I've no idea what I'm doing

[zombiesyo]

I'm a noob in search of a graphics card. I've been searching forums for 2 nights now trying to figure s%*t out for myself but to no avail. You people speak a strange and terrifying language. Please help

I'm thinking of buying ATi 5670 Hd 1Gb(seems good value at 107Euros)

Heres my spec(I think. I've no idea)

Its a Dell Vostro 200 with an x1300 Ati card
2Gb of RAM
2140 @ 1.60 Ghz (whatever that means)

Is the card to 'strong' for my PC? Do I need a power supply unit\how do I find out?

If theres anything I\You need to know, please let me know

Cheers
Dave

 

[Rustyy117]

you already have a powersupply (Providing you have a working PC), You need to find out how many watts your powersupply is.

Your CPU is slow (dont mean to be nasty) so you have afew options

1) start again, build your own PC

2) get a low end GPU that wont be bottlenecked by your CPU

BTW CPU = Central processing unit, its the thing at 1.60ghz
And GPU = Graphics processing unit. E.G a graphics card

A 5670 will be bottlenecked by your CPU, meaning that your CPU wont be able to keep up with your GPU.

What resolution do you play games at ? E.G 1280 x 1024?

Whats your budget?

 

[Rustyy117]

Is this your PC?

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/product/30274/review/dell_vostro_200.html#specs

 

[zombiesyo]

First off, thanks for dumbing things down. It helps

I'm 3 or 4 years behind in gaming terms. I'm playing Oblivion(which set itself at 640X480). I also have Bioshock(which plays ok at the lowest setting but looks horrible) and recently just got Mass Effect(which is why I wanted a new card) I'm not looking for an absolute top end card here, just something that'll make ME look purdy

I realise you want specs and not this rambling but I'm not a techie so please bare with me.

Thats not my PC exactly. Its a Vostro 200 but with an ATi x1300\x1500 series card, but you know this already. I ran a 'dxdiag'. Would it help if I posted that or parts of it?

Thanks again
(get the feeling this is gonna be more trouble than its worth? :])

 

[zombiesyo]

Budget isn't set. I'm looking for value. I'm a cheapskate and proud of it. If $40 will get me out then great. If $140 will be worth it in the long run. Well that'd be ok also.
$240. Not a &^*$ing chance mate!

 

[zombiesyo]

Would I be better off getting a lower spec card? This for example

http://www.dabs.ie/products/best-value-1gb-ddr3-pc8500-1066mhz-6JS6.html?q=ddr3%201gb

 

[mfarrukh]

If you are looking for Value
Corsair has it, G Skill has it
Patriot has it, OCZ has it

 

[bige420]

Thats a memory module (ram), not a graphics card. A 5670 would perform alright, should be able to play most games on med-high setting with no Anti-Aliasing. Thats probably about as good as its going to get without seeing a massive bottleneck.

 

[Rustyy117]

Agreed with the above post.

Is is really a good idea for you to install a PC component when you don't know what a graphics card looks like? (No offence)

Maybe you should buy the card yourself and then take the card and your PC to a PC shop so they can install it for you.

BTW you didnt mention what PSU you have?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-017-C3&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673

Thats a graphics card ( a HD5670)