-= Gametoast.com =-

I think that i'm going to get a new video card soon, mine really sucks, and was wondering, which would you recommend and where would be the best(cheapest and most reliable) place to get it?
Some games I'm looking to play on the new card.
--Rep Commando
--SW battlefront 2
--LOTR the battlefor middle earth (1 and 2, and the others also, possibly)
--KOTOR 2

so. generally i'm looking for something that is good all around with games, in that it supports a lot. I'd like your opinions, because I am not exactly sure what to get.

thanks in advance

Do you have any idea whether your computer has a PCI-Express slot? Or maybe an AGP or PCI slot?

yeah, I believe right now it is in a PCI, but I'm not sure if it has the others in the bcak also.

Any pci video card on ebay will outshine your current which appears to be onboard or old school pci based. On ebay there are pci vid cards up to 512 mb for under $25-$60. From the sound of the system I wouldnt invest in more then a 256mb pci card until you update the system to something in the last 4 years. pci was replaced by AGp by agpx4 by agpx8 into pci-e. which runs x16. Fun.

ok, thanks.
would this work for the games mentioned before, would it be a good deal, and would i be able to use it with my comp?
video card on ebay

thanks

since your current card appears to be onboard "literally hooked to your motherboard" you would want to disable it once you install your new pci vid card. yes , this card will work. I swear I
threw some of these away like 6 months ago, my voodoo went poodoo.

You can disable your current vid card in your bios once your new card is in , then it will run ugly until you put in the drivers for your new video card, it will reboot and youll be set.

happy antique video card hunting.

If you have an AGP slot, go for AGP - it's much better than PCI.

Dohnutt wrote:If you have an AGP slot, go for AGP - it's much better than PCI.

1--no. is there a way I can get it so that my comp can use the AGP or PCI-E?

guru wrote:since your current card appears to be onboard "literally hooked to your motherboard" you would want to disable it once you install your new pci vid card. yes , this card will work.

You can disable your current vid card in your bios once your new card is in , then it will run ugly until you put in the drivers for your new video card, it will reboot and youll be set.

2--how would I install it?
3--sorry, but what do you mean with putting the drivers in for the video card?

thanks

In response:

2) Graphics card would be a simple putting it in the slot. The manual should have pictures.
3) Installing the software from the vendor site. Or, you could use the CD that comes with it but I wouldn't recommend that as they're usually out dated.

Don't quite understand what you're saying with (1).

With "1", I think he's asking if there's a way he can get an AGP slot if he doesn't have one.
The answer to that (as far as I know) is no. If you don't have an AGP or PCI-E slot, then you'll have to stick with PCI.

Dohnutt wrote:With "1", I think he's asking if there's a way he can get an AGP slot if he doesn't have one.
The answer to that (as far as I know) is no. If you don't have an AGP or PCI-E slot, then you'll have to stick with PCI.

Or buy a new motherboard, which would almost definitely lead to buying a new processor, then a new power supply to accommodate the new card and motherboard, possibly a new hard drive, and BAM, you've bought a new computer.

Uh tsurigi, you are terribaly wrong. A new motherboard, as long as he got one that supports the things he has would be all he needs, hard to find maybe, but it isn't impossible

ok. thanks

1--is there a way to tell exactly if I have a PCI-E or AGP slot?


off-topic
2--I have a game and the system reqs say and I have would this cause the game not to work, or was it probably my graphics card?

thanks

edit one--
for installation, would i just stick the graphics card in the red circled area?


thanks

If the PCI/whatever slot is level with that port, yeah.

fiddler_on_the_roof wrote:1--is there a way to tell exactly if I have a PCI-E or AGP slot?

This is an PCI-E slot:
http://images.bit-tech.net/content_imag ... yte4-8.jpg

This is an AGP slot: (the maroon/brown/whatever one)
http://www.eee.deu.edu.tr/~ozkurt/compo ... P_slot.jpg

fiddler_on_the_roof wrote:

Sorry,but before i get the card, does the info above definately mean that I have a PCI slot?
2--How do I know which one of those slots on the back of my comp is the PCI slot?
and 3-- (off-topic)(my mom insists that I run this past you before I get this just to make sure.) In the description on Ebay ( HERE ) it says the system Requirements are this is what I'm worried about. I believe from this(pic down below) that I have a Celeron Processor. is this ture, and will the card still work, if I do? thanks thanks so much.

P.S. Could someone look at this? thanks

fiddler_on_the_roof wrote: off-topic
2--I have a game and the system reqs say

Code: Select all

Pentium/AMD 1.6GHz or better

and I have

Code: Select all

Dell Dimension DIM 3000
Intel(R)
Celeron(R) CPU 2.66GHz
2.66 GHz, 512 MB of RAM

would this cause the game not to work, or was it probably my graphics card?

thanks

Your Celeron processor is better than any Pentium 3, so it should work just fine.

Also, the graphics card slot is not the whole in the back of the case (though part of it will fit through that), it's the bus port on your motherboard. This image gives a good comparison of the common bus ports you'll see, so you can figure out which you have on your board (you probably have more than one, and they might not be the same port).

ok. thanks.
(new graphics card a'comin')

ONE last question.
Could someone guide me through the process of installing the graphics card, like a step by stpe process? I really don't want to have to pay money for someone else to do it.

thanks

yikes im glad your upgrading your vid card to play the games you like but geez. Just dont expect too much from that box your on.

I mean pcs are so cheap nowdays, like near me circuit city is going out of business, I saw today they have 64x quad core pcs with 16gigs of ram on perfect water cooled cases with dual 1 gig video cards and 2 500 gig hardrives for under 600$ assembled and with OS vista whatevr version. If you spend over $50 making your old horse do new tricks thats cool but id save up and just get something cheap thats slightly been around after 9/11 happened.

I dunno if this has been covered, but the Dimension 3000 only has standard PCI slots, no AGP and PCI-E

http://compreviews.about.com/od/budgetd ... ns3000.htm