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 Member 15510 Level 2.74 Nov 2006 
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Is this upgrade a good idea
Hello everyone
I have a 3 year old Dell Dimension 4600 with the following specs Pentium IV 3.4 Ghz processor (single) 1 Gig Ram Ati Radeon Pro 9800 , 128 Meg AGP card. 250 Watt Power supply i noticed some of the upcoming games such as bioshock wont run on my computer with the current card. I was thinking of upgrading it to a 410 Watt Power supply (found one that is compatible with my pc model) and adding an extra 2 Gigs of Ram and i am still actually wondering about what cards to get the Radeon X1950 Pro does have AGP 8x models which looks nice but there are several options like on newegg.com any suggestions? do you think this will be enough performance boost to make the PC last at least for another a year or so? it doesn't have a PCI e slot unfortunately. and right now im in college and cant really afford a whole shiney new PC. just though id ask. :-). i would imagine it would cost me about 350ish to upgrade. which is a hell of a lot cheaper than 1500 or so for a solid new PC. :-p thanks! edit: What no replies? hmm how nice. Jam it back in, in the dark.
Last edited by Geddings; Aug 14, 2007 at 01:47 PM.
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Member 5523 Level 8.23 Apr 2006
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I think the 1950 will work great for you with Bioshock and Crysis. While you won't be able to play at the highest settings, it will be playable at medium settings most likely. Your processor is ok. I would imagine you don't want to upgrade the platform to a newer amd or intel with PCI express so the 1950 pro and some ram is a good idea.
I think just buying 1 GB of RAM will do you. You could pobably keep this upgrade around $150-200 with just the card and 1gb of ram. Grab that PSU also. Check the dimensions of the card on newegg and measure the dell case to make sure there is room for the card. edit-------------------------------------- You may not need a new PSU. Try it without the new one. I can't remember if the 1950pro requires power, it might just use the floppy power connector, I cant remember. See if the system works without the psu. You might save some money. Either that or buy a nice PSU and use it for now and when you build a new computer in a year. Get a 600W one if that's the case! There's nowhere I can't reach.
Last edited by Alai; Aug 14, 2007 at 03:51 PM.
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Member 2043 Level 29.93 Mar 2006
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Damn man, I feel your pain, that was my old computer before I got a new one (well, Dimension 4600 anyway, except Processor was a 2.8GHz, RAM was 1.25GB, and the Graphics was a GeForce 6600GT, but I see you also had the measly 250W power supply)
As for the upgrade...I can't easily justify the upgrade to a better AGP card, unless you can find one for very cheap (no more than $100), which, in your situation, isn't likely. But otherwise, the X1950Pro is a VERY NICE AGP card. It can compete pretty well with PCI-E cards, and it blows away the other AGP cards. This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it. |
Member 15510 Level 2.74 Nov 2006
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cool yeah after research it looks like the X1950 card is the way to go. it beats the Nvidia AGP models.
You really think just an extra 1 gig of ram will suffice? interesting thought. will look into that. thanks for your support yeah. i mainly want to be able to play UT3 too so :-) if i can do that and play Flight simulator X (it plays but the textures look a bit muddy) and Neverwinte Nights 2 then i'd be happy along with bioshock an Crysis! :-) ooh and making Oblivion run and look better doesnt hurt. How ya doing, buddy? |
Member 9758 Level 2.00 Jul 2006
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I definitely concur with only needing an extra gig of RAM. I myself just recently upgraded from a gig of DDR400 ram to two, and it made a *huge* difference in some games, like Halo 2 Vista which ran unbelievably slow with only a single gig for some reason. After upgrading your RAM and video card to the X1950 (which I also recommend, 'cuz I'm running the Powercolor variety right now) your bottleneck is going to be your main components like your CPU and motherboard and such. But doing those two things should be able to give you a decent amount more life out of your system.
I was speaking idiomatically. 
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Member 4709 Level 26.30 Apr 2006
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My PCIExpress X1950Pro requires the extra PCIE power input and I'm sure the AGP one requires some kind of extra power input. If I remember correctly, 9800PROs required a 4pin power input, and hopefully that is what the X1950PRO AGP will require too.
Your 3.4Ghz should do you nicely, and extra RAM is a good thing. Upgrade is good! What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now? ~ Ready To Strike ~ :Currently Playing: League Of Legends(PC), Skyrim(PC), Golden Sun: Lost Age(GBA), Twilight Princess(Wii), Portal2(PC), Dragon Warrior II(NES), Metroid Prime 2: Echoes(GC)
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Geddings 
