aurelius2000

Hey guys

I have a Dell Dimension E520 desltop running windows XP SP3. It has (stock) Nvidia 7300 graphics card. I would like to upgrade the video card but i am unsure about what to get. I would like to hope that i could get a Nvidia 8600/8800 but would REALLY like to get a 9 Series.

I need a few options as far as upgrading. I know the card is PCI Express but i am unsure if it is 2.0 or not. Also, i have a ~300 watt PSU (little fuzzy on the details because i am at work ATM) if that helps at all.

If it is not too much, can i get some opinions on this matter and maybe links to the cards for the upgrade? Also, can someone tell me if the card i have (7300) is PCIE 2.0 or not.

Thanks peeps

emosun

Post your budget for this upgrade. The machine only uses a 1.8ghz core two duo so anything higher then a basic midrange card is just going to be bottlenecked by the cpu , so you'll probably be sticking with that 8600 or maybe a 9500. However were not going to recommend any gpu with the computers stock 300w it'll definitely have to be changed.

Also this machine most likely is a pci-e 1.0.

aurelius2000

I can spend anywhere from 200-300$.

What are your reccomendations?

Oh and is there possibly a way just to get a better card in the 7 series w/ a little more power? That is all i am looking for really but some suggestions as far as a processor would be nice to.

Phædrus2401

No sense spending money on old tech. Plus old cards like the GeForce 7 series are often more expensive, because it's legacy hardware.

The card is probably PCIe 1.0 or 1.1, but PCIe 2.0 is backwards compatible, so a PCIe 2.0 card will work in a 1.0 slot (usually--there are exceptions).




What's the goal here? Are you trying to make this a gaming machine? The best you could get on your budget would be a Corsair TX750W and a Radeon 5770 graphics card. Your CPU would be a bottleneck though. But something like a Corsair VX550W and a Radeon 4770 or GeForce 9800GT might be a worthwhile upgrade. Or if you're just looking for games to be a little smoother then a Radeon 4650 or GeForce 9500GT might be in order.

aurelius2000

Exactly right Phaedrus. I am looking to just make it a little more powerful gaming PC. I mean i can play the games but a little more quality and performance would be nice.

I have an 8600m card in my laptop and have no complaints as far as quality or performance when playing the same games. Would an 8600 or 8800 be sufficient as far as power and just a little more quality?

and the processor i am having an issue finding a faster model. Like is said, im not in front of my PC so its kind of hard to give full specs ATM. I would like to find anything in the range of 2.2 GHz -> 2.8 GHz.

Phædrus2401

Looks like the best you could use (that Dell lists; there may be others) would be a Pentium Dual Core E6300 2.8GHz, which isn't a bad CPU at all. Better than mine when it isn't overclocked.

Again, not much point in going for an older series card when you can find a newer series with the same performance for the same price + the benefit of newer technology. The 8600m GS is about equivalent to a 9400GT/4550. You can pick up a Radeon 4650 for ~$50 and its nVidia cousin the 9500GT for ~$70.

I'm thinking bang-for-buck for you would be a Radeon 4670 and a Corsair VX550W PSU.

aurelius2000

ok. well one of the guys where i work just hooked me up (well ill have them next week) with 2 7600 512MB cards for 100$ with the SLI kit. Will that work for the cause? and do i still need the PSU upgraded to do so?

And that processor is probably what i will look into. Thanks for helpin me look. I could only find a 2.2GHz.

Phædrus2401

Two 7600s will work as long as you have two PCIe x16 slots, but it's even more imperative to upgrade the power supply. The 7600GT uses about as much power as the 9500GT, and you're going to be using two of them. A very good 650W might work, but I'd recommend a quality 750W. Something from the Corsair TX or HX series, maybe.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ue&Order=PRICE

emosun

The WG864 board in the pc only has one pci-e slot so you could only use one 7600. Not to mention a 7600 is actually less then half the speed of an 8600 , and two of them for 100$ is way to much. I'd give em 30$ for both , if there wasn't anything better.

It also seems the best cpu that pc supports is infact the e6300 core2 duo. The best that system could do would be a g92 8800 or 9600. You will also need to get a single slot card only , the btx layout prevents dual slot cards from being used.

aurelius2000

Thanks emosun and phaedrus, You guys have been a great help. So, after much consideration and debating, i will only pay him 30$ for the cards :D. I will use the 7600 card for now (plus i have a backup which is nice because i like to overclock.) In the mean time, i am going to purchase a nice corsair PSU 750W as suggested. Then, after doing a little searching, I found that i am going to get the power i need from an nvidia 8600. Also, I will be looking into a new processor (most likely the 2.8 GHz suggested). Most likely be doing it in that order.

I also found that Intel® Pentium® D 930 with Dual-Core Technology (3GHz, 800FSB). IS that going to be compatible?

It was listed under my PC on Dell's site. So is that possible?

http://www.dell.com/us/en/dfh/deskto...&~tab=specstab

emosun

The cpu your machine is using is the fastest it supports..... Those other cpu's are higher in ghz but are still slower then the core two duo your using.

Also , if your only going to get a 7600 and then an 8600 you only need a 550w or higher , 750w is overkill.

Phædrus2401

Nothing wrong with overkill though, and if you ever decide to upgrade later on with a Corsair TX750W you won't have to upgrade unless you decide to go and get an extremely-high-end card, or SLI/Crossfire setup. You can carry it over to your next build, and they have a five year warranty and "mean time before failure" of eleven years.

aurelius2000

ok sounds good guys. I appreciate all the help. I will keep the core 2. upgrade my Ram and Video Card as well as a new PSU. I think i will do a 550 for now. So yeah no biggie there.

Thank you soo much for your guys' opinion on the matter. I appreciate the help.

NuComer

well, i just got a new power supply, and like you i was in a tight budget, u might wanna check out the earthwatts 650w i think its the best deal u can get right at that price range right now (around 70-75 USD)

aurelius2000

I actually found a 400W from Corsair w/ 30 amp on the 12V rail. Plenty powerful for my new GeForce 8600. It runs amazingly! So, as a final note, I now have 4 GB of ram, same core 2 duo processor, Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT and a new 400W Corsiar PSU.

Thanks for all the help guys. I can play all my new games and STREAMLINE them!!!!