I recently installed a new ati 5450 in my dell 8400

If you can confirm that this is your PC we can move forward:
http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/dell-dimension-8400-fo...

If you are 100% sure that you put your new card in the same slot as your old one, then there is definitely an issue here. I don't know if improper drivers can limit the PCI lanes in use (you mention that it is running @ x1, perhaps a reference to PCI-E)

Download GPU-Z, a free program that will tell us what your card is really running at.
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1798/TechPowerUp_G...

Sorry about the delay in answering. First, I incorrectly called my ATI a 5450 while it is actually a 4350. Secondly, I downloaded GPU-Z and it is telling me lots of stuff. Unfortunatly I don't understand any of it. I am %100 sure I put the card in the correct slot. I tried to change it today but it will not fit anything else. My bio's (huh?) are set for a PCI-E card. What does X1 mode mean? Everything is working well...computer just won't fully boot up unless I hit F1. Oh, and another thing...I bought this card to play Bioshock. The computer won't recognize that disk as being in the drive. Heck, the game wouldn't even play until I downloaded a patch...and I did that only because of a forum comment from someone. Technology/computers...what a love hate relationship. Up date your compurter and you can't even play your old games.
Sorry, I am whining. Any thought's about the F1 thing?

what jofamang was saying and what x1 is possibly refering to is the pcie slot, can either run at x16, x8, x4 or x1. GPU-z will tell you in the bottom corner what it is running at. If it is only x1 thats gona be a big bottle neck in your system.

Not sure how you can fix this issue or if it even is an issue as might not be refering to the pcie slot at all. In my experience computers made by big companies like HP, Dell etc tend to not like being touched sometimes and just will do funny things when you change components, all the more reason to build your own in the future.

sorry couldnt be of more help

You have made more sense than some. Thank you.

Bob

Hello, I reviewed my installation of my ati 4350 and it appears that it is "designed" as a x1 card. Is that possible? The other 2 cards had many more "pins" to insert into the slot and there is only one slot to work with. I suspect that the 4350 is an x1 card.
What I am looking for is the most powerful card fo rthe newer games that my computer will handle (dell 8400 with 3.2 and 2 gig of ram) and 350 w pcu. Thoughts on any of this ???