Upgrading my Dell.

[PsYcHo_ShiZniT]

Hi there! Over the summer my rents divorced and my dad got my gaming computer so I went out and bought myself a 1000 buck Dell. My mistake, but never-the-less, I have it. So I've gotten along fine with it, I had to buy a WD My Book External HDD for it cause it had a small 80 GB HD. I think I need to upgrade my Graphics Card and my RAM. Here's it's specs:

Intel Pentium 4 Processor: 3.40 GHz w/ HT Technology
2 GB Memory @ 533MHz
ATI x600 SE 256 MB w/ HyperMemory
and then I guess evertything else is stock.

I filled the 80 GB HDD with games, mainly Source Engine Games and Mods.

I had thought long and hard, I did the math, and I decided it was pointless to just build my own PC from scratching being I just bought my Dell.

I do alot of Video Production with Garrys Mod (MOD for Half-Life 2) and I want to be able have less "lag" while I play and produce videos. I think my processor is fine and won't be entirely out of date for a while. Should I upgrade to 4 GB of RAM and then upgrade my graphics card to something like a PNY - Verto GeForce 7300 GT Graphics Card - VCG7300GXP which seems like a nice card and at a reasonable price. Also a quick question about this card, it says I can use 2 of them to enchance its power using some sort of a connector, do you suggest it? I'm trying to not spend more than 200 bucks on a graphics card and possibly acheive 60 fps or more. Just tell me what you think. Thanks!

[saltynay]

dual cards are rubbish better to spend the money on one big card. Please post your motherboard so that we can see what connections there are??? 4gb of ram is a waste you will never use that much I'm thinking of upgrading to 3gb but thats only because I play graphics intensive games on the highest settings and use autocad occasionally. The 7900gt should easily get you that many fps. Your Ram bus speed is abit slow and the pentium 4 is ok for now but it is a bit slow check here http://tomshardware.co.uk/cpu/charts.html

[talldude123]

Welcome to Tech-Forums!

First, make sure that everything you want is compatible. I know that Dell uses propriatery parts, so you're stuck there.

First thing you would want to do is upgrade the PSU, then the graphics card, then the memory.

The memory you have now is good, but you will want a better graphics card, and probably a new power supply. I believe Dell's have 300W stock PSU's, you will want 450 minimum.

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Your RAM is fine, but you will want to get a new video card.... I wouldn't go from an x600 to a 7300 though..... they are both entry level cards (I believe)... possibly low mid-range.

Does that DELL use AGP or PCI express interface for the video card?

Here are 2 PCI express cards...
HIS ATi X1950 PRO
Foxconn GeForce 7900GS

[PsYcHo_ShiZniT]

Originally posted by saltynay
dual cards are rubbish better to spend the money on one big card. Please post your motherboard so that we can see what connections there are??? 4gb of ram is a waste you will never use that much I'm thinking of upgrading to 3gb but thats only because I play graphics intensive games on the highest settings and use autocad occasionally. The 7900gt should easily get you that many fps. Your Ram bus speed is abit slow and the pentium 4 is ok for now but it is a bit slow check here http://tomshardware.co.uk/cpu/charts.html

Ok thanks for the suggestion! But how do I go about finding what mother board I have, this is why I wished I had built my own (nVidia nForce seems to be nice)

Originally posted by talldude123
Welcome to Tech-Forums!

First, make sure that everything you want is compatible. I know that Dell uses propriatery parts, so you're stuck there.

First thing you would want to do is upgrade the PSU, then the graphics card, then the memory.

The memory you have now is good, but you will want a better graphics card, and probably a new power supply. I believe Dell's have 300W stock PSU's, you will want 450 minimum.

Well, I don't really want to mess with my Power supply, and I know I need a better graphics card. What I'd probably do is get a new one and then sell the one in my machine (the ATI) to my friend who has an Intel card and struggles to play CS:S, for like 50 bucks. But anyways thanks!

Originally posted by Ethereal_Dragon
Your RAM is fine, but you will want to get a new video card.... I wouldn't go from an x600 to a 7300 though..... they are both entry level cards (I believe)... possibly low mid-range.

Does that DELL use AGP or PCI express interface for the video card?

Here are 2 PCI express cards...
HIS ATi X1950 PRO
Foxconn GeForce 7900GS

Ok, I'd rather go with a nVidia card because I had a PNY GeForce 5500 128 MB in my dad's computer before I moved out and it did great with most source games. My current card is in a PCIe port. When I hit F2 on startup it says I have 2 empty PCI slots, not sure how many empty PCIe slots I have though...

[Ethereal_Dragon]

I would have to take an educated guess that it is 1 PCI express slot.... it is a dell, I doubt any dell's besides and maybe not even the XPS would have SLI support.... not sure.

[PsYcHo_ShiZniT]

Originally posted by Ethereal_Dragon
I would have to take an educated guess that it is 1 PCI express slot.... it is a dell, I doubt any dell's besides and maybe not even the XPS would have SLI support.... not sure.

I'd agree on that one. What do you think is the best graphics card that is in a 100-250 price range? Because I really would like nVidia with atleast 256 MB and would support Source Engine Games(HL2, CS:S, etc) at high level with no problem. Thanks!

I found a 7900 with PNY (which I like PNY personally):

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1155072371459


By the way, I wanna know what would improve how fast my computer al together. Do you think that it has anything to do with having 2 anti-viral software suites on it? One was free from our ISP and the other is Norton Systemworks, and then i have Spy-Boy and AdAware and Windows Defender. I really wanna improve my PC. Thanks!

[PsYcHo_ShiZniT]

bump

[bigbaddog]

You can go to the dell link below and plug in your info on your computer and it will tell you what you have in your system.

Dell Support

[fastrandstrongr]

hey, just so you know, i bought that same exact PNY 7900gs from best buy for 140 - no rebates. you can certainly find a better deal.

at any rate, its a good card and i highly recommend it.