i need graphics card help!

[potato4201]

i got a very old dell dimension 4100 and need a boost for my nascar games. i got 150 bucks,and i need frames,please help!

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Need. More. Info.

CPU type/speed (P4/Celeron what?)
mem type/speed/amount (sdram/rdram/ddr)
video card interface/brand (integrated/agp/pci)l integrated)
monitor resolution

Also, which Nascar games are you playing exactly?

 

[digitalwanderer]

It's an Intel 815e chipset with a 4xAGP, if that helps any. (Google is our friend! )

What kind of CPU/video card do you have? I just retired an 815i rig with a Tulatin 1.4Ghz & 6800GT because she couldn't game well.

Also, how much memory do you have?

I don't think a $150 graphic card is going to fix what ails you.

EDITED BITS: Oh gods, they sold those with 128Mb of RAM back in 2000....I'm scared to hear his stats now.

 

[potato4201]

p3 with nvidia tnt2 ,ddr

 

[potato4201]

papy

 

[Davros]

what you need to check out is the agp card you buy will be 8x you board is 4x you need to make sure whatever card you buy can handle the voltage 4x uses
ps best agp card you can get is x1950pro
how fast is your cpu ? if its using ddr is it a 1.3ghz ?
by papy you mean papyrus ? then a x1950 will help no doubt but you really need an upgrade for anything much newer

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Save your money and buy a new computer. You have no CPU upgrade option that is worthwhile. Your GPU upgrade options are still decent (given that your video card is like 8 years old) but you'd be horribly constrained by the limited CPU power you have.

 

[potato4201]

next ?

ok theres no fast easy fix,so whats the best comp around these days for the buck?$450?(please anything but compaq)

 

[BRiT]

For as little as you want to spend, the pc will be better than what you have now, but you wont get as much gaming if you want to play with all the eyecandy in the newest games, like Dirt or Nascar 2008.

You might want to pickup a game console, like the XBox 360.

 

[potato4201]

papy games dont ask to much for frames and i hate new nascar(arcade) games.i have a ps3,but theres nothing like the sims,and you cant tweak them. thanx for the help guys

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Buy a cheapo Dell or HP with a decent CPU (read: C2D E4400/6420 or higher, X2 4600+ or higher) and at least 2GB RAM. Unfortunately you can't really get a dedicated video card in that price range, so you'd be stuck with integrated graphics until you can afford a video card upgrade. On the video card side go for Geforce 8600 or higher, or Radeon 2600 or higher. All told you'll probably spend $600-$700 for a mid-range PC with an add-on video card that's capable of gaming.

 

[Davros]

how about this $70 (barebones system)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116040

celeron $37
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116031

512 ram $26 (better with a gig though)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141424

spend as much as you can on a gfx card (a x1950 would rock)
and use the bits from your current pc (drives monitor ect)
total without gfx card = $137

 

[ShaidarHaran]

how about this $70 (barebones system)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116040

celeron $37
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116031

512 ram $26 (better with a gig though)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141424

spend as much as you can on a gfx card (a x1950 would rock)
and use the bits from your current pc (drives monitor ect)
total without gfx card = $137

Sorry, but 512MB RAM doesn't cut it for modern gaming. 1GB is barely enough for a lot of games.

 

[Davros]

hence why i said better with a gig though

 

[ShaidarHaran]

hence why i said better with a gig though

I think he needs to spend $600-$700 to be happy. $450 just doesn't buy a gaming machine (yet) unless you want a console...

 

[Cheezdoodles]

ok theres no fast easy fix,so whats the best comp around these days for the buck?$450?(please anything but compaq)

Buy a console. Seriously, a PS3 or X360 will outperform whatever pc you buy for that little money, and those consoles will run all the new games coming out for the next couple of years (games that aren't pc exclusive that is), wheras any $450 pc will not run anything.

 

[potato4201]

i have one already

 

[Blazkowicz]

a sempron 3000+ on AM2 socket, motherboard, 8600GT and one 1GB DDR2 stick : that should be quite cheap and exponentially better than what you have.

let's try to stick in your $150 even, with integrated video. (it's still way better than TNT2, actually)

full ATX mobo with geforce 6100 : $75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128034
sempron 3400+ : $40 (nothing lower it seems)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819104005
corsair XMS 1GB PC5400 : $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145573

not bad. total $155, keeping all other components your have.
a very bad and very recent development : motherboards now only have one IDE port, which is ridiculous and infuriating. So I hope you only have one HDD or can live without an optical drive. (or work around that with an USB enclosure, a PCI card..). (and mixing HDD and CD on the same ribbon cable sometimes sucks)

you can then add or replace anything, any time. a new and decent PSU won't be luxury if you add a video card (or a phenom X4 )

 

[Davros]

my board has 2 ide ports but strangely only 1 supports atapi devices