Dell Precision Graphics card? 1

[EvolMonster]

Hiya All

I have been given a Dell precision 670 Workstation by my old company, and i'm looking to upgrade the bog standard graphics card it has in it.

I know its got a PCI express slot (unfortionately not 2, as I could have got a crossfire card). I am a little bit lost as to which card will fit in it though.

The technical specs for it can be found at :

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/precn_670

Dell says it can accept PCI Express bus graphics cards up to 150 watts. So what options does that leave me? Looking to spend about £150 - £200 ish, so I can play new games coming out...

Cheers for any help!
Evol

 

[ski]

That link shows all of the recommended video cards for your system.
Also, clicking "Learn More" on the "Graphics & Monitors" page indicates if any additional components are required, e.g., an additional cooling fan, etc.

 

[EvolMonster]

So its saying that the best graphics card that will fit in my rig is a 512MB PCIe x16 NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500?

I've never even heard of one of those! They must be years old.

It says on the Learn More section that these are the cards avaliable for factory install. So there must be more avaliable on the open market today surely?

For example, will an ATI X1950 XT fit in there?

 

[ski]

According to the Dell site, the cards that are available(compatible?) with your system are the Nvidia Quadro FX4500/FX3450/FX1400/FX540(D), and the ATI FireGL V3100.

Check here for P&A:

http://www.pricewatch.com/

(I doubt that you'll want to spring for the 1st 2 Nvidia cards.)

 

[paparazi]

EvolMonster
The PC is a "workstation" therefore DELL recommend a list of "workstation type" graphics cards, that's not to say a full on gaming card would not work.
I'm sure the ATI X1950XT would work just fine.
Not a 100% certainlty but an experienced guess.

Martin

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[EvolMonster]

Well I need a definate YES i think, before I shell out £200 on a graphics card!

What i might do is try and sell this workstation on ebay. Its vertually brand new, and Has 2 Xenon processors, so i'm guessing it'll go for a pretty penny.

Unless someone can tell me with some certainty that I can get a gaming graphics card in there?

 

[paparazi]

Quote!
Unless someone can tell me with some certainty that I can get a gaming graphics card in there?

I though that was what I had done.

You can never be 100% certain about any part working with any other but what you we do know is that there is no reason why it shouldn't.
A work station graphics card is just one that is optimised for workstation type applications (CAD etc)and often is listed by the software manufacturers of such programmes to work with their product.

It's like anyone asking if there DELL or HP works with this ATI card, you can never be 100% but near enough as long as your motherboard has the required 16X PCIe slot it should work just fine.




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[EvolMonster]

Ah ok. Good. Thanks for that.

So i guess what I was asking all along was, will most ATI/Nvidia cards fit on a motherboard with a 16x PCIe slot, and maximum 150watts of power for the graphics card?

Well, the ones in my price range of £150 anyway...

 

[paparazi]

Basically yes! the X1950XT is a fine gaming card and good value for it's performance.
My only words or caution would be has the PSU enough power and the required PCIe power connector
Also just a note to the effect that you need to be aware of the fact DirectX 10 is just around the corner and this is a DX9 card (like most are) so you will be missing out on a few features, this isn't really an issue ATM because there are no DX10 cards in this price bracket as far as I am aware so there simply is no option for you at that price.

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[EvolMonster]

Excellent. Thanks For you help Paparazi. Much appreciated.