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not very technical person needs help!

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - not very technical person needs help!

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We've just got a new pc, a dual intel pentium 3.0ghz per core home built computer but the graphics card is a 7300se which I know won't play world of warcraft! I want to get a new card but I know you have to take things like power supply and everything into account and I don't know where to start or what everything is called! Please can someone advise me?

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if all you want to do is play WOW the 7300se would work. WOW specificly supports geforce 7xxx series video cards. just be sure to go to nvdia.com and download the latest drivers and you should be good to go

Reply to qrabqake

You can play WoW on integrated graphics if you absolutely had to. If you just want to upgrade your card anyway, let us know the following:

Motherboard
PSU (Brand, Watts, or the stats on the little sticker on the side)
CPU
RAM (Memory - Probably something like DDR2 667)
What resolution do you play at? (1024x768 etc.)

Reply to rgeist554

^^^^

All that information can be found in your hardware configuration. My Computer --> Properties --> Hardware

And also by downloading CPU-Z. That program will tell you your CPU/Mobo/RAM properties.

And finally, there should be a sticker on the side of your PSU giving information on it.

This information is important in helping to determine a proper video card. And also, the 7300SE will run WoW.

------------------------------ Antec Nine Hundred, Gigabyte P35-DS3R, Intel Q6600 @ 3.2 Ghz, Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme, eVGA 8800GT 512MB, G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-800 4-4-4-10, Seasonic S12 ATX 650W, Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA, 26" LCD Monitor (1900x1200), Windows XP Pr
Reply to deuce271

beluk wrote :

We've just got a new pc, a dual intel pentium 3.0ghz per core home built computer but the graphics card is a 7300se which I know won't play world of warcraft! I want to get a new card but I know you have to take things like power supply and everything into account and I don't know where to start or what everything is called! Please can someone advise me?

Are you referring to a Pentium D or a Pentium Dual Core? And exactly how much did you pay for if it was a Pentium D?

------------------------------

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2617/3815217176_0a5be7955d_o.gif

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3553/3818083596_1a772f7162_o.gif

Reply to Shadow703793

Well my sister can play World of Warcraft with a laptop, Sempron 3400+ @2.0GHZ with integrated geforce 6100 graphics at over 40fps thats with wide screen resolutions (1400somethin X 800somethin) all the eye candy turned on

um you do not NEED an upgrade to play

Message edited by ir_efrem on 12-27-2007 at 06:21:07 PM

------------------------------ Don't drink and park, accidents cause people.
Reply to ir_efrem

sorry its taken me a while to get back to you all, the system is a custom built one we bought from ebay with a years warranty. I think the following info u need is
1. Galaxy 111 winpower atx 450w power supply
2. 2 GB DDR2 667MHZ PC5300 memory
3. Intel pentium D 925 6.0mhz (2 3.0ghz processors)
4. Nvidia 7200gs turbo cache graphics card.

Sorry I told u wrong about the graphics card! But I think I would like to upgrade the card, is the above info all u need. Thanks for your replies so far!

Reply to beluk

LOL, 6ghz... cracks me up when people say that.. its 3.0ghz.

My Quad at 3.2ghz is still "3.2ghz"

anyways, that card should play wow just fine, unless you just want to upgrade it for the sake of upgrading, im not a wow player but from what i hear its not very demanding.

Reply to PSYCHoHoLiC

Quote :

Nvidia 7200gs turbo cache graphics card.

Not a powerhouse vidcard but, an upgrade to something like a Radeon X1650 with 512MB isn't even $100 bucks.
A GeForce 7600 or Radeon 2600 will cost you more, so less attractive.
Hey the rig looks okay, not too bad - just an affordable vidcard update would really help it with games
Regards

------------------------------ ABit AB9 Pro (P965)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 @ 2.4GHz
2x1GB Corsair C4 @ 600MHz, 3-4-4-10
ATI Radeon X1900XT (512MB)
Reply to the_ogs

thanks for the advice, I do try to understand the technical stuff but it's just too......technical, some sites laugh at my sort of questions so it's nice to get friendly advice! I think I will upgrade the card cos my son like's games like half life and a game called test drive which doesn't work well. As for what resolution I play at, well I'm not a gaming gamer just yet!

Reply to beluk

The video card you have is ok for text, but not very good for games. Read this article: http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/1 [...] hics_card/ to get an idea of what is available in different price ranges. I wouuld suggest that you replace your 7200gt with another NVIDIA card like this 8600GT http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130085 . The radeon cards are good value also, but deleting competing video drivers completely and installing a different kind can be troublesome if you are not experienced. all nvidia 7xxx and 8xxx cards will use the same driver, so all you will need to do is plug it in.

Does your computer have a pci-e slot? I suspect that it does. You need to know this because pci-e,pci, and agp are three different types of slots that can hold video cards, and you need to know which you have.

The psu is a brand I am unfamiliar with. It is probably ok unless you pick a more powerful video card which might need a better psu. The watts can be misleading, particularly on a cheap psu. The needed number is the number of amps it can deliver on the +12v rails. Can you post a photo of the sticker, or give us the info?

Message edited by geofelt on 12-29-2007 at 09:46:17 PM

Reply to geofelt

I've been away for a few days, the info for the psu is:
INPUT OUTPUT
115vac +12v 20A max
10A max +5v 40A max
60HZ +33v 28A max
230vac -5V 0.5Amax
5A max -12V 0.8Amax
50HZ +5V/SB2.0Amax

Is this the correct info, anyway I can't play WOW everytime I try it freezes or crashes on the loading screen even when I've updated the drivers, what else could it be apart from the graphics card?

Reply to beluk

7600GT may work - a 7900GS may squeek by. If I remember right, the 7900GS requires 21 amps on the +12v. You could get a BFG 79GS at BestBuy and return it if it doesn't work eliminating prolonged trial and error online.

Reply to blacken

You can easily get an ATI hd2600xt or a nVidia 8600gt for under $100. They are about as good as you can get without upgrading your PS.

This card has 512MB memory and is only $85 AR/free shipping:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161178

If you are worried about drivers check out Driver Cleaner Pro:

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745

It ain't that hard to get rid of your old drivers.

Reply to lakedude

The cards I mentioned are newer and die shrunk so they actually use less power than the older slower cards. Check this out:

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums [...] c=7&t=9354

The 8600gt is very frugal at only 30watts.

Reply to lakedude

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