Video card upgrade for a dinosaur

I'm about to open myself up for serious laughs...but I need some help deciding which video card to upgrade to.

I have a Dell Dimension 4550 with a Gforce4 MX 420. Yes, I bought this computer almost a decade ago. It has soldiered on for me and has always been able to do what I bought it to do. Sadly (and expectedly) it can no longer even run some of the bargain software on the $10 shelf. Specifically, I can't run any games that need pixel shading 1.1 or better.

So I need a decent video card that I can upgrade to that won't cost over $75. (I have a daughter in college and son in braces, so money is tight.) If I can do it without having to upgrade the processor (P4 2.66ghz) or the RAM (512mb) then that would be the best possible world. If I have to upgrade either of those, then life will be gameless until both my kids are paying for my retirement home.

I know enough to know how little I know, so I am deferring to the experts.

Can anyone help?

 

Not sure where you are located, but if you are in the US, this is my favorite vendor :
http://directron.com/video---camera.html
that page contains links to video cards as the categories show-nevermind the "camera" in the link .
Prices often are better than Newegg.

 

hello ,
im a PC gamer ,so ide say all you can do is improve things but you wont be playing the latest games youl nead a new board for that .But my advice is this
1.fined out what type of vidio card you have in your PC you mite fined it in the device manager list,if your on Windows xp i think look in task manager .its all about the slot it goes in on your mother board,once your sure of the type(i think its PCI...) you should get you a good one things have moved on a lot
2.Shop online, so much cheaper.I go here
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=graphics+card&x=15&y=15

 

For $75 you should be able to get a usable (but not great) card like a nVidia 6200 (I'm guessing you have AGP) plus a GB of RAM to boost overall performance, plug in your details or run a scan at Crucial.com.

 

Sorry man, you need a new 'puter. Who owns a 10 year old car and throws good cash at it eh?:-D

 

:-D Well, public school teachers with two teenage kids own 10 year old cars...and computers. (Actually, my truck is 17 years old.) Trust me, I *wish* I could buy a new computer, but that budget went to my daughter's laptop (and 10 year old car) when she went to college. My new car budget went to my son's braces.

But thanks anyway. And thanks to all those that replied. I'm looking into the upgrades.

 

If you can afford braces, then a new 'puter is not out of reach.:eek I'm trying to save you money for the long term.

 

Maybe I should clarify: Public school teacher in North Carolina (no teacher's union.) 49th in the Nation baby! (In per-pupil expenditure) and 46th in pay and dropping! Yeah! rolleyes

So it's not a situation of "if you can afford that, so you can afford this." It's a situation of "I can either pay for this or that, but not both."

Kids come before my gaming needs. I can still type tests on my computer and play solitaire. Just trying to find cheap-as-possible upgrades.

Thanks again though. I did find a XFX PV-T44A-YANG GeForce 6200 512MB AGP 8x Low Profile Ready Video Card for $39.95. I just don't know for sure if it will work in my machine. (Yes, I have AGP slot. I did figure that out.)

I also think I can find some RAM to boost mine from 512 to 1 Gig. Shouldn't be too hard, as long as I can figure out exactly what chip to get. I should be able to upgrade both video card and RAM for less than $100. Just hope my processor can handle it.

 

Yup, that video will work but why do you want 'low profile'? Is it because of your case size?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...orce_6200_512MB_AGP_8x-_-14-130-654-_-Product

 

This is where I admit my ignorance. I'll have to do some research, but I didn't realize there was such a thing as "low profile". I have a standard tower, so I probably don't need low profile. On further research, I discovered several people who complained that the 6200 needed a 300 watt power supply. Mine is only 250, so I will probably have to keep looking.

It might help to post my computuer's specs. At the risk of annoying people, I will copy and paste here:

Microprocessor

Microprocessor type
Intel® Pentium® 4 microprocessor that runs at 2.66, internally and 533 MHz externally

L1 cache
8 KB first-level

L2 cache
integrated 256-KB or 512-KB at full microprocessor speed


System Information
System chip set
Intel 845PE

DMA channels
four

Interrupt levels
15

System BIOS chip
4 Mb (512 KB)

System clock
100 MHz X 4 for 400 FSB or 133 MHz X 4 for 533 FSB - data rate (I don't know which one)

Expansion Bus

Bus types
PCI and AGP

Bus speed
PCI: 33 MHz; AGP: 66 MHz

AGP connector
one

AGP connector size
172 pins

AGP connector data width (maximum)
32 bits

AGP bus protocols
4x/2x modes at 1.5 V

PCI connectors
four

PCI connector size
120 pins

PCI connector data width
(maximum)
32 bits

Memory
Architecture
DDR SDRAM

Memory connectors
two

Memory capacities
128-, 256-, and 512-MB non-ECC DDR SDRAM (I have the 512 chip)

Minimum memory
128 MB

Maximum memory
1 GB

Memory type
DDR 333 (non-ECC) only on computers with a 533-MHz system clock speed
DDR 266 (non-ECC) on computers with either a 400- or a 533-MHz system clock speed (I don't know which one)

BIOS address
F8000h

Drives
Externally accessible
two 5.25-inch bays
two 3.5-inch bays

Internally accessible
two bays for 1-inch–high IDE hard drives

Available devices
ATA-100 Ultra DMA hard drive, CD drive, Zip drive, DVD drive, DVD+RW drive, and CD-RW drive

Ports and Connectors
Externally accessible:

Serial
9-pin connector; 16550C-compatible

Parallel
25-hole connector (bidirectional)

Video
15-hole connector

Keyboard
6-pin mini-DIN connector or USB connector

Mouse
6-pin mini-DIN connector or USB connector

USB
two front-panel and four back-panel USB 2.0–compliant connectors

NIC
RJ45 connector

Internally accessible:

Primary IDE channel
40-pin connector on PCI local bus

Secondary IDE channel
40-pin connector on PCI local bus

Floppy drive
34-pin connector

1 Present only on computers with integrated audio capabilities.

Video
Video controller
AGP 4X

DC power supply:

Wattage
250 W

Heat dissipation
853 BTU (fully-loaded computer without monitor)

Voltage (switch-selectable
on back panel)
90 to 135 V at 50/60 Hz; 180 to 265 V at 50/60 Hz; 100 V at 50/60 Hz for Japanese computers

Backup battery
3-V CR2032 coin cell

Physical

Height x Width x Depth
42.5 x 18.1 x 44.7 cm
(16.7 x 7.1 x 17.6 inches)

Weight
12.7 kg (28 lb)

I tried to edit out stuff that I thought was unneccessary. Any advice on the best/cheapest video and RAM upgrade?

 

Thanks for the hardware info sir. Always helpful!

Video card

RAM

Way under a $100! :cool
7.1 inches is a tight fit but should be fine. Take the tape measure out.

 

WOW! That is *exactly* what I needed. Thanks! I really appreciate it!

 

I would second satrow's suggestion on the 6200. I put one in my old emachines desktop and it was a definite improvement over the built in Geforce 4. And, I was able to get it for about $40 after rebate from Newegg.

Here are some from Newegg with AGP. All under $60 and one at $20 after rebate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...50 600007303&IsNodeId=1&name=GeForce 6 series

Sorry, missed augiedoggie's post.

 

I would recommend upgrading the power supply/video card and ram as well. All can be done for under $75.

At newegg, there is a $20 rebate on a 430W Corsair power supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

Add in the 6200 Geforce video card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130654

Finally, add in the 512Mb of RAM for $15:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820159202

Keep in mind that there are rebates on the power supply and the video card. And, the one for the power supply ends today, so you won't get the $20 back if you buy it tomorrow.

Final total is $95.97 + ~$10 shipping - $35 in rebates = ~$71

EDIT:
:-D Looks like we all came up with the same stuff... haha

 

On the RAM issue, make sure it's on the motherboard's QVL list. Maybe spend a couple of extra bucks and bring your machine to a local tech, and I don't mean BestBuy etc. either. Motherboards can be finicky with RAM. Have the tech instal it in front of you.

 

I'll just throw in the mix that looking at Crucial that model might take up to 2gb of RAM. (I realize you may not have the money to spend but a 1gb module may be an option). A lot of the old Dells actually will take 2gb even though the specs were never updated by Dell.

http://en.community.dell.com/suppor...imension-4550-maximum-memory-2gb-not-1gb.aspx

 

I've seen these compact pc's go for under £100 (often complete systems ) on UK ebay so I did a us ebay serch linky

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_from=R...11&_nkw=shuttle+xpc&_sacat=See-All-Categories

I like this one
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_from=R...11&_nkw=shuttle+xpc&_sacat=See-All-Categories

If linky no play try search: shuttle xpc

Luck