Graphics Card Upgrade for Dimension E310

Hello everyone,

I read the other threads about upgrading this model and all of the cards I found are no longer being sold/out of stock/deactivated... I had ordered a card through dell based on their recommendations but unfortunately they did not really look into what was in system specs and sent me a pci-e 2.0 card. My system has 2 pci and 1 pci-e x1.0 slot. Originally got this for database stuff mainly later upgraded to an NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000 to do gaming like City of Villians/Heroes. Now it's time that I upgrade again so I can play LoL (League of Legends) and I need a card that supports Pixel Shader 2.0 and Vertex 2.0. Every where I look online I can't seem to find the right card. Under the recommendation of Dell bought the VisionTek 450 supplemental power supply booster which brings my system up to 800watts. Any recommendations for a PCI-E x 1.0 or am I doomed to just PCI, and if so what card should I get? All help and recommendations greatly appreciated.

System Specs:

Operating System: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition (5.2, Build 3790) Service Pack 2 (3790.srv03_sp2_gdr.101019-0340)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Dell DV051
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Memory: 3062MB RAM
Page File: 769MB used, 4148MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DxDiag Version: 5.03.3790.3959 32bit Unicode

Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce4 MX 4000
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0185&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_C1
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.9371 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)

 

I would go to the Dell site and enter your serial#. There you can find which upgrades that you can reasonably perform. Please realize that when you purchased this it was not for a gaming machine and not very upgradeable to start with though it was OK for its original use that it was intended for.

I was hard pressed to even find an MX4000 PCI-Ex1 card as most were AGP 8x slot type and I doubt you'll ever find much else. This Zotac is the only one I found.

Also, the pox on Dell for suggesting a PCI-Ex16 card for you along with the power supply!:mad There's no way you would need that kind of power for your PCIE-X1 card, never! Give us a direct link to your PC as that will answer a lot of questions that I and others have.

I know you don't want to hear this, but I think your machine is maxed out as far as video is concerned as one can only go so far with the motherboard. It seems that you're somewhat technically minded since you bought that extra power supply, you might want to build your own this time, hardest thing is choosing the parts, the rest is easy.

I'd personally not invest any more money into that setup. Please do wait for other comments as others may have picked up on something that I haven't.

 

Thanks. You are probably right, about not putting more money into upgrading but putting together a new system is a bit much right now. Here is a link to the recommended upgrades from dell but they are just regular pci cards.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...7558&chassisid=8235&category_id=6715&~ck=anav

I just wish there was a simple pci-e x1 solution. :cry
I guess I will try one of these.