Graphics card

[pammy]

My laddo's PC seems to have finally died big time. I am not prepared to spend anymore money on trying to get it fixed and to get nowhere. Now I can't get it to even power up so it's off to the PC graveyard somewhere.

So what to do. He does like games - not online particularly and he's not a serious gamer but we have had games in the past that won't work.

I've had a look at the Dell outlet and can get the following for £307

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Dimension E520 Pentium D 915 Processor Dual Core (2.80Ghz, 800Mhz FSB, 2x2MB cache
English Windows Vista Home Basic [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=arial,sans-serif]System Price[/FONT][FONT=arial,sans-serif]£307.00[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica]Dell recommends Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Operating System:[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]English Windows Vista Home Basic [/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Memory:[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]1024MB DDR2 533 [2*512][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Hard Disk Drive:[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]320GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Video:[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Video card ATI Radeon X1300 Pro 256MB DVI/VGA output with 1xS-Video Output [/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] CD Read-Write Drive:[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]DVD+/-RW, 16X, SATA[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Software:[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]BT, AOL, Tiscali ISP Combination[/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]English - Microsoft Works 8 [/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] MISC:[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Dell Quietkey Black Keyboard [/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Dimension Resource DVD for Vista (Diagnostics & Drivers) [/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Mouse Dell Wheel USB 2 Button Scroll Black [/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]English McAfee Security Centre 8.0 - 30 Day Trial Version [/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI - 60 day trial [/SIZE][/FONT]

My question - is that graphics card going to be enough?

 

[robert.saunders]

What sort of games pammy? Can you name a few? Does he still play Warcraft??

How many questions would you like in 1 post?? LOL

 

[pammy]

Yes to Warcraft - just not been able to play for a while.(well remembered)

other titles include:

Battlefield 2142
Rome Total War
Age of Mythology

 

[jaymanek]

ive got that system (running xp tho) for work and its fine, but i dont play any games on it... its been v reliable for the last 6 months ive had it...

 

[robert.saunders]

He may struggle a little with that card; mine is NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GS 512MB which struggles a bit with highest settings, but if he is happy with some lower settings then it'll do, altho you may want 2GB RAM, but you can upgrade to that for about £50.

Refresh rate on monitor plays a part too, but unless he is a serious gamer I don't think he'll mind to be honest (although some of the end-gaming in WoW (level 70 raids onwards) is graphics-heavy to be frank).

My main focus is WoW hopefully others can advise on the other titles.

Hope helps, Rob

 

[shadowninja]

Personally I would buy from a small local shop over Dell. The problem with buying online is that when things go wrong, it can be a right pain. Sure, they may have a customer service desk who are in this country and they are happy to fix the PC for free but will they say that their engineer will be there between 8am and 2pm on Thursday even if you can't make it? Or even worse, they want you to send the box away (what, you threw the packaging away?) so you have to wait for a driver to pick it up. And yes he will collect it between 2.30pm and 8.45pm on Wednesday. Oh, you can't make it either?

I speak from experience. Now I buy locally so I can reach over the desk and strangle the tech support guy, if necessary.

 

[pammy]

Personally I would buy from a small local shop over Dell. ..................

I speak from experience. Now I buy locally so I can reach over the desk and strangle the tech support guy, if necessary.

I hear what you're saying - figuratively speaking of course - but I won't get that kind of spec for that kind of money from a local guy - will I?

 

[robert.saunders]

How tech is your son pammy? Only reason I ask is I actually self-built my PC, not as hard as it sounds, but you need reasonable savvy (no offence intended or inferred otherwise ) but it's fairly straightforward really:

Case/tower from PC world (£20?!)

All other components available online (ebuyer a decent place) - I was able to get a mobo, dual-core proc, HD and RAM for similar money, altho, I 'fess to having the CD-RW, GC and PSU already, but it is satisfying to self build.

Actually, now I read through what I have written, there probably isn't much in it , but the bonus is the tower and the space available for expansion, if that's his/your thang

 

[pammy]

I've just taken out the graphics card from his current machine - GeForce FX5200 - 128DDR - is that better or worse than the one in that Dell? Would it fit the motherboard coz aven't they chabged the fittings now?

How tech is your son pammy?

Not at all - I'm the most techy savvy one in the house - lol

 

[robert.saunders]

Worse - so he should see an improvement with the ATI in the Dell

 

[crockers]

May a few pounds more expensive but look at john lewis....

http://www.johnlewis.com/Computing/Computers/Computers/Desktops/396/230421012/Product.aspx

I find them helpful - and no problems if u have any faults

 

[pammy]

or thoughts about this a one

http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/sto...m=null&tm=null&sku=517226&category_oid=-31951

 

[masqueraid]

(re: the Dell) It's really a business machine spec with a nod to gamers with the graphics.

X1300 is pretty much mid-range for current gaming. High end games will need to be played with the settings reduced slightly but most will be OK. WoW will have no problems except as already mentioned on some of the end game raids where there are lots of characters, monsters - and probably if it's being played seriously additional support programs all wanting to use the graphics card at the same time.

There have been some problems reported using SATA technology with the Battlefield games which is down to the copy protection system used and you can get a fix if this turns out to be a problem. Rome and AoM would be fine on this spec.

Bear in mind that in the worst scenario - son decides to buy state of art game and card "not good enough" the graphics card is modular, pull it put it on that well known auction site and defray the costs of upgrading.

Finally - and this is a personal view - consider putting XP on instead of Vista - Vista will support most games but there is a huge overhead which means you still don't get the best out of it.

Still might be worth getting the old box looked at ... perhaps one of those GTGs full of IT people ... ???

 

[robert.saunders]

Re the Curry's recon: Not too bad at all for the price, that particular ATI card isn't the best but the 512MB would be noticeable, and for the price, you get a decent spec there - my only comment is I don't like Packard Bell (or HP for that matter) but that's a personal choice based on bad experience.

Equally, I like Dell - some, equally, don't!

But, for £290 even without monitor that "isn't bad"

Rob

 

[pammy]

............

Bear in mind that in the worst scenario - son decides to buy state of art game and card "not good enough" the graphics card is modular, pull it put it on that well known auction site and defray the costs of upgrading.

Finally - and this is a personal view - consider putting XP on instead of Vista - Vista will support most games but there is a huge overhead which means you still don't get the best out of it.

Still might be worth getting the old box looked at ... perhaps one of those GTGs full of IT people ... ???

Thanks for that - really useful.

Sadly - although we have Clumber in a couple of weeks - there's not a lot of power points there so I'm a wee bit stuffed.

I might just have to pop down to our local PC shop and see what they can do for me - but I'm not optimistic. Failing that I may go for the recon PB. But I will try and stick with XP for him as I can't afford for any of his games not to work. He has been incredibly patient - but when it's back working again in whatever guise it must be able to play his games.

Thanks again for all that guys

 

[masqueraid]

Nooo! Not the Packard Bell!!

Just a suggestion

 

[pammy]

Nooo! Not the Packard Bell!!

Just a suggestion

oh - OK

 

[robert.saunders]

Nooo! Not the Packard Bell!!

Just a suggestion

I sooooooooo wanted to put it like that

Rob - anti-Packard Bell lol

 

[GazCaff]

Pammy, what exactly has failed on your system? I'm willing to bet I could build you a better system using salvaged parts from your existing PC and some shrewd parts buying (and possibly some slight overclocking) for around the £307.00 you mentioned.

To be honest any off the shelf PC for anything less than £500 is going to struggle with any game less than 18months old. But it is possible to build a bargain games machine if you know what you are looking for and can salvage some existing parts.

 

[pammy]

Pammy, what exactly has failed on your system? I'm willing to bet I could build you a better system using salvaged parts from your existing PC and some shrewd parts buying (and possibly some slight overclocking) for around the £307.00 you mentioned.

To be honest any off the shelf PC for anything less than £500 is going to struggle with any game less than 18months old. But it is possible to build a bargain games machine if you know what you are looking for and can salvage some existing parts.

Do you reckon? tell me more then. I reckon it's the tower that's failed - but how can I tell?