Dell Dimension 4600C- Need a compatible half-height video card 2

[Slippenos]

Hello.

I recently bought The Sims 2 for use on a Dell Dimension 4600C.

It does not run as well as I had anticipated it to so I am considering a video card.

Problem is, it will only house a half-height, low-end pci video card; presumably agp 4x.

I read a previous thread concerning this matter:
thread749-1118241
-But to no avail.
Would anyone know of compatible cards?

Thanks in advance.

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[Prydonian]

See my answer in your cross-post thread602-1164167

Mike, The IT Guy



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[paparazi]

Slippenos quote:
"Problem is, it will only house a half-height, low-end pci video card; presumably agp 4x"

Which one is it? PCI or AGP? both are completely differant.

I think thats why you haven't had that many replies, I think I posted after some research, it was hard to determine wether this motherboard has the better AGP slot or if you are restricted to PCI.

If AGP it will give you a wider and more powerful choice.

Remove the side of the case and let us know what slots it has (AGP slot is usually brown and positioned set back and at the top closest to the CPU)

Martin


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[Slippenos]

Thanks for explaining the difference between AGP and PCI, I was unaware there was one.

This thread has been cross-referenced.

thread602-1164167

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[paparazi]

After some reading I did spot this! note* it does say AGP8x, it also describes your motherboard as having the Intel 865G chipset which is a pretty modern chipset.
What this means to you is this motherboard will support the fastest available "low profile 8X AGP card there is" but with one reservation, the mini style of the case means that it is only fitted with a 250watt power supply but this shouldn't be much of a restriction because the higher end AGP cards simply are not made in low profile.

The most powerful I've found is an Nvidia "Sparkle" 6200 with an optional low profile bracket.

http://www.megapc.com.au/index.php?ct=Graphics_Cards_-_AGP&page=subcat&ix=66

Also an ATI5500SE low profile

http://www.xpcgear.com/pcradeon9550se.html

I've seen a few low profile ATI9250's at well as Nvidia FX5200 and 5500 cards, it's just a case of finding the fastest low profile card aas the Intel 865G will support them all to my knowledge.


Slot provided 1 (0 free) Processor Socket 478, 4 (2 free) Memory DIMM 184-pin, 1 (1 free) AGP 8x, 3 (2 free) PCI

As you can see they simply don't make (to my knowledge) any really powerful "low profile" AGP cards.
Martin


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[paparazi]

Although things are looking far more rosie for you Slippenos, I've based my advice on information that appears to be accurate but I would still advise you open up the case and check that you have an AGP slot for certain.
Martin

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[Slippenos]

Where would I find the AGP slot?



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[electronicsfreak]

Here are some pictures of an agp slot.

http://www.cheapcomputersandparts.com/Images/Parts/Motherboard-AGP-Slot.jpg(circled

one)

http://www.phphuoc.htmedsoft.com/reviews/main_ga_8pe667_ultra2/agp_slot.jpg(the

purple one)

http://www.ixbt.com/mainboard/asrock/asrock-k8upgrade-760gx-sis-760-gx/mb-big.jpg(yellow

slot)

 

[Slippenos]

OK Excellent. I do have one of those! Thanks.

Looks like I'm buying a low-profile AGP8x card with a low-profile bracket.

Granted I cannot house a very powerful card, but it will make The Sims 2 a bit more enjoyable than w/out a card altogether.

The hard part now is to find the best card for this small machine. Thank you paparazi and Prydonian for your expertise.

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[paparazi]

Slippenos
That's great and thanks to electronicsfreak you were able to correctly identify the AGP slot.
Good news all round.
As I said, I looked for about 15minutes and the fastest card I could find was the Nvidia 6200 which is several times more powerful than your onboard so called "extreme" graphics.
There might be something more powerful available in low profile?
Any takers?????

Martin

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[fmoore12]

I'm curious to see if you actually purchased and installed a new video card for your Dell Dimension 4600C. I too have a 4600C and have been working in vain for the last several months to upgrade my video card. I've been to tons of forums, called Dell, and also talked to many vendors. The solution, as you were told here, is to get the best low-profile video card out there. There is a problem, though, that wasn't pointed out to you. My computer (and I assume yours too, please look at your specs) comes with a 160 watt, not a 250 watt power supply. So, although there are some good low-profile video cards out there, all of the modern ones have built in fans that require extra power, power that we don't have. In order to upgrade the video card, you first have to upgrade the power supply. And, we run into the same problem - you need to find a power supply that will fit into your slim case. I haven't been able to find any. It would have been nice if Dell warned us of these problems when they sold us this computer. I didn't ask for a slim version, that's just what they sent me.

 

[Slippenos]

Its funny that you post to this thread (ironic, actually), as my new card came in the mail today. I purchased the ATI5500SE low profile card paparazi had suggested above- the price was right.

This card has no built-in fan so I 'assumed' 160W of power would suffice.

I will probably install it tonite and I will let you know.

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[paparazi]

I must admit that I hadn't seen this information in the reviews that I read.

What I will say however is that the Radeon 95500SE is a fairly low consuming GPU, and although 160watts isn't very much I'm fairly sure the actual quality of these power units is pretty high, remember that the integrated solution won't be consuming as much power once disabled.

http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9550/specs.html

I remember thinking the same thoughts recently when fitting a relatively high end graphics card into a Shuttle XPC, it also had a pretty low wattage PSU but ran just fine fitted with Radeon 9800PRO graphics card (much higher consumer than the Radeon 95500SE)
There is no gaurantee but I don't think it will create any problems.
Martin

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[Slippenos]

Another thing to keep in mind about this particular machine is that is had no floppy drive and it has a pop-out cd drive. This is a huge power-saver as well.

fmoore12,

Have you considered allocating system memory onto your onboard video card? If you have, like I do, 512, take 64 of it and allocate to the onboard card. You'll still have 448 and your video card performance will increase.

Lastly,

Although this card has no fan- I don't think it will conserve any power. My fan will have to work that much more to keep the card cool.

Late tonite- the surgery begins. I'll let you all know how it turns out in the morning.

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[Slippenos]

Also,

Here is a link to a site that makes power sources.

[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=S41D2[/url]


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[fmoore12]

Thanks for the suggestions Slipenos. Infortunately, I called up the company you suggested and they do not have a PSU that will fit in the slimline 4600C. Regarding your other suggestion, I never heard of allocating more system memory to an onboard video card. Will this really increase video performance and not negatively affect any other system performance? If so, how do you do it? I guess I could also buy more RAM and make sure I have the latest video driver (I don't remember if I ever looked for the latest driver). I hope that Paparazi is right and that the new video card is not a power hog. Good luck tonight and please let me know what happens.

 

[Slippenos]

OK, good news on the Radeon 9550SE. It works.

One problem, though. The low-profile bracket only contains DVI and S-video inputs, no VGA. I had to 'jimmy' the VGA cable (connected to the card, originaly on the full-height bracket) over the card so I could hook my monitor up to it. With that being said, I hooked the card up without the use of a bracket.

When you do (if you do) end up getting this one, you need to go to Add/Remove Programs and uninstall the drivers for the onboard video card.

After playing the Sims2, it was worth it. It looked great.

fmoore12,

I apologize about the company that makes power sources. I spotted the '4600' and quickly inserted the link without much research.

But back to alotting system memory to your onboard video card- thats done in the BIOS. And unfortuantly, it will affect system performance, but only as much as you give to your card. For instance, if you alot 64mb of RAM to the onboard card, your system will now run at 448mb of RAM. Not too shabby if you ask me.

If there are any more questions about the card- I'll be happy to answer them for you.




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[paparazi]

Not sure wether thats sucess or not?


The low-profile bracket only contains DVI and S-video inputs, no VGA. I had to 'jimmy' the VGA cable (connected to the card, originaly on the full-height bracket) over the card so I could hook my monitor up to it.

OUTPUTS? so you use a DVI to VGA adapter, the type commonly supplied with many dual DVI cards.
This it?

http://www.directron.com/dvi.html

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[Slippenos]

My mistake - outputs.
I need a DVI - VGA adapter.

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[fmoore12]

Thanks for the info. Sounds promising. So what, besides the video card itself, do I need to get and how do I get it to work? If you didn't use a bracket, is there a gap in the slot?