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Upgrade advice please

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - Upgrade advice please

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I have a FX5800 card and want to upgrade to something better but have limitations in:

a) I only have an AGP slot in my Dell Dimension 4600.
b) The aforementioned Dell only has a 250W PSU.

The FX5800 works fine even though when I bought it is said it needed a 300W PSU minimum but is showing its age a little now.

My question is what would you learned chaps recommend as a feasible upgrade considering the above limitations?

Your advice will be greatly appreciated.

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Honestly I would say that your options are very limited. You cant do alot with 250 watts. With any graphics card you will have to upgrade the psu to atleast a 350 watt psu. But then your still using an AGP slot which will limit your options. The best card (for gaming) that is currently available for the AGP interface is only the 7800GS or the x1600 pro. If you are looking at the afformentioned cards then you might as well look into a new comp.

How much are you willing to spend on this upgrade?

What version of AGP are you using? 2x/4x, 4x/8x?
If you are using less than a 4x version then I wouldnt even think about upgrading.

Reply to Gegitech

Thanks for the reply Gegitech.

How do I know what version of AGP I am using?

I am looking to spend no more than £100 ($180) on this upgrade and it is purely for Battlefield 2. I can run BF2 on Medium settings but would like to run it on High.

A new PC may be the most sensible option...

Reply to jeffc1966

Just checked and I have 8X AGP.

Reply to jeffc1966

What are your system specs?

6800GS and X800GTO are a couple of options that could be available for you.

Reply to prozac26

dell underates their psu's. so any 250 watt should work as far as 350 watt. get an x850xt or pro.

Reply to carpcmelee

My system spec is

Dell Dimension 4600
P4 3.06Ghz
1.5Gb 2700 RAM
250 Gb IDE drive system drive + 160Gb IDE slave drive
2 x DVD writers
Gainward FX5800 Golden Sample Ultra/800 Plus

Thanks for the advice so far guys!

Reply to jeffc1966

Get a cheap 400W psu that was a minimum of 17A on the 12V line and a Leadtek extreme 6600GT, i know that it will not be a great inprovement but it will be someting for that kind of money.

Reply to Fursecul

You shouldn't need a new PSU.

I'll second the X800GTO and 6800GS.

Reply to Anoobis

Thanks for all the advice so far! Much appreciated.

Reply to jeffc1966

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