45 replies to this topic

[Siguy]

Well, I wouldn't go too overboard with the graphics card. No more than a Radeon 4650 or Geforce GT220. How many watts is your power supply? Is there a PCI Express x16 slot on your motherboard?

[Christian]

Yes i do. I have a PCI Express slot but i wouldn't know if it's exactly an x16 one though.

[Siguy]

If it's longer than the rest of the slots on you're motherboard it's probably an x16.

[Christian]

For the Geforce GT220, are you talking about this one? That has a PCI 2.0 Express x16 slot. I only have PCI Express x16. Are they the same?

[Nicholas Steel]

Yes, PCI-E 2.0 is backwards compatible with 1.1 and 1.0A as per the official standards. (they can't slap a "PCI-E 2.0 compatible" sticker on there boxes without also having backwards support)

Do note that the Pentium 4 Dual Core range apparently run significantly hotter. Overclocking would be less likely.

Go for a Geforce 260 at minimum, because you won't be playing many games at a decent quality with a 220... do ensure your PSU meets the requirements though (post your PSU specs here)

Edited by franpa, 28 January 2010 - 01:51 AM.

[Christian]

My PSU is 240Watts. I also made a mistake when defining my PCI slots. When i opened my case to view my power supply, I saw 2 Low-profile PCI slots and a PCI-e1.0x1 slot >_> Well, i guess a GPU upgrade isn't possible then. There's one i found in my local pc store: GeForce FX 5200 256MB RAM PCI Card.

Edited by Christian, 28 January 2010 - 04:10 AM.

[Nicholas Steel]

240 watts is incredibly low, for a decent card you would be looking at 400 to 600 watts of required power. I believe you can find Geforce 6600's that are PCI.

Anyways, I think just a PSU upgrade to at least 400 watt quality brand, would benefit you performance wise. Your current PSU is probably/likely struggling at the moment if it is 240 watts.

Edited by franpa, 28 January 2010 - 08:05 AM.

[Siguy]

Franpa, you'd have to be certifiably insane to put a GTX260 in a Pentium 4 Compaq. Besides, I can run any game on the market with my 9800gt, though I do still need a graphics card upgrade. As far as high end GPUs go, ATI is probably the choice until Nvidia comes out with DX11 cards.

My PSU is 240Watts. I also made a mistake when defining my PCI slots. When i opened my case to view my power supply, I saw 2 Low-profile PCI slots and a PCI-e1.0x1 slot >_> Well, i guess a GPU upgrade isn't possible then. There's one i found in my local pc store: GeForce FX 5200 256MB RAM PCI Card.

An FX 5200 would be a low end card in 2004, probably as bad if not worse than integrated graphics. Unfortunately there are very few good PCI and PCIe x1 video cards.

Here's an 8400GS
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814187041
Here's a 9400GT
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814187057
Those two are about the best PCI cards with decent reviews you can get.

And some cheap PSUs if you want to risk it:
http://www.newegg.co...st....410 - $25

What games are you trying to play?

Edited by Siguy, 28 January 2010 - 03:22 PM.

[Nicholas Steel]

True about the Compaq case, I've never had a computer built by a company for me (except a free pentium 1 one from school thath they were throwing away, it used EDO Ram *shudder*).

[Christian]

Franpa, you'd have to be certifiably insane to put a GTX260 in a Pentium 4 Compaq. Besides, I can run any game on the market with my 9800gt, though I do still need a graphics card upgrade. As far as high end GPUs go, ATI is probably the choice until Nvidia comes out with DX11 cards.

An FX 5200 would be a low end card in 2004, probably as bad if not worse than integrated graphics. Unfortunately there are very few good PCI and PCIe x1 video cards.

Here's an 8400GS
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814187041
Here's a 9400GT
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814187057
Those two are about the best PCI cards with decent reviews you can get.

And some cheap PSUs if you want to risk it:
http://www.newegg.co...st....410 - $25

What games are you trying to play?

Thanks dude! The 9400GT would be pretty good i think. I don't know if i need to upgrade my PSU for it. It'll be a pain trying to find one that is compatible and that'll fit in the case.

Games that i'm trying to play are:
Dragon Age
Devil may cry
the sims
Final fantasy 11
and Grand theft auto 4

Edited by Christian, 29 January 2010 - 04:29 AM.

[Siguy]

Any ATX/12V PSU should work, you probably need about 400W, and if you haven't gotten more ram yet, you should.

[Nicholas Steel]

He's using an OEM case, likely with a funky shaped motherboard and PSU. A standard PSU probably won't fit at all in the case.

Edited by franpa, 29 January 2010 - 10:49 PM.

[Saffith]

Here: http://h18000.www1.h...a/12145_na.HTML
It's the first one on the page. Definitely gonna be hard to find good parts for that.

[Siguy]

He's using an OEM case, likely with a funky shaped motherboard and PSU. A standard PSU probably won't fit at all in the case.

Well, some PSUs are longer than others, but I've installed a new PSU in an HP Pavilion, just a standard ATX12v worked.

But with a $70 low performance graphics card, $30+ PSU, at least $50 worth of RAM, you're looking at spending as much as the resale value of the computer itself, just to get a marginal performance increase. It's only going to run Dragon Age, for example, at lowest settings, and who knows, the motherboard could die at any time. I guess it's up to you whether you want to spend the money and effort to upgrade.

[Christian]

Here: http://h18000.www1.h...a/12145_na.HTML
It's the first one on the page. Definitely gonna be hard to find good parts for that.

Yea i know, unfortunately even if i find a PSU it won't fit unless i decide to change the case and make it a tower which i think is not worth it i think.

Well, some PSUs are longer than others, but I've installed a new PSU in an HP Pavilion, just a standard ATX12v worked.

But with a $70 low performance graphics card, $30+ PSU, at least $50 worth of RAM, you're looking at spending as much as the resale value of the computer itself, just to get a marginal performance increase. It's only going to run Dragon Age, for example, at lowest settings, and who knows, the motherboard could die at any time. I guess it's up to you whether you want to spend the money and effort to upgrade.

So i guess the only thing i can do right now is, fill up all 4 slots with 1gig of RAM, and purchase that pentium dual core for maximum performance. Unless i take off my psu and bring it to that PC store to find if there is one compatible.