gaming graphics card question

Hi. I am new and just did all your spyware removal stuff. Seems to have worked THanks!!
Now our problem is games my sisters for for Christmas. One is Barnyard and one is Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. Neither of these will work. First they kept saying must install Direct X. We did and it still says it. Barnyard worked, but everyone was flying lol there were only half graphics.
We were told by Dell people that we need a graphics card. They recommended2 specific ones, and we do not know if we need those specific ones or if it matters what brand or what.
We have 1GB of ram on Windows XP.
Thanks

 

As long as your computer has the appropriate slots, AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port), PCIe(express) and some times just PCI, there are many possibilities you could look into. RCT3 is not very demanding on graphics so really any card made recently should be able to play it without any problems.

As far as brands are concerned, it's all a matter of personal preference, and examining your choices and picking the one that best suits your needs.

 

Get us some specs and we'll get you some cards to choose from

 

People here will be able to make some specific suggestions about brands and models of graphics cards if you'll provide more information about your computer: type of graphics card slot on the motherboard especially (PCI, AGP, pci-Express), processor speed, and the brand and model of your monitor would all be helpful to people making suggestions for you to consider. What other games would you or your family like to play on this particular computer? If you have no interest in playing higher end 3D games (like Prey or Oblivion or even older 3D shooters like Doom3, for example) you won't need to spend very much to find a satisfactory graphics card.

If you look on the boxes for the games you mentioned you should find a list of suggested minimum and recommended computer system requirements. I suggest you purchase a graphics card that fits the the recommended requirements rather than the minimum (which is generally the "bare minimum" and sometimes unsatisfactory).

Hope this is some help.

 

Ok our slot is PCI (or so I assume since that is what Dell said to get) processor speed 2.73GHz and our monitor is Dell - we dont know model no. We may be getting the larger games but right now dont really plan on it. We dont want to have to spend more than we really need to. It is mostly for the kids type games - Thanks!
Dell recommended Xtasy Radeon 9250 128MB PCI card or GEFORCE 3D Fuzion FX 5500 256 MB PCI but said we probably dont need to go that high.

I saw a Radeon 9250 128 MB card at Office Depot but it did not say Xtasy it said Stealth. Is there a difference?

 

You mean to say you don't have an agp or pci-x slot?

 

um I dont think so lol

 

With only PCI slots, your choices are going to be limited. Here's a link to a site that has the 5500 ($39.99) twelve dollars cheaper than the 9250 ($52.00). Neither card is the greatest, but will be able to play the games your sister currently has. If you ever want to get into anything more graphically intensive, you might want to start thinking about a total computer upgrade; something with at least an AGP slot.

 

Okay thanks. What about the one I mentioned that Office depot had??

 

The only difference is the manufacture. So you'll have a different box, maybe a different heat sink, and some times a few minor differences in clock and memory speeds. It's really not that much of a deal though. If the card at Office Depot is the easiest one for you to get, then go for it. And Happy New Year!

 

Thanks alot!! Even tho I have no clue what you are saying lol
But sounds like its okay to get. Happy New Year to you too!!

I also saw a Vision Tek 9250 and a GeForce MX4000. Any preference there or just whatever?

 

he has to have a pci slot everyones pc has one ur mostly guarrenteed to have one. for those crappy low end graphics''not the games''just get a cheap 5500 pci card or something cuz those graphics dont need to be that high.

 

6600/7600gt

 

Josh,

Read the thread, he needs a graphics card that is PCI supported, not AGP or PCI-X

Unless I'm very much mistaken, those cards are not offered in PCI format.

 

Thanks to everyone for the help. We got a Stealth radeon 9250 - everything works fine now!! (except our font - lol ) that is a question I put in another forum!!
You guys were all great help tho!

 

Dell Dimension 4550,1 g ram, 450 power,2.6 gz,333 mem, 533 front side bus. AGP 4x/2x modes at 1.5 v.