256MB nVidia Ge Force 6800~256MB upgrade

Icarus152

Hi Guys,

What is the best graphics card upgrade from this (€100 budget,or so)? I'm going to the States on Thursday so I could buy it there (is this a good idea?).

My desktop is a Dell 9150 (Dimension 9150 P4 630,3.0GHz, 800FSB, 2X1MB Cache).I'd like to be able to play games like Empire:Total War.

Many thanks in advance.

Solitaire

I think you're coming up to a full system upgrade I'm afraid That P945 mobo might not support a Core2 even with a BIOS update and even at 3GHz a P4 is still only just at the minimum requirements of most recent games (a few need 4GHz+ but they usually say "Athlon X2 or better ONLY" on them :eek: )

In any case IIRC that machine is (mercifully) PCIe so you could drop in something like a cheapie HD4650 or maybe even a HD4670 for good 1280x1024 performance in most games. HD4670 start at €69 and should be more than enough of a jump in performance from a 6800.

Icarus152

Solitaire wrote: »

I think you're coming up to a full system upgrade I'm afraid That P945 mobo might not support a Core2 even with a BIOS update and even at 3GHz a P4 is still only just at the minimum requirements of most recent games (a few need 4GHz+ but they usually say "Athlon X2 or better ONLY" on them :eek: )

In any case IIRC that machine is (mercifully) PCIe so you could drop in something like a cheapie HD4650 or maybe even a HD4670 for good 1280x1024 performance in most games. HD4670 start at €69 and should be more than enough of a jump in performance from a 6800.

Thanks for the reply Solitaire.Do these specs give you more info?

So,could I get by with more memory and an improved graphics card?

Solitaire

Icarus152 wrote:

So,could I get by with more memory

... But you never told me how much RAM your system currently has

Dimension 9150 P4 630,3.0GHz, 800FSB, 2X1MB Cache

Do you mean P4 630 or P4 830? Both are 3GHz but the latter has two cores which can be a major factor when dealing with games that can run on both cores. Unfortunately its also one of the most powerful CPUs you can get for that Dell as the mobo isn't compatible with any modern CPUs

You could play older games well and some newer games with reduced settings with just a newer low-end graphics card so long as you have at least 1GB RAM. If you have that amount or more just get a modern low-mid range graphics card and try your best, don't bother blowing much money as you might be needing a new machine soon The P4 and even its PentiumD offshoot is coming to the end of its life and even at a speedy 3GHz just isn't very powerful at all (Athlon is ~40% and Core2 ~80% more powerful per clock cycle, so a bargain-bin E5200 is roughly equivalent to two 4.5GHz P4 cores).

The minimum spec for E:TW is a 2.6GHz P4 and at least 1GB RAM with Windows XP so you should be good for running it but running it well is another matter - unless its heavily optimised to run two threads you'll find the game is very CPU-limited on your system so upgrading much else is a waste of money. Get a cheap HD3650, HD4550 or (GDDR3) 9500GT (can be ~€45 some places), maybe a GDDR3 HD4650 (~€55) or even a HD4670 at most (still can be had for under €70). You might want to get a HD4830/50 if you intend to swap it into a newer machine that can really make use of it in the very near future, otherwise don't bother and go bargain-bin

Blazer

Dim 9150 supports P4 dual core but not Core 2 Duo.
However you can get a motherboard for a Dim 9200 and use this inside as they're basically the same chassis. Should pick one up cheaply enough.

Icarus152

Solitaire wrote: »

The minimum spec for E:TW is a 2.6GHz P4 and at least 1GB RAM with Windows XP so you should be good for running it but running it well is another matter

QFT.

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

Dim 9150 supports P4 dual core but not Core 2 Duo.
However you can get a motherboard for a Dim 9200 and use this inside as they're basically the same chassis. Should pick one up cheaply enough.

Thanks Guys.

I have 1 GB Ram and a single core P4 630,I think.The plan was to get another 2 GB from Dell (€33) and a decent card.But,if I need a CPU also,maybe I'll take your advice and review the whole thing.Might be quite a bit of difference in the price though so not sure yet.:( indeed