need a good video card

My sons computer is not performing to his liking so he wants to replace his video card to achieve faster gaming with better graphics. He would like some opinions on which video card to purchase and install that is compatible with his system. He uses it for pc gaming mostly, and school work.

The computer is as follows:

Intel Pentium 3.4 ghz
2 gb ram
xp professional
Nvidia geforce 7300GS 512mb
9.0 direct x

I hope this helps thanks

Also, what kind of power supply do you have?

How much is he willing to spend? Mind you, with that CPU, any card over $200 would not work at its best.

Is the existing card AGP or PCI-E?

You need to find out if that 7300GS is AGP or PCI-e. The AGP version is rare, but they do exist so we can't rule for sure that it is PCI-e. Hopefully it is PCI-e as there are so many good choices at just about any price range now.

Specific games, power supply rating, and budget would help, but in general if it's PCI-e, some of the best deals on budget gaming in the USA are (worst performance to best)

MSI HD2600 pro 128 bit: $40 AR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] d+2600+pro
evga 8600GT DDR3 $57 AR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130085
HD2600XT ($50-60 AR): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] rchInDesc=
8800GS ($100-112 AR): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] ion=8800GS

The answers to jay2tall's and aevm's questions will tell us if there is a better answer.

If it is a "white box" machine, like a Compaq or Dell, chances are the PSU will not be up to a high-end video card; it may not even have the necessary power connector. If that is the case, about the best you'll do is an 8600GT if you prefer nVidia or an HD2600/HD3650 if you prefer ATI. You'll still need to find out whether it is AGP or PCI-E. Either of these, however, would be a huge jump over a 7300GS.

Ok I opened up the box and found the following components:

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250 gb hard drive

Video card 7300gs PCI-E

Power supply L&C LC8460BTX 450 watt

The computer doesnt have a name brand it was built locally

He plays cs source, halo, and more but I couldn't tell you for sure.

Thanks

It has an intel motherboard 94 something. I don't know how to locate the exact model

I believe we're talking about this PSU:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicat [...] RICECANADA

14A+16A on the 12V rails, no PCI-E connector.

I'm guessing that the combined amps would be OK for cards like 8600GT. I'm not sure what exactly they are but it's probably around 25.

Budget would be nice-- Reasonable ($100) or rich kid? (unlimited)
I second the 8800GS. The processor won't bottleneck it too bad.

Yeah you want an 8800GS no question

Does your PSU have a 6 pin PCI-E connector? It would be 6 wires going to a 6 pin plastic plug. It would plug into the video card. Most video cards come with adapters. Normally i would stay away from them but the 8800GS doesnt suck as much power as others so you maybe be ok with that.

I'd go with the eVGA card. It's already OCed. Normally I like XFX but their 8800gs just isn't what i think it should be. I've heard the fan is fixed at 100% so it might be a little loud and it has a lower clock than the eVGA.

It doesn't look like your board supports anything higher than a Pentium D processor. So really the only alternative to upgrading that would be a new moo, CPU, memory.

That video card should be ok for what you are looking for. Any futher upgrades will involved more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130333

Mike, I think you need something like this:

LOGISYS AD201 12v Molex to 12V 6Pin Adapter - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6812887001

It's funny how it costs $3 but also $6 shipping

Did you get anything of the kind with your PSU?

Edit: somebody please confirm it. I'm not sure, and I don't want him to waste $9 if I'm wrong.

My g92 8800gts comes with a molex to pcie power adaptor. From what I heard, most cards come with it. Can't be 100% sure though.

As for the psu, it should handle the load, but only barely. There is a good chance it'll become unstable. So be prepared to get a new psu if that happens. No harm in trying it out though. Not having enough power can't damage your hardware.

If I get for him he will be washing the car and cutting the lawn.

All kidding aside what should I know if I buy it from Newegg and try to install it ourselves. The store wants 260.00 installed.

Whats involved for us to install the 8800gt? is it difficult?
TY

Will the 8800GTS be compatible with the motherboard and PSU that is installed in this computer? The last thing we want to do is buy something and have to replace other components to get this new video card to work.

If we do the install do I have to remove the drivers from the other video card? How would one do this?

TY

It's compatible with the motherboard. As for power requirement, it uses slightly more, due to 128 stream processors compared to the gt's 112. Won't make a difference though. If the psu can handle a gt, it can handle a gts.

Typical ATI Catalyst or Nvidia driver should show up in program files. Uninstall from there. Otherwise, right click -> display properties -> Advanced settings -> Adaptor -> Properties, and you should see the option to uninstall driver.

The GS is a cheap option, and good for its price, but keep in mind it also perform significantly lower though.

If it's for a child, it's better to spend more on graphics. Kids will often try to run new, hyped up, graphics intensive games and stay glued to it even if it's like a slideshow. Low fps put excessive stress on the eyes, and drop eyesight rapidly on chidren who are still developing. It's a bad place to save a few bucks.

The GTS will come with a molex to pcie power adaptor, so you can connect it to the old psu.

It's something like this. You can buy one separately too, if the card doesn't come with one (which it should).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6812201004

Paul I understand what you are saying and I appreciate the help. I just hope I can figure out how to run the wires to the 8800GS since I dont see any wires running to the existing 7300. I believe it must be powered through the mother board some how. I just don't know what wires would connect from the PSU to the video card since I cant locate any.

Now you really have me concerned if you feel the 8800GS will be limited by the CPU. He would never cut the lawn if I screw it up anf his gaming is worse. LOL

Thanks for the assistance it is apprciated.

A 8800GS will be fine with his current system. That CPU won't hold it back, bottleneck as some say, all that much. Don't even look at the 8800GT/GTS cards as your Power Supply would need upgraded for that to happen and they would not perform so hot with that CPU.

8800GS is the cheap gamers card right now, so just do it. Cause Mike Rowe Said So!

Paul he plays halo, cs:s and he wants to play COD4 along with several other games which he plays online.

Jay, a single core 3.4Ghz P4 like the 550 generally got beat gaming by almost all single core A64's. I know that a single core A64 4000+ sometimes holds back the 8800GS in quite a few games, never mind say a 3000+ or P4 550. Not saying it's a waste to buy the 8800GS as it's priced well and at higher resolutions would hang in there better. But the CPU will hold it back in many games. You are talking a CPU that is under recommended spec and not much above minimum spec is some of the latest games.

Have a look at HL2 cpu scaling and just how low the P4's are even way above 3.0GHz.
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipse [...] i=2330&p=2


recently I did A64 4000+, X2 4200+, and X2 5600+ comparisons with an 8800GS. Here is one Crysis timedemo at high details with a slow clocked XFX 8800GS.


And here is the same demo at Medium details:

I'll jump in and vote for the 8800 GS, no new power supply and my bet is that it comes with the adapters you need to set it up and run. Do it yourself and save some cash.

1) I would try your current PSU. Use the evga included adapter (assuming you have two open molex connectors), and only upgrade if you have stability issues.

If you want, You could get the Antec Earthwatts 380W with 27 amp 12v (easily power an 8800GS) for $30 AR shipped free. It has a PCI-e power cable. It's a quality quiet product. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371005

3)Yes, uninstall the display drivers before you pull the 7300GS. All you need to is download the newest NV display drivers to a location you can find(unless you want to use the evga install cd). Go into control panel in windows (start>control panel), then click add remove programs, then once it populates the program list, select NV display drivers (if it's an nvidia mobo don't uninstall all nvidia drivers just the display drivers). When it's done, don't let it reboot. Just shut down normally. Swap out the old card and in the new card. Then reboot. cancel out of windows trying to find drivers (click cancel when it asks to search). Then run the display driver install that you dowloaded (or put in the install cd). Reboot when it tell you to, and you are done.

BTW, I like to go straight to the latest drivers rather than use or start the incuded install CD. Your call on this one as sometimes there are extra bits of software with the manufacturers CD, so some people install these first, then uninstall the display drivers and install new ones if/when desired. But It's very simply really, and rarely would you need to run a driver cleaner utility. When people have issues, we then would recommend something like driver cleaner pro.