Installing high-end card on budget Dell system?

cozmik

Is it possible to install a good DX10 card on my system as is or would I need to upgrade all my hardware to run the newest games?

Dimension E520 10 months old

Pentium® D Processor 925 with Dual Core Technology

256MB ATI Radeon X1300 Pro PCI-Express

Windows XP

1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM

160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive

16X DVD ROM Drive

Integrated 10/100 Ethernet


budget approx €500

Thanks for the help!

cozmik

uberpixie

Read here:http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=672

Depending on the game: your CPU may or may not be a bottle neck.

Biggest issue you will have is the fact your machine prob shipped with a low power power supply unit that will not be powerful enough to run a high end gfx card.

You would have to replace the psu.

You could just get a X1950pro which would be a good card that prob would not require you to replace your psu.

DX10 will not run on windows XP, to get DX10 effects you would need to have Vista as your OS.
(this is not an issue as DX9 will be the dominant DX version for the next 2 years or so, DX10 machines make up about 2% of the games market at the moment.)

CptSternn

uberpixie wrote:

DX10 will not run on windows XP, to get DX10 effects you would need to have Vista as your OS.
(this is not an issue as DX9 will be the dominant DX version for the next 2 years or so, DX10 machines make up about 2% of the games market at the moment.)

Heh, I think your going to be surprised when you see the new games coming out now mate. I just bought Shadowrun and Overlord recently. Both require DX10.

All the games made for XBOX which also are being ported to PC are using DX10.

In fact, if you visit IGN or any of the other gaming websites, you will see pretty much all the top new games from Bio Shock all the way down to the new games being released before Christmas all require DX10.

So as of right-this-this second, sure, they might be 2% of the market, but all the new high end games, starting last month, are all now using DX10 meaning 98% of the gaming market is going to have to upgrade soon else they won't be able to play any new games.

...Off to play Overlord.

uberpixie

CptSternn wrote:

Heh, I think your going to be surprised when you see the new games coming out now mate. I just bought Shadowrun and Overlord recently. Both require DX10.

All the games made for XBOX which also are being ported to PC are using DX10.

In fact, if you visit IGN or any of the other gaming websites, you will see pretty much all the top new games from Bio Shock all the way down to the new games being released before Christmas all require DX10.

So as of right-this-this second, sure, they might be 2% of the market, but all the new high end games, starting last month, are all now using DX10 meaning 98% of the gaming market is going to have to upgrade soon else they won't be able to play any new games.

...Off to play Overlord.

I think you are confusing supports DX10 with needs DX10 to run for the vast majority of new games coming out...

Bioshock supports DX9/DX10.

Overlord supports DX9/DX10.

Crysis supports DX9/DX10.

Shadowrun only runs on DX10.
(a bit silly really)

As the vast majority of PC developers are not retarded and understand that 98% of the PC games market is still on DX9 hardware for the foreseeable future, I don't think that a developer with half a brain cell is going to leave out 98% of their market by only supporting DX10.

(look at the steam surveys, 2% of the market have vista + DX10 card, 8% have a DX10 card with windows XP, the rest are stuck on DX9 hardware)

As DX10 still is very new, most developers are still coming to grips with and it will not make a huge difference to the gfx of most games.
(it will take a good year or 2 before we really see the benefits plus we are only begining to see the shine they can pull of with DX9)

Look at the only "DX10" games so far. Most run much slower than DX9 mode with very little extra eye candy to make it worth while.
again down to to lack of experience with it)

DX10 is a hook to fool you into buying Vista. No more no less. It really won't be a minimum requirment for gaming for another year or two.

The performance for any of the DX10 cards in the DX10 benchmarks is pants so far as well. We really won't see proper DX10 until another gen or two in graphics.

(This is pretty much the same as when DX9 was released Vs DX8)

To quote IGN's bioshock review

"The PC version definitely outclasses the Xbox 360, mostly because of the ability to crank the resolution to 1920 x 1200. If you've got a Vista rig with a DX10 card, you can expect some heightened particle effects, crisper real-time shadows, and more dynamic water, but the game looks gorgeous regardless.

On our gaming PC running a Core 2 Quad processor with a GeForce 8800 GTX, and 4 GB of RAM, it ran very well, with only a few occasions of seemingly random framerate hitches. We also couldn't find an option to switch between DX10 and DX9 modes, the game just seems to default to what's in your system, unlike Lost Planet."

christophicus

Also the fact that as far as I am aware the 360 does not support DX10 so any port from the 360 is going to run on DX9 anyway.

cozmik

uberpixie wrote:

Read here:http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=672

Biggest issue you will have is the fact your machine prob shipped with a low power power supply unit that will not be powerful enough to run a high end gfx card.

Thank you uberpixie, I checked the spec for my psu and it only has a measly 305w.

ETA

Well I just found an interesting link on power requirements which suggests that the X1950 Pro requires 66W and the 8600 gts only 47W on full load.

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=7&t=9354

According to my service manual for the e520

The P10 connector is intended for use with PCI Express graphics cards that have power requirements exceeding 75 watts.

So here's hoping my psu works.

regards

cozmik

uberpixie

The only issue you might have is that you may have to replace the PSU to power the new gfx.

Now some dells use a proprietary power supply, you might have to hunt down a compatible dell psu for your system. You can buy them online if you look around.

Hope it goes well :-)

papu

Shadowrun only runs on DX10.
(a bit silly really)

no shadowrun requires vista
basically for windows live

DX10 is a hook to fool you into buying Vista. No more no less. It really won't be a minimum requirment for gaming for another year or two.

no its not , dx10 and all that follow will require the new features in vista to work , dx10 is more efficently coded than dx9 and easier to code games in , the reason it runs slower is that there has been no built from the ground dx10 game coh was a patch and coj was decieded half way. the gamés should run faster but dx10 allows for so much more the devs just added so many new effects it outweighed the benefits of using dx10....wait for crysis...

uberpixie

papu wrote:

no shadowrun requires vista
basically for windows live

I was wondering about that.

papu wrote:

no its not , dx10 and all that follow will require the new features in vista to work , dx10 is more efficently coded than dx9 and easier to code games in , the reason it runs slower is that there has been no built from the ground dx10 game coh was a patch and coj was decieded half way. the gamés should run faster but dx10 allows for so much more the devs just added so many new effects it outweighed the benefits of using dx10....wait for crysis...

The reason why I would describe DX10 in Vista as a hook, is that it is the only reason why any gamer would want upgrade to it.

The fact is DX10 support at the moment is poor and it will take another while before developers get enough of a handle on it to get good performance out of it.

We will see if Crysis running in DX10 mode really make a huge difference in visual quality and if it gives acceptable frame rates.

DX10 at the moment:look at DX10 mode in Bioshock, you honestly cannot notice the difference, not from the pictures online, bar slightly better smoke effects.

I'm sure DX10, given time will be great, but at the moment it is not worth bothering with, especially as 95% of the market is DX9 and developers will be gearing their games towards that for the next while.

Vista could do with another 2 service packs too.:D

papu

uberpixie wrote:

I was wondering about that.




The reason why I would describe DX10 in Vista as a hook, is that it is the only reason why any gamer would want upgrade to it.

The fact is DX10 support at the moment is poor and it will take another while before developers get enough of a handle on it to get good performance out of it.

We will see if Crysis running in DX10 mode really make a huge difference in visual quality and if it gives acceptable frame rates.

DX10 at the moment:look at DX10 mode in Bioshock, you honestly cannot notice the difference, not from the pictures online, bar slightly better smoke effects.

I'm sure DX10, given time will be great, but at the moment it is not worth bothering with, especially as 95% of the market is DX9 and developers will be gearing their games towards that for the next while.

Vista could do with another 2 service packs too.:D

dx 10 wont give real life graphics . graphics have come far but it will be a while until a new api gives huge differences . dx 10 is ment to be easier to code for developers . once i get home im gonna install bioshock and play it in dx10 ,the thing im releaved that dx10 will run with good frames 50+

vista is great now ... it can only get better its not buggy or unstable ... unlike xp was..