Upgrading my dell

Donut_01 · 09-09-2005, 08:13 PM

I want to upgrade my dell so i can play the new games coming out. I don't know what hardware to upgrade

The desktop is the dimension 8100 series, pentium 4 processor 2.0 ghz, 256 mb of ram, nvidia 64mb gforce3, and thats about all i know about the computer.

I'd perfer an athlon processor. and not to expensive please.

thanks

**greffov** · 09-11-2005, 04:33 AM

The best you can do is upgrade the memory. You can't go to athlons without replacing the motherboard and stuff. I think 2GHz PIV should be powerful enough for today's business.

Getting 512MB or maybe even 1GB of RAM will probably speedup your baby a lot!

Donut_01 · 09-12-2005, 04:50 PM

So you think the graphics card is fine.

**greffov** · 09-13-2005, 04:15 PM

I'm no graphics expert, but 64MB's look fine to me.

igalan · 09-15-2005, 11:11 AM

512 MB is a must, so don't wait for this upgrade.

Now if you want to play newer games, a new video card is also a must. But don't get the latest and greatest, because the CPU will be the bottle neck; you'll spend a lot in a video card that won't run faster because it's waiting for the CPU. You need to get the right balance. So I'll probably got for a GeForce 6600 GT with 128 MB or 256 MB if you can afford it.

renegadeandy · 09-25-2005, 01:03 PM

why oh why do people just look at the vgu memory of gfx cards - thats not got a huge amount to do with the meatyness of a gfx card - look at chipset, gforce 3 is still packing a mega punch and is better than most low end nvidia gforce 4 cards on the market even today. The ram will give you the best performance increase for your money.

igalan · 09-26-2005, 03:45 AM

GeForce 4 is almost as outdated as GeForce3 is. Do you know how much it costs a GeForce 6600 (standard)? You can get them for less than 125€, and they are so much better than GeForce 3 (any). Of course don't expect that a P4 1,7 GHz can reach 80fps in HalfLife 2 with all eye-candy on with a GeForce 6600 or 6800; it's important to find the right balance, so you're not loosing money in computational power that is not going to be used.

I had a GeForce 3 Ti200, then upgraded to GeForce FX 5900XT wich was sooo much faster, and then to GeForce 6600 GT (I had to do this one because I went for a PCIe mobo). I can give you numbers for each configuration, but trust me, the speed increases have been important, not just in the 10-20% range.

renegadeandy · 09-26-2005, 06:52 AM

absolutely i was only compairing the top end gforce3 to low end gforce 4.

09-09-2005, 08:13 PM	#1 (permalink)
Donut_01 Donut Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Arizona Posts: 2	Upgrading my dell I want to upgrade my dell so i can play the new games coming out. I don't know what hardware to upgrade The desktop is the dimension 8100 series, pentium 4 processor 2.0 ghz, 256 mb of ram, nvidia 64mb gforce3, and thats about all i know about the computer. I'd perfer an athlon processor. and not to expensive please. thanks Last edited by Donut_01; 09-10-2005 at 06:07 PM.

09-11-2005, 04:33 AM	#2 (permalink)
greffov Da House Nerd Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: One CPU Lane Posts: 3,512	The best you can do is upgrade the memory. You can't go to athlons without replacing the motherboard and stuff. I think 2GHz PIV should be powerful enough for today's business. Getting 512MB or maybe even 1GB of RAM will probably speedup your baby a lot! __________________ Linux virusscanner detected a virus: Windows 95 ... delete [Y/n] y ~ ~ :wq

09-13-2005, 04:15 PM	#4 (permalink)
greffov Da House Nerd Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: One CPU Lane Posts: 3,512	I'm no graphics expert, but 64MB's look fine to me. __________________ Linux virusscanner detected a virus: Windows 95 ... delete [Y/n] y ~ ~ :wq

09-15-2005, 11:11 AM	#5 (permalink)
igalan PCTT Articles Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Barcelona, SPAIN Posts: 1,018	512 MB is a must, so don't wait for this upgrade. Now if you want to play newer games, a new video card is also a must. But don't get the latest and greatest, because the CPU will be the bottle neck; you'll spend a lot in a video card that won't run faster because it's waiting for the CPU. You need to get the right balance. So I'll probably got for a GeForce 6600 GT with 128 MB or 256 MB if you can afford it. __________________ AMD64 X2 3800+, Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe, 2 GB RAM, GeForce 6600GT, Windows XP Home SP2

09-25-2005, 01:03 PM	#6 (permalink)
renegadeandy Registered User Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Scotland - Edinburgh Posts: 83	why oh why do people just look at the vgu memory of gfx cards - thats not got a huge amount to do with the meatyness of a gfx card - look at chipset, gforce 3 is still packing a mega punch and is better than most low end nvidia gforce 4 cards on the market even today. The ram will give you the best performance increase for your money. __________________ "KEYBOARD FAILURE : PRESS F1 TO CONTINUE" - how retarded can bios get?

09-12-2005, 04:50 PM	#3 (permalink)
Donut_01 Donut Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Arizona Posts: 2	So you think the graphics card is fine.

09-26-2005, 03:45 AM	#7 (permalink)
igalan PCTT Articles Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Barcelona, SPAIN Posts: 1,018	GeForce 4 is almost as outdated as GeForce3 is. Do you know how much it costs a GeForce 6600 (standard)? You can get them for less than 125€, and they are so much better than GeForce 3 (any). Of course don't expect that a P4 1,7 GHz can reach 80fps in HalfLife 2 with all eye-candy on with a GeForce 6600 or 6800; it's important to find the right balance, so you're not loosing money in computational power that is not going to be used. I had a GeForce 3 Ti200, then upgraded to GeForce FX 5900XT wich was sooo much faster, and then to GeForce 6600 GT (I had to do this one because I went for a PCIe mobo). I can give you numbers for each configuration, but trust me, the speed increases have been important, not just in the 10-20% range. __________________ AMD64 X2 3800+, Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe, 2 GB RAM, GeForce 6600GT, Windows XP Home SP2

09-26-2005, 06:52 AM	#8 (permalink)
renegadeandy Registered User Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Scotland - Edinburgh Posts: 83	absolutely i was only compairing the top end gforce3 to low end gforce 4. __________________ "KEYBOARD FAILURE : PRESS F1 TO CONTINUE" - how retarded can bios get?

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