Skilly Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 I need to get a new video card for the kid's computer. He likes to play Age of Empires, but the machine keeps freezing up. The recommendations on the box call for 64 mb----does anyone have any recommendations on what kind I should get? I'd like to stay under $150 if that is possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H8tank Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 The Ram is really irrelevant, it is the chipset on the vid card that matters. What type of slot do you have on the motherboard? AGP, PCIe or just PCI? This will be the most important thing in determining a vid card. Type of computer? CPU? RAM? OS? And the freezing issue, might be something unrelated to the video card. What type of card is in there now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skilly Posted October 11, 2008 Author Share Posted October 11, 2008 The Ram is really irrelevant, it is the chipset on the vid card that matters. What type of slot do you have on the motherboard? AGP, PCIe or just PCI? This will be the most important thing in determining a vid card. Type of computer? CPU? RAM? OS? And the freezing issue, might be something unrelated to the video card. What type of card is in there now? I'm not sure what type of card is in there right now. It's a Dell Dimension E310, Windows XP, Pent 4, 504 MB RAM. I'm not sure where to look to see the card specs. The computer is about 2 1/2 years old, for what that's worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrobn26 Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Check this article/review out: http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/dell-dime...7-31594474.html It appears that it has no dedicated PCI express slot for a different card. Bumping the RAM may help, but probably not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H8tank Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 That machine has integrated Intel graphics, which is about the worst you can have. You need to bump the ram, it is dirt cheap, 1gb for maybe $20, go here and here only to order: www.crucial.com Don't get more than one 1GB stick, it would be a waste of money. You have only a PCI slot for upgrading, which limits you somewhat, but compared to the onboard intel video, any vid card will seem like you put a Small block chevy on a golf cart. ATI has a powerful PCI card, (well powerful for a PCI video card) but it would overpower your power supply. Just buy this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130289 It will work good in your current computer, and give you no problems. But next time, don't buy a Dell anything for gaming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skilly Posted October 12, 2008 Author Share Posted October 12, 2008 That machine has integrated Intel graphics, which is about the worst you can have. You need to bump the ram, it is dirt cheap, 1gb for maybe $20, go here and here only to order: www.crucial.com Don't get more than one 1GB stick, it would be a waste of money. You have only a PCI slot for upgrading, which limits you somewhat, but compared to the onboard intel video, any vid card will seem like you put a Small block chevy on a golf cart. ATI has a powerful PCI card, (well powerful for a PCI video card) but it would overpower your power supply. Just buy this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130289 It will work good in your current computer, and give you no problems. But next time, don't buy a Dell anything for gaming. Thanks H8, I'll check out these options! The Dell wasn't really purchased for gaming, so I'm not surprised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skilly Posted October 20, 2008 Author Share Posted October 20, 2008 Does anybody know how to disable or dissconnect the existing integrated video, so that I can use the new video card? The manual is both vague and technical, and not much help. I have the card installed, and the drivers all set up. I also installed 1 GB of RAM for some more "oomph". However, when I plug the monitor into the new card, I get halfway through the Windows boot up and then I get blue screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrobn26 Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Does anybody know how to disable or dissconnect the existing integrated video, so that I can use the new video card? The manual is both vague and technical, and not much help. I have the card installed, and the drivers all set up. I also installed 1 GB of RAM for some more "oomph". However, when I plug the monitor into the new card, I get halfway through the Windows boot up and then I get blue screen. That procedure varies a lot, but I'll defer to H8 if he has a better idea. Check this link, it appears correct: http://www.wikihow.com/Disable-Onboard/Int...n-Your-Computer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H8tank Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Usually nothing is required, installing a video card will cause the board to automatically default to it, or use it in addition to the onboard. Did it blue screen the first time you tried to boot with it installed, or only after you installed it and installed the drivers? Need more information. What does the blue screen say? can you boot into safe mode or VGA mode? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skilly Posted October 22, 2008 Author Share Posted October 22, 2008 Thanks for the advice fellas. I was able to get the new video card to work by disabling the integrated video through Windows, shutting down the machine, plugging the monitor into the new video card port, and then rebooting. Everything came right up, and I tried the game and it looks and works fantastic. I highly encourage anyone who is looking for computer parts to check out that website that H8 listed: it saved me at least $40 for the same parts I would have purchased at someplace like Best Buy, and they arrived in two days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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