Upgrading Video Cards in 2 older PCs

[strykr14]

Hello all,

I have 2 P4 PC's that I would like to upgrade video card wise. The first is a Gateway GR550, 3.2GHz, 600W power supply, PCI-E, 3GB, Win 7. I would like something with HDMI out - I tried the below card but it would not work - tech guys at Radeon said I needed a GDDR3 card. Any advice is welcome!

HIS H577FK1GD Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity

The other PC is a Dell Dimension 2400, it's for my young kids and they would like to play the odd (older) game on it - onboard video wont cut it.

it's a P4, upgraded HD (300 GB), Power supply (300W), 2GB Ram (maxed out), 2.4GHz, PCI.

Not looking to spend alot of cash here, just want it to be able to play some lower graphic intensive games.

Advice is welcome!

 

[Indigo]

GDDR3 is just the memory type, and it has no bearing on what type of card you pick other than how it performs.

The older P4 would be fine with a Radeon x1950 Pro, which would max what it can accomplish. The card is still around, but not sure about pricing. You could even toss something like a GeForce 6800GT into it and come out ahead. That's assuming it even has the AGP slot, I can't tell for the 2400 from online specs sheets.

For the faster P4 system, my recommendation is the same. A 3.2 GHz P4 is still not going to cut it in modern stuff, so just pick an inexpensive card and save up for a new PC if your intent is to play later model games.

The 5770 is a fine card, and would be a good match for the Gateway system. I wouldn't go beyond that however, as the GPU will start to outclass the P4 heavily and you won't get any real performance gains after that.

 

[strykr14]

Anyone?

Would one of these two cars work with the older Dell?

ASUS Radeon HD 3450 512MB DDR2, HDMI DVI AGP

or

BFG Nvidia GeForce 78ooGS 256MB 4/8x AGP Video Card + DVI/TV BFGR78256GSOC

 

[Indigo]

Until you can do a visual inspection of that Dimension 2400, it looks like you're SOL. Unless you can find a good PCI video card (sans the "express") you're better off either not upgrading it, or moving your faster P4 system to their use and building/buying your own replacement system.

The Dell resources I've found say that the Dimension 2400 does NOT have an AGP slot.

 

[strykr14]

You are right, the 2400 has PCI slots, not AGP. I just want this thing to last 2 more years until I can get back to the states (I'm stationed overseas). I've seen a crapload of PCI card real cheap, ie 3D Fuzion GeForce FX 5500 256MB 128 bitDDR PCI Video Card, for example.

As far as the Gateway is concerned the 5770 wouldn't work. The tech guys told me that it was because it was DDR5, my motherboard couldn't handle it so I needed to drop down to a DDR3 (they said I needed to update the BIOS but I couldn't find an update). Right now I'm running a GeForce 7800GT, I was looking for something a little bigger and with HDMI.

http://cgi5.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SellLikeItem&_trksid=p4340.l2567&item=150665343471

 

[Indigo]

WTF. That's a BS answer, I want to know why those tech guys even suggested it in the first place. If you told them "DDR5" then they might have assumed you meant for the system.

Video cards are video cards. If your system has a slot in a given formfactor (PCI-Express for example) then you can buy a PCI Express card and slap it in the system. It doesn't matter what the memory technology is as it only relates to the card in question and has NOTHING to do with your system's RAM. The only real limiting factor on video cards if you've got the proper slot, is the power supply, but the 600 watts in the Gateway should be fine for a 5770.

Re-reading your responses, it's pretty clear you've either got the terms confused, or the "tech guys" don't know jack.

If you're set on the 5770, it's a fine card, there's absolutely no reason why your Gateway couldn't run it.

 

[strykr14]

Why do you think the card wouldn't work? Nothing would happen on the screen. If I remember correctly, the tech guy said that I needed to update the Bios on my mother board in order get the DDR5 card to work. I couldn't find an update and ended up shipping the card back. Wondering if I should buy it again, maybe I had a bad card.

As far as the Dell goes, it sounds like any PCI card woud work? Any recommendations?

 

[Indigo]

*facepalm*

DDR5 = does not exist, except in graphical format, and has NOTHING to do with your motherboard being able to work with it. GDDR5 however is based entirely on video cards, and does not talk directly to your motherboard, so the BIOS doesn't need to be updated.

If the card doesn't work (I can't tell if you're saying that it does or not) then there are other problems here, and not with the BIOS.

Keep in mind that the PCI bus is a "shared" bus, so anything you plug into the PCI slot shares bandwidth with other PCI devices in the system (hard drive interface, sound card, integrated LAN card if applicable) so don't expect the world when you use a PCI graphics card. A GeForce 5500 is about as fast as I remember being supported in PCI, but there are other cards out there to choose from. How much money do you want to spend on it, given the age of the system?

 

[strykr14]

I appreciate your humoring a newbie!

Yes, I could not get the Gateway to work with the newer card. I had to send it back (based on the advice of the tech dude I talked to).

I would like to upgrade the Gateway to something with HDMI that is better than the GeForce 7800 I have. If you say the 5770 should have worked, maybe I'll try it again.

As far as the Dell is concerned, I don't want to spend more than $50 - $60 on it.

 

[Indigo]

(I had to send it back (based on the advice of the tech dude I talked to).

In which case, they are completely wrong - I hope that's apparent. It had nothing to do with the RAM. It's entirely possible that the card itself was bad though. Happens sometimes.

For the Dell, this is probably your best bet.
Newegg.com - PNY VCG84512D3SPPB GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 64-bit DDR3 PCI HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card