video card

I have been trying to find a video card upgrade to give me the most bang for my buck for a casual gamer (I am on a tight budget). I currently run with a Geforce4 MX 420 64MB. Someone suggested the BFG Geforce FX 5500OC. I have been looking around for the 256 MB model, but it is harder to find and the price ranges from $70-125, with the lower prices being found on ebay. I can, however, find the 128 MB version for around $50 and a 256 MB eVGA FX 5500 (not OC) for about the same.

I am limited to cards that work on a 250 watt PSU and 4x AGP slot. I would rather go all the way up to 256 MB rather than 128.

Should I keep hunting for the 256 MB FX 5500 OC and then just bite the bullet and go with it? Or should i go with the regular 5500? Is the "OC" worth the extra money?

Any other recommendations or advice for a cheapskate? (hey, I have a new baby to put diapers on)

PK

 

All that the OC means is that the card comes pre-OverClocked. I wouldn't pay extra for it. If you were determined to have an EVEN FASTER card, you could post back, and have a geek help you overclock it yourself.

 

well if your budget is between 70-125 like u said, then a 6600gt would be a great choice. And by casual gamer do you mean like browser games or Battlefield 2 every once in a while? That will be the deciding factor here

 

So the OC model really is not worth it then?

By "casual gamer" i mean that i do not play the cutting edge games, but would like to be able to play games that were cutting edge say 2 or 3 years ago.

PK

 

I'm running the bfg 6600gt oc and its a great card no problems what so ever and truthfully much better then my old ATI.

 

i have a 5200 that can play everything from that long ago just fine at max settings; a 5500 should do just fine

 

Before anyone can recommend a suitable card, what are your system specs? (CPU, memory etc)

 

Oops, sorry.

Dell Dimension 4550
P4 2.4 ghz w/533 FSB
512 MB RAM
64 MB GeForce4 MX 420
Creative SB Live sound card
80 GB Seagate HD
CDRW drive
3.5 floppy
56k modem
Integrated network
4x AGP
250 watt PSU
XP Home w/SP2
DSL internet connection

What else do you need to know?

PK

 

never mind

 

As Viper Boy said, a 6600GT would suit your system well, and you should be able to get them for fairly cheap these days.

Only thing that concerns me is your power supply.

It's hard to say if that will have an effect or not, but it's more than likely it won't be powerful enough. (it's not necessarily the number of Watts, but how many Amps it supplies on it's rails)

 

yeah that's true, 250W is kinda small, he could always upgrade to a 400W fairly easily and then in the future have more room for extras. But aren't dells the ones that have a proprietary PSU, or are they just like the universal ones?

 

Isnt that 4550 only a 4x AGP

A cheap Dell 250w PSU with a 6600GT cant cut it either, I'll bet it wouldnt even boot for 5 seconds.

If Gaming is your desire? Your money would be better spent on new system or new used system





My For Sale Thread:
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=92667

 

Yes, the 4550 is only 4x. I think it may have been the last of the 4x for Dell.

I realize that the PSU is an issue, that is why i have been looking at the FX5500. The BFG site even says that the 6600 requires a 350 watt PSU, as does eVGA.

With my current PSU, the FX 5500 is as high as I can go. This is the card that I was inquiring about in the original post.

I have not researched whether the PSU is proprietary or not. It would not surprise me if it were.

So would the 5500 be that much of an improvement over what i have? Should I even bother?

PK

 

Just for your info, power supplies for Dells can be purchased here: Power Supplies for Dell Computers

I saw your discussion of this in another forum. I'm the person who suggested: newegg: MSI FX5500-TD256 Geforce FX5500 256MB 128-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail, for $58.45.

I would bet it would make a significant difference.

 

If you want an upgrade at a bare minimum cost, consider something like this ebay item: nVidia GeForce4 4200 Ti 128MB. $12 might get it, but bidding may take it higher.

 

Personally i was going to reccomend this model:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143040

not sure if its in your price range or not. But I personally own this video card and i am a casual gamer+ (i play UT2004, CoD2, WoW) And imho it works great. I had an FX5500 OC...and the thing died on me after about a year of use(ofcourse it was put under long hour uses).

Reading the most current review on this card, it seems this person had the same video card you have. And although he did not list his power supply im assuming it cant be to far off from what you have. My PSU is only 300watt, no probs at all.

Also on newegg the card i listed is out of stock

Some other things you might want to look into:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143056
cheaper

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143038
cheapest

But ill recommend my first listing, if u wait for newegg to get some in stock or search other sites, if u rather not, the other 2, seem like a suitable companion. Happy Shopping

 

i have seen a lot of 4x vs 8x and truthfully if you have enough ram on the board there will be no big difference in performance, the agp comes into play when you don't have enough ram and it has to use you motherboard ram, that's when the agp comes into play big time. i would look into a power supply, not only will it let you run more things but your computer might run a little cooler too because it does not have to work as hard and usually bigger and better power supplies have better cooling.

 

Although the 5500 is a decent upgrade from the MX you currently have, don't expect it to play demanding games very well.


Personally, I'd be checking if the Dell can take an ATX powersupply, then going down the 6600GT route.

 

Ouch, $120 for the PSU. I just can't do that and the video card right now. I think I would rather just upgrade the card to the max that i can support (5500?) and maybe throw in some system RAM to tide me over until i can just buy a new system in a few years.

I will e-mail some video card companies tomorrow and see what they say about running the 5500 on my 250 watt PSU. I may also ask around on the Dell forums.

PK

 

A 5500, or even a 6200 should be fine with your power supply.

 

Now i am confused. Someone on the Dell forums says that

"Many folks run much more powerful cards than the FX5500 on their stock Dell 250W PSUs. Video card manufacturers famously overrate the wattage needed to run their cards, and Dell intentionally underrates the consistent power throughput of their stock PSUs.

I strongly urge you to not buy anything less than the 6600 GT for your 4550. It's the most popular video card upgrade choice for the 4500/4550"

What? If this is true, I find that highly annoying. Why do we have to play "games" with minimum specs, leaving the user guessing whether a piece of hardware will work or not? Just list the true specs and stick to them.

Do you think if I e-mailed Dell, they would confess that the "250 watt PSU" is intentionally underrated? I wonder what card they would recommend for an upgrade?

Likewise, would the video card manufacturer admit that the "300 watt minimum" required by the 6600 GT is overrated?

I mean, I would love to be able to jump up to the 6600, but from my research, the 5500 and 5700 were the last of the cards that only required 250 watts. I could go with the 5700, but was looking at the 5500 as it was recommended by BFG.

I just don't want to spend time, energy, and money on something unless i KNOW for sure that it will work, and will not fail down the road. Yet I would like to get the best card that I can afford.


PK

 

I tried talking to Sony about this same thing but for my VAIO and they just told me to find a card that only needs a PSU like the one i had in the computer previously (only 266 watts) Dont bother, they wont help you in that area.

When i did upgrade my PSU i think that it killed my mobo lol, even after they said that it could cause hardware failure and i blew it off. w/e, im happy i dont have a crappy mobo anymore woohoo

 

I informed said this to you in a venue outside of this forum:
"Here's a helpful tool in assessing your power requirements for your current and anticipated hardware configuration: Power Supply Calculator." Did you use it?

 

Yes, actually, i did play around with it.

The 5500 came out fine, but the 6800 totaled 252 watts.

Folks on the Dell forum are wholeheartedly agreeing that the 6600 GT is the best card for me, both in value and function.

PK

 

The issue isn't figuring out which is best, that's easy, it's the 6600GT.

The issue is that your power supply may not be good enough.


It's impossible to defintively give you an answer. (the calculators are a rough guide at best)

 

They dont include required amperage, an important factor for sure

 

How do I ensure that the amperage supplied by my PSU is compatible with any card I am considering?

 

The most accurate way is with a Multimeter, or you can buy gadgets.

Even then, it's still not certain if the card will run OK.


If you're a gamer, you will eventually be disappointed with anything less than a 6600GT.

 

quick question for you guys i got a bfg 6600gt OC and i did the 3d mark 05 on my computer, i got a score of 3099 is that good or what, because i can't find anything about scored for a card like mine.