Hi guys, i used ot have an ati radeon x700 pro but last week in the middle of playing battlefield 2 my computer turned itself off and all that happened when i tried to turn it back on was a flashing amber light, dell says this is an internal power problem so i bought a new psu however this did not help at all. I have come to the conclusion I need a new video card but have not kept up with the news. I'm hoping to spend less than about 150 pounds and would like it pci-e. Any help you guys can give me on choosing one would be much appreciated. If you could explain what the card is that you think i should buy and then the reason why it is better than others That would be great. Thanks Nat.
First, for the lazy, 150pounds is ~$279.
Second, how did you replace the powersupply? Did you order one from dell, or did you get a dell "approved" powersupply? From what I understand, you can't slap normall powersupplies into dell computers. (I tried using a dell powersupply in a normal computer, and it made beautiful blue electricity archs on the case. Blew the powersupply.)
Last, how have you determined its the card? Have you tested with another card and made it work?
150 pounds is roughly 280 dollars. dell used to use proprietary parts making it so you could not use any power supply however with the latest computers they;re putting out you can use any old power supply. I can't really see how it could be anything other then the card as i've repalced the supply with a 450 watt and still flashing amber light. It boots up find without the card and to be fair there is a slight smell of burning on the card :-( Please just tell me what card to buy :-)
No, really. You said you like it to be pci. But is your mobo pci or agp???
If it's pci I would recommend a 7600GT or a even better x850xt pe for a little more. Can you go for a x1800xl?
If u buy it from US eStores you can go higher, but here in Europe we gotta go low. Prices are high
yeah, ok, free tip. MENTION THE BURNING SMELL IN THE FIRST POST! Computer parts arent' supposed to smell like they are burning. I could provide an extensive list of whats available to me stateside, but that won't help you if its isn't available across the pond. Your best best is to provide a list of cards that you can find near you that we can debate over. (that or wait for other british posters to help) I haven't looked at ~$300 cards, the only one I know of is the X1800XL. There is probably a 7900 of some sort at this price range also.
well the burning fact is of no importance since i have already decided i need a new card, and my post was merely asking for help choosing one. OK I've narrowed my choices a bit to a few cards if you could tell me which one you would personally go for I'd really appreciate it.
hi i can't decide whether to go with the * SAPPHIRE 100106SR-RD Radeon X850XT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail or not. Is there any card that is alot better than this for around 50 dollars or so more, if not then i'll go with this one. thanks alot. Ant.
If you want to stick with ATI (which is what I would do) try to find sth in the X1800 series in your price range. Otherwise the X850XT is an excellent card. You'll see a huge improvement over the X700 so you won't regret it. But if you want sth a bit more future proof go with X1800/X1900 or NVidia 7x00 series.
Hey guys, what do you think of these.. after much searching i think they are the ones i could go for, which one dya reckon would be the wisest investment? Thanks alot for your help guys. Ant.
True, true. With that much, yeah, go for the 7900GT or the X1800XT 512MB...How many watts on the PSU, 'cause the latter draws uber power. The 7900GT seems like a better choice.
Either the first one or the second. The 7900GT is probably a bit faster in most games but I don't think the difference is dramatic enough to be noticeable. The X1800XL is slightly cheaper and features AVIVO which makes for very high quality video playback and really fast encoding/decoding
ok, my system is a dell dimension 4700 with a 2.9ghz processor, 1 gig of ram 160 gig harddrive, psu is antec 450 watt. got one pci-express slot. Dya think this could take a 7900 or a x1800xl? I think then it's between those two. One thing that confuses me is the way that there are so many companies selling the same card but with different names and coloured boards, how do I know which ones to go for? Oh and say I did go for a x1800xl dya reckon i'd regret not spending a little more and going xt or is there not that much difference? Especailly since i'll be playing most of my games at 1024 res.
Thanks again for your help guys, it's clearing up my mind.
Oh and i quite like the sound of avivo i watch ALOT of movies on my pc and convert/rip movies a lot as well.
what do u mean 1 pci-e slot? u mean PCIe x1 or 1 slot of PCIe x8? Is your current GPU sitting in that slot? If so, then you're ok. The XT IS better than the XL but the XL is definitely adequate for gaming @1024x768.
Alot of good companies, but there are a few good makers that either make nVidia cards or ATI cards. Like for nVidia: eVGA, BFG, XFX and for ATI: ATI themselves, Sapphire, HISTech.
If nVidia, XFX or eVGA. If ATI Sapphire or HISTech. Yeah, that AVIVO thing sounds cool!
pmrolo@yahoo.com 
