I need a graphics card

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Sureboss

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I'm updating the PC after Christmas, admittedly not to a great spec but twice processor and 4 times as much RAM. Added that it only cost me £11 for a new processor, mobo, psu, 200gb HD, gfx card.

The gfx card sent is an ATI X550 PCI-Gfx card. The person who gave it to me said to look for a better card. Can you recommend one that will not be too much for...

2GHhz Athlon 64
2GB RAM
XP SP3

Need to know anything else? Monitor perhaps?
 
How about a image of your motherboard(take a pic of the case open)? Make sure you take a high quality shot if possible.
 
To check for what? Max size of gfx card I can put in?

The mobo isn't in the comp yet. I'll try and get a piccie uploaded tomorrow.
 
What are you using the PC for first? That CPU is going to be a bottleneck for any recent games, and if you're only going to be using it for media playback you won't need anything too powerful.
 
Football Manager, maybe AOEIII. I know that obviously that spec is going to limit me.
 
Well lets see the motherboard. You might be able to support a better CPU. I just need the model number of the motherboard.
 
I think you can go for the Athlon 64 3700+ which has a 1MiB L2 cache. To find one just search this model number: ADA3700AEP5AR. But that model is rather costly so a 512KiB cache will have to do. Just search for this model number: ADA3400AEP4AX.

Most older computers only accept 2GB of RAM so you can't go any more than that. Though you might be able get RAM that has a better speed that your motherboard supports.

What kind of interface is the gfx slots are? Is the slot brown and set back a bit from the others? If so then thats agp. If not then compare them to these slots, they are in order of x4, x16, x1 and x16 compared to a normal PCI slot.
800px-PCIExpress.jpg
 
He said there is a PCIe slot. I would suggest something like a 7600GT or even a 9500GT, which is pretty cheap nowadays. I'd be a little concerned about the power supply having enough wattage and amps though. Most old systems came with 200-300W.
 
what is your limit? if you wanna stick AMD, you can get a 5000+, new mobo, and a 9600gt for really cheap. the ati 4850 is noticably faster, and it's around the same price, but it's a bit overkill for your corrent cpu...
 
He said there is a PCIe slot. I would suggest something like a 7600GT or even a 9500GT, which is pretty cheap nowadays. I'd be a little concerned about the power supply having enough wattage and amps though. Most old systems came with 200-300W.

It has come with a 400W PSU.

Was looking at cards earlier with the bloke who I got the new stuff from. I've/We've earmarked this.

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/49983...MB-PCI-Express-x16-Graphics-Card/Product.html

I looked at reviews and benchmarks on it and I was impressed, good results from some decent games, without being current top of the market.

Really want to get the order in tomorrow for the new card, whatever it may be.

Can't say I'm likely to spend more than £40-£50 on a card.

But what type of PCI-E is it?

No idea.

Regarding the RAM, it may be 2GB it may be 1.5GB, need to check that it supports 2GB. It was running 1.5GB.

Regarding, improving processor speed. Not really looking into that. If I had a spare £100 (for the 3700+) then I'd get it, but not really feasible right now, but possible in a few months.
 
Well compare the slot to the image I provided before, you should know what to get after that.
 
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