Video Card Selection?

[BobK]

Hello,

I am running an older computer and would like to increase the video
card capability. The computer is currently:
Athlon 2500+ 1.84 GHz, DFI nForce Ultra Infinity, 3 slots PC3200 RAM,
ATI Radion 9600 / X1050 Series 128 MB

There are two video cards on Craigs List but I am not sure that they
will work with my system. Do you think that either one of these will
work without a problem? I am not even sure if I have a PCI Express
setup.

1. XFX GeForce 8400GS 450Mhz 256MB PCI Express x16, $60

2. NVIDIA 7600GS, 256MB of GDDR2 memory, PCI Express x16 interface,
$40

Will either of these work? If not, what would you suggest?

Thanks,

Bob

 

[BobK]

You probably don't. Your board is probably a:

http://us.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_spec_details_r_us.jsp?
PRODUCT_ID=2141&CATEGORY_TYPE=INFINITY&SITE=US

http://tinyurl.com/38n7fn


Not if your board is AGP.


What do you want to do? It's not fast enough for the latest
games to run at their best.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=
2010380048%201069609639&bop=And&Order=PRICE

http://tinyurl.com/2y24hs

Money no object?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102730

Best bang for the buck, IMO.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102718

Lowest I'd go:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102073

Hello Bill,

Thanks for the response.

I don't think that mother board is mine. I only have 3 slots for RAM.
I looked at the DFI site and had trouble matching the board.

I am also not sure if I have an AGP or PCI video card. Is there a way
to tell? I don't know what the different connectors (slots) look like.

If it is AGP, I could go with the video cards you suggested.

Thanks a lot,

Bob

 

[Paul]

Hello Bill,

Thanks for the response.

I don't think that mother board is mine. I only have 3 slots for RAM.
I looked at the DFI site and had trouble matching the board.

I am also not sure if I have an AGP or PCI video card. Is there a way
to tell? I don't know what the different connectors (slots) look like.

If it is AGP, I could go with the video cards you suggested.

Thanks a lot,

Bob

Does it look like this one ? This has three RAM slots, two in a pair,
and a third one spaced a bit further apart. This one has a brown AGP
slot, for up to AGP 8X.

http://us.dfi.com.tw/Upload/Product_Picture/NFII ULTRA INFINITY b.jpg

There are various utilities, that will report your hardware. Or at least
tell you what chipset is on the board.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php (CPUZ)
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html (Everest Free Edition)

There are still some AGP cards. Most of the newer ones are bridged,
and there is an "AGP converter" chip on the card, to make them
work with AGP.

This is one of the most recently released ones. I think this one
requires WinXP or Vista (one of the reasons I cannot put one in
my current Win2K system). Some of the older cards might have a
driver version that goes further back.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16814102730

There are many generations of cards listed here.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+1069609639&Subcategory=48

Paul

 

[Jon Danniken]

"BobK"wrote:

Hello,

I am running an older computer and would like to increase the video card
capability. The computer is currently:
Athlon 2500+ 1.84 GHz, DFI nForce Ultra Infinity, 3 slots PC3200 RAM, ATI
Radion 9600 / X1050 Series 128 MB

Given your setup (and assuming you game and have AGP as has been suggested),
I would probably pick up a used ATI x800 XT (or GT/GTO) (AGP) from eBay.
Or, pick up a similarly priced/performance offering from nVidia (not as
familiar with their linup of that vintage.).

You can compare a selection of cards from the following site:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html

Jon