Should I install old graphics card in new PC?

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mnwild

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I just bought a Dell Inspiron desktop from Costco - i5/4440 processor, 12 gb memory and Intel HD graphics 4400. My old PC (about 5 years old) had an ATI Radeon HD 4350 graphics card with 512mb memory. Should/Can I install it in the new computer? Thanks in advance for your help/opinions.

I'm inclined to install the old card because I've been having trouble getting optimal screen resolution from my Samsung 2343BWX LCD monitor. Don't know if that's even a related issue? I know the native resolution is 2048x1152, but when I enter that, the monitor just displays lines.
 
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Spectre694
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coastie65

coastie65

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May 26, 2010
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I think you would be better off with the HD4400 Graphics.
 
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dustinhunt78

dustinhunt78

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If you graphics card is compatible with the socket on your current motherboard I would certainly install it. While the GPU is certainly dated a bit, it beats nothing at all!
 
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coastie65

coastie65

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I have a laptop with an i3 installed with integrated graphics which is less than the HD 4400 and have run Oblivion on it just fine. I believe the HD4400 is a much stronger graphics package than that card. The dedicated memory on that card isn't all that much either.
 
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mnwild

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I'm not sure what you're asking regarding how it's hooked up. SVGA cable?

I also installed the manufacturer driver versus the generic "non-PNP monitor" driver (or whatever it was...)

 
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Spectre694

Spectre694

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Yes that was what I was asking. VGA is a weird beast. In theory it should support unlimited resolution. In practice however it is severely limited by the DAC bandwidth and connector quality among other things. What I am willing to bet is that Dell used cheaper parts in the VGA connector on your computer which makes the signal drop out on the higher resolutions since it sounds like it works at lower resolutions.

Does your computer have either a DVI or HDMI display port out?

For the Samsung driver I would remove that and make sure your Intel drivers are up to date. The monitor (generic) drivers are not good and generally don't help anything.
 
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Spectre694

Spectre694

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dustinhunt78

dustinhunt78

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I think the only sure fire way to find out which one is going to work better is to simply try each one and see. Someone above mentioned that the HD4400 is more powerful than your card, but that should be offset at least to some degree by the fact that the card is dedicated specifically to graphics. How much this will help is yet to be determined, thus my suggestion to try both and then decide.
 
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Spectre694

Spectre694

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