Does this mean I can put a PCI GeForce FX 5700 or greater card in? And does that card even exist in a PCI? I can not find one at newegg.com.

MOHPA says it requires an AGP card with at least 64 MB of RAM and:
- Nvidia GeForce 3 or Higher
So does this mean it will not run with a PCI card?

Sorry for the ignorance here...I am trying to learn the differences between the chip sets. It looks as though PCI is crap though...but that is all I can put in this box. Do I just need a new machine? What's my most economical solution to run these games?

Thanks so much!
Concort

 

[vacunita]

Geforce 5700 doesn't appear to be available in PCI, only PCI Express. Which is a whole new ball park all together. and which your Dell does not have slots for.

I think you'd be better off getting at the very least a new motherboard with either a PCI express slot or AGP slot to fit in your video card. In any case it would seem that your Radeon 9250 should be enough to run Medal of Honor, although probably not enough for BF2




----------------------------------
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[paparazi]

There are several problems here, let me list them so we can see what we are dealing with:

1) PCI slot: slow with limited choice of graphics options.
The fastest card for PCI (as far as I am aware) is an FX5500 which to be frank is only marginally faster than your Radeon 9250.
2) Dell: most Dells ignore international form factor ATX standards and odd proprietory power supplies and cases.
These are wired differently (either block headers on the motherboard and or extra wire in the PSU) the cooling solutions are also unique.
All this means swapping out components ie: motherboards and PSU's etc for ATX standard replacements is unlikely.
3) Power Supply: anything other than a basic upgrade on graphics will ask too much of the supplied Dell PSU (these I think are below 250watts?)

The conclusion for many is a new base unit I'm afraid.
Martin

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[felixc]

For your info Martin, there is a GeForce 6200 in PCI format, and there is a Radeon X1300 in PCI form. Since they have the right shader model I guess that these two cards will become popular because of Vista .

But you are probably right about the power available in the PSU of the Dells, so these two cards will make it bust in the long term.

 

[paparazi]

felixc, sorry but did I miss something? concort was asking about a graphics card he could buy that would play BF2 and MOHH, I didn't see anything about shader models all vista?

6200 TC? using system memory?
X1300 are both entry cards and so my advice remains the same.
Martin


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[paparazi]

felixc
I just read my previous post back and it sounded a little rude, sorry, it wasn't intended.

FAO: Just be aware that some (actually most) models of the Nvidia 6200 and ATI's X1300 share system memory.
Typically these cards have only 64/128mb of ram onboard and then share the rest (up to 512mb)
These are generally poor performers (as far as gaming is concerned) so stay clear of models that say "Turbo Cache and Hyper Memory" which indicate this shared memory feature.
Martin

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[spectra5]

i just got a dell dimension e520 and i am looking to upgrade the video card for games do i also need to upgrade my power supply?

 

[paparazi]

Hmmm looks like either an ATI X1300Pro or Nvidia's 7300TC (Turbo Cache) both are fairly entry level and poor gaming cards.
I'm guessing but with the standard supply I wouldn't go much beyond Nvidia's excellent 7600GT (at least double the performance of the 7300TC)something along those lines, any more powerful will require a higher rated PSU.
Martin

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[felixc]

Paparazi,
Concort is looking for a PCI card. My point was that on the PCI bus, the highest quality one actually is the X1300 PCI. With 256MB on-board. VisionTek, Diamond. Compared to the other PCI express offerings, yes the X1300 product is low-end (probably better than my 9600XT, which plays WoW at a tolerable level) but in a PCI-based system it may allow the salvation of some systems that will end in the trash. As a bonus you get excellent DVD playback quality. For systems where the power supply has enough juice.

 

[paparazi]

felixc
I was replying to spectra5 and his e520 Dell (the preceeding post to mine) I gave my opinions on Concort's proplem in the third post, with my conclusion recommending a new base unit.

Martin



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