What to do to make my computer better for games.

ShrinkyDink · 03-06-2007, 04:40 PM

My current computer is a Dell with 3.00ghz P4 processor, 512mb 2.99 ghz ram, and an ATI Radeon X300 with 128mb video card. I would like to increase it's gaming performance at least somewhat for GTR2. What would be my best bet, more memory or better graphics card (which one)?

JDMFairladyZ33 · 03-06-2007, 04:42 PM

1) better Vid Card
2) more RAM
3) Faster harddrive.
4) Better monitor

Edit: and Yes in that order

Combat350z · 03-06-2007, 05:10 PM

You're asian shouldn't you already be able to do it.

ShrinkyDink · 03-06-2007, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Combat350z

You're asian shouldn't you already be able to do it.

I'm Asian? That's really going to be hard news to break to my parents.

ShrinkyDink · 03-06-2007, 05:11 PM

So, what's a good value in a video card?

JDMFairladyZ33 · 03-06-2007, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShrinkyDink

I'm Asian? That's really going to be hard news to break to my parents.

I think he's talking to me. Combat likes to follow me around and remind me of my ethnicity.

Jokestrap · 03-06-2007, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDMFairladyZ33

1) better Vid Card
2) more RAM
3) Faster harddrive.
4) Better monitor

Edit: and Yes in that order

+100000 def

JDMFairladyZ33 · 03-06-2007, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShrinkyDink

So, what's a good value in a video card?

Depends on what you are looking to play and do. You can spend anywhere from $200- $500 or $1000 for duels. How crazy do you want to get?

Combat350z · 03-06-2007, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDMFairladyZ33

I think he's talking to me. Combat likes to follow me around and remind me of my ethnicity.

Hey what can I say I like making the yellow people sad

Its only because ya'll are blessed with superior drifting skilz

Combat350z · 03-06-2007, 05:16 PM

Honestly though if you just want a decent card you can get one for like 250-300 that will play most things

n1k0n · 03-06-2007, 05:20 PM

Just get this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130079

or this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130038 (cheaper, less memory, slower core but same chipset)

ShrinkyDink · 03-06-2007, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDMFairladyZ33

Depends on what you are looking to play and do. You can spend anywhere from $200- $500 or $1000 for duels. How crazy do you want to get?

Not too crazy, I just want an improvement over what I have. The ATI can play GTR2 fine at the lowest detail level. I'm just trying to improve that. What are some good cards at the $200 price mark? (Funny since I only spent $500 on the entire computer brand new from Dell).

Sam's Club had a Geforce 7600gs for $85. How much of an improvement, if any, would that make?

n1k0n · 03-06-2007, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShrinkyDink

Sam's Club had a Geforce 7600gs for $85. How much of an improvement, if any, would that make?

Not much, more memory tho.. If you really want an improvement get one of those 8800's they start at about 250 +, if you not looking to spend that much I would just get 2 gig's of ram that will give you nice boost for gaming and everything else and wont cost too much.

JDMFairladyZ33 · 03-06-2007, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShrinkyDink

Not too crazy, I just want an improvement over what I have. The ATI can play GTR2 fine at the lowest detail level. I'm just trying to improve that. What are some good cards at the $200 price mark? (Funny since I only spent $500 on the entire computer brand new from Dell).

Off the top of my head you can move to any ATI 1800 series with 256 MB of GDDR3 or a similar Nvida GeForce series. They were like $500 2 years ago, but now they go for around $200-$250. You will see an improvement right off the bat going with a better card. If you are looking for scalability to the next architecture then it may not be the best idea. Most of these are either AGP or PCI express interface.

JDMFairladyZ33 · 03-06-2007, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by n1k0n

Not much, more memory tho.. If you really want an improvement get one of those 8800's they start at about 250 +, if you not looking to spend that much I would just get 2 gig's of ram that will give you nice boost for gaming and everything else and wont cost too much.

He is low on ram but I think his vid card is his weakest point at the moment. I would do RAM and vid card at the same time. RAM is so cheap. Add like 1 gig bar off DDR if your board supports it.

Built2shredZ · 03-07-2007, 09:55 AM

Does your motherboard have a PCI-E slot or a AGP slot? This will determine which card you can get... What Model Dell is it?

For gaming you want a min. of 1 gig of ram, and your video card is pretty weak for gaming, you will want to upgrade that for sure..

For about $300 you can have a good gaming rig...

ShrinkyDink · 03-07-2007, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Built2shredZ

Does your motherboard have a PCI-E slot or a AGP slot? This will determine which card you can get... What Model Dell is it?

For gaming you want a min. of 1 gig of ram, and your video card is pretty weak for gaming, you will want to upgrade that for sure..

For about $300 you can have a good gaming rig...

I looked up the current location of the card in the "my computer" section of windows and it said it was located in a PCI slot so that means it's a PCI card right? It's a Dimension 4700 I believe.

JDMFairladyZ33 · 03-07-2007, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Built2shredZ

Does your motherboard have a PCI-E slot or a AGP slot? This will determine which card you can get... What Model Dell is it?

For gaming you want a min. of 1 gig of ram, and your video card is pretty weak for gaming, you will want to upgrade that for sure..

For about $300 you can have a good gaming rig...

He probably has the PCI-E if it's a newer computer even though ATX and Nvida offer some of their cards in both AGP and PCI-E.

bkknight369 · 03-07-2007, 11:50 AM

get more ram FIRST...much cheaper, and you'll see results right away, and not just in gaming. Go to 1GB at least

Built2shredZ · 03-07-2007, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShrinkyDink

I looked up the current location of the card in the "my computer" section of windows and it said it was located in a PCI slot so that means it's a PCI card right? It's a Dimension 4700 I believe.

Ya it should be a PCI-E slot, now that we know that, how much money do you want to spend on upgrades?

I think a 8800 GTX would be overkill for that computer, odds are the CPU you have would end up being the bottleneck...

If you want to set yourself up for a future install of Vista, then You could go with with a 8800 GTS card which is DX10 compatible, after rebate this one is $340 Although you might need a new power supply to power this baby and it is big so fitting it in your case might be a issue...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127225

or you can save some money with the 7950 GT card at $220
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150220

Here's some RAM I found on newegg.com for your computer, 1 GIG for $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145130