Want to buy a new graphics card....

sunu269

Distinguished
Jul 8, 2010
1
0
18,510
Hello!!
These ar some of the features of my computer :
-768 MB DDRAM
-Intel Pentium 4 1.80GHz
-Microsoft Windows XP Professional
-NVIDIA GeForce MX 4000 with 128MB Memory

I want to purchase a new graphics card in place of my old one and i have no idea what to do. Please recommend a card that will best suit my PC and also that goes well with today's PC games.

Thanks for any advice I can get!!!
 

jonpaul37

Distinguished
May 29, 2008
2,481
0
19,960
Wow, that Pentium 4 needs to be upgraded STAT! What kind of motherboard do you have, is it from a Dell or HP or was it a custom guilt PC. If it is a dell or HP
, chances are you will not be able to upgrade the CPU and you will need a new motherboard. If it was a custom built PC, than let us know what motherboard it is so we can tell you if you can upgrade the CPU.


You will not be able to upgrade to a better video card as that CPU will be a major bottleneck.
 
You have either an AGP slot or the ancient PCI slot (not to be confused with the PCI-e slot).

Google and download a program called CPU-Z which will tell you what graphic port you have. If you only have a PCI port, then your'e in for a world of hurt.

A P4 1.8GHz is below minimum requirements of nearly all current games. You'll probably have to look at games from 2007 or before.
 
Yeah, that system is simply too old to handle current games.
The good news is upgrading it doesn't have to be too expensive. Get the combo with the case on this page(order now before it is gone);
http://www.newegg.com/Special/ShellShocker.aspx?cm_sp=ShellShocker-_-17-103-941-_-07082010
This combo;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.441159
and some ram;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148236
hard drive;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181
dvd burner;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
That's almost exactly $300 for a whole new and much, much better computer.
4gb of ram would be ideal but 2 will get you by.
You can double the hard drive size for $20 more;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
or make it a triple core processor(that can likely unlock into a x4) for $33 more;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.436270
 
If you have an AGP slot, the most powerful card that you can install is the Radeon HD 4670.. However, as suggested by everyone till now, You'll be better served by getting a new system.. IMHO, a 890GX chipset motherboard with onboard HD 4200 graphics is going to be many times better compared to your current video card..