Need your input, please.

[dewysmart]

I have a prebuilt Inspiron dell desktop 560MT with a Intel G45/43 express chipset. I wanted to upgrade for gaming purposes and started looking for a newer card. Then I remembered I bought a Geforce 9500GT DDR2-512MB DVI card about a year or two ago and never got around to installing it into anything. So I guess my question is, If I install the Geforce card will it be better or worse than the G45/G43 chipset.

 

[Tamz_msc]

It will be much better than the integrated graphics.

 

[snurp85]

agreed. The cheapest discreet cards on the market are still better than integrated.

 

[-Fran-]

It has an extra power (6pin) molex in it, so be sure to have the adapter for it, otherwise it won't turn on if you don't plug the extra juice.

And since it's a Dell, you won't have problems getting a little extra power from the hdd molex'es. Also that card doesn't use that much additional power anyway.

Cheers!

 

[dewysmart]

Thanks to everyone that answered, I was worried that since the Geforce card was DDR2 it would have a bad effect. The intel chipset is DDR3. any advice on future upgrades from the Geforce card?

 

[-Fran-]

If you'd like any beefier card, then you should start looking up for PSUs (power supplies) also.

What's your current monitor resolution? Are you planning on a 24" or bigger monitor?

On a wild guess, if you're on an 1650x1080, your bottom line should be something in the lines of a 6850 or a GT550ti to get all the eye candy in modern games (or most of them). Higher than that, you'd have to start looking at a 6950 1GB or a GTX560ti (GTX460 1GB too).

The PSUs that can accompany those cards are 500W and above. Don't have models in mind, but I've seen Corsair and CoolerMaster ones running some-what cheap and with good quality.

Cheers!

EDIT: Forgot about Antec; this one specially: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035