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what are my upgrade options? dell dimension 8200

14K views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  Sarkast 
#1 ·
hi - please educate me! I'm eager to learn but kind of starting from serious ignorance -

I have a (bought in 2002) dell dimension 8200 with - (copied from parts of my original order) -

Dimension 8200 Series, Intel Pentium 4 Processor at 2.53GHz
2048MB PC800 RDRAM
RAMBUS INLINE MEMORY MODULE, 512, 400M, 288X16, 16C, 40
128MB DDR NVidia GeForce4 TI 4600 Graphics Card with TV-OUTand DVI
Dell Edition 120GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with Data,Burst Cache,Tied
Intel Pro 100 PCI Ethernet Network Card

Since I got it I've used up all my PCI slots - added firewire ports - it has only USB 1 not capable for 2 because of ?? motherboard issues -
other as far as i understand it -
motherboard Dell (I gather theirs are not standard?? ) 850E
533 front side bus
80532 Intel

anyway I have an old crt monitor and want to upgrade to maybe a dell ultrasharp. They need better video cards but I'm not sure which if any my system is compatible with - I gather that RAMBUS and Dell motherboards each limit compatibility??? Help! Thanks!
 
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#3 ·
Do you need a better video card cause you think you need a better one for a different monitor or because you want better game performance ?

You dont need a "better" video card for a different monitor. Who told you so ? And why ? The one you have once was top of the line and more than capable of supporting high resolutions/ framerates.

If you are looking for better game performance then the only problem holding you back is the power supply in the DELL case. You might get away with a 9800Pro or 6600 non GT but there is always a big "?". Thats why most people with similar systems end up taking all existing components out of the DELL case and buying a new case+ powerful PSU that allows for upgrades.
 
#4 ·
hi,
I'm not really looking to upgrade for gaming, more for work stuff which in my case does include some streaming video and lots of images which I need to look at in very fine detail. My monitor is a Dell version of a Sony Trinitron CR monitor - P1130 Trinitron - it's a pretty nice monitor, but I saw someone's Dell Ultrasharp and the images seemed a little sharper. Or maybe it's my perception because that's an LCD? - I don't think the pixel size is that different.

On the Dell website, after lots of looking around, it seemed like the widescreen format Ultrasharps require a higher level video card. So that's why I'm looking to upgrade. My resolution on what I have is 800x600 w 64k color per my system properties.

What happened was - I couldn't find specs for the specific monitors I was looking at , but on Dell's site - http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-4221&link_number=
is the specific link - under a very high end monitor they say to click to see if the monitor is compatible. Then that link lists a bunch of video cards and says whether or not they will support this fancy monitor. My card isn't listed. So I was left wondering whether the monitors that are a bit less high end have also outpaced what my card can do.

(and please feel free to point me to links that explain more about video cards, monitor specs etc - I've been reading but am a definite newbie.)

finally - I don't think I have an AGP slot at all - looks like my video card is in my highest PCI slot. And AGP isn't listed anyplace I can find in system properties where it lists PCI, ISA, and USB as bus types.
 
#5 ·
Well first of all - like i said the Ti4600 was a top of the line card at one time and even nowadays still plays most games at decent speed. Its also capable of his resolutions with very good refresh rates. I pulled this table off the web:

Resolution Color Depth (BITS) Max Refresh Rate (Hz)
640 x 480 8/16/32 240/240/240
800 x 600 8/16/32 240/240/240
1024 x 768 8/16/32 240/240/200
1152 x 864 8/16/32 200/200/170
1280 x 960 8/16/32 170/170/150
1280 x 1024 8/16/32 170/170/170
1600 x 900 8/16/32 150/150/120
1600 x 1200 8/16/32 120/120/100
1920 x 1080 8/16/32 100/100/85
1920 x 1200 8/16/32 100/100/85
1920 x 1440 8/16/32 85/85/75
2048 x 1536 8/16/32 75/75/75

Which brings me to another point - you can easily run your current resolution at a much higher colour depth setting and insane refresh rates (not advisable of course as your monitor couldnt handle that - but it shows the potential).

If you intend on getting an LCD - their native resolution is usually 1280x1024. The monitor your linked has a max resolution of 1920x1200. As you can see on the table above the video card is easily capable of providing that resolution - and at a refresh rate higher than needed for the LCD (max 75hz).

Now so far i'd have to say - no need to upgrade - what you have will run the monitor fine.
If you however decide to upgrade anyways - i still have to look into the slots you currently have and what upgradeabilities there are. I have to say though i didnt come across a Ti4600 as PCI version - which of course doesnt mean much as its impossible to know all cards.
I'll post back in here in a few hours when i have more time.
 
#6 · (Edited)
hi, thank you so much everybody, as I said I am a total beginner.

Turns out - I do have an AGP slot which is called PCI slot 1 in Device Manager, someone sent me a link to better documentation than I was aware of for my Dim8200.

And it seems worth trying without a new video card anyway, so I think I'll get the monitor, then upgrade cards if need be.

Thanks all!
 
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