Upgrade from GeForce FX 5200

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ang_gna

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Sep 8, 2011
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Hi! I need help upgrading our old system (around 6-7 yrs old). Below are the current specs. We are just wanting to update the video card so the kids can play The Sims 3 & not sure what would be compatible.

Dell XPS
Pentium (R) 4 CPU 3 GHz
4G Ram
300G HDD
Creative SB Audigy 2(WDM)

Minimum to run The Sims 3 is Video Ram 128 MB & Pixel Shader 2.0. Need at least a GeForce FX 5900 (per System Requirements Lab). Not sure if I could get any that fit the slot or if only some would work. Can change power supply if needed. Any help is most appreciated! THANKS!!
 
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tomskent

tomskent

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truthfully, its best to just save your money and get a new system. Its just not worth it.
First find out if you have an AGP slot or a pci-express slot.
If its agp, try craigslist for a used agp card that is good.
 
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GreenDutchAlien

GreenDutchAlien

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truthfully, its best to just save your money and get a new system. Its just not worth it.

Thats were you're wrong. There are kids involved so trust me it's worth it. Maybe it's an old pc on a kids room, a waist to buy an whole new system for there and the kids really wanne play a game . . . Choosing between peace and quite versus an average day from hell ( bit overstated but well . . . ) the choice is easy, GET THE CARD ! ( if it fits and all )
If it is the main pc in the house, maybe indeed think about an other one.
 
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ang_gna

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Sep 8, 2011
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Oh, sorry...this is just the old system for the kids. We both have our much newer/better systems. It runs really well for what they want to do & the most important thing to them is Sims3. Call me a mean mom but I am so not getting them a system just to play that. They always get the hand me downs when hubby & I get new systems. So definitely just want to replace the video card if I can, if not then oh well they are out of luck and will have to wait till I get another laptop. Not sure if I got the right info from the link above.

Dimension XPS Gen 2

Chipset
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northbridge Intel i875P rev. A2
Southbridge Intel 82801EB (ICH5) rev. 02
Graphic Interface AGP
AGP Revision 3.0
AGP Transfer Rate 8x
AGP SBA supported, enabled
Memory Type DDR
Memory Size 4096 MBytes
Channels Dual
Memory Frequency 199.5 MHz (1:1)
CAS# latency (CL) 3.0
RAS# to CAS# delay (tRCD) 3
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 3
Cycle Time (tRAS) 8
Performance Mode enabled
MCHBAR I/O Base address 0x0FECF0000
MCHBAR I/O Size 256

 
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GreenDutchAlien

GreenDutchAlien

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Ha Mean Mom :lol: I know exactly what you mean, i've been there myself, i've got my own lovely monster. My old pc is on his room and he's really not getting a new system. I bought recently though a better second hand gpu for it because he wanted to play more demanding games.
An imo ; yes you can put a 5900 in it. Buy second hand i think.
 
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ang_gna

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Do you think the GeForce 6200 256MB 64-bit DDR2 AGP 8X Video Card would work? Only $40 through Newegg. That would be great! The hours of joyful peace that could bring!


 
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uberman

uberman

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Actually on Newegg there are acouple of 4600 series AGP cards that would work much better.Don t pay attention to the numbers they are quite a bit newer and more powerful than the old 5200 and 6200s.
 
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ang_gna

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I double checked the Sims 3 supported video cards and 4600 is not on the list. My choices are the following:

NVIDIA GeForce series
FX 5900, FX 5950
6200, 6500, 6600, 6800
7200, 7300, 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950
8400, 8500, 8600, 8800
9300, 9400, 9500, 9600, 9800
G100, GT 120, GT 130, GTS 150
GTS 250, GTX 260, GTX 280, GTX 285, GTX 295

I do appreciate all this help!
 
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waffle911

waffle911

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An FX 5900 is faster than a 6200, even though it's a bit older. It was the high-end card back in the day, while the 6200 was the budget card in the generation just afterwards.

Also, when he said "4600 series" he meant the Radeon HD 46xx series.
I also notice that every single one of your choices is an Nvidia card. It could very well pay off to look outside that field of Green chips at the ones with Red labels. Something like this.

It's worth mentioning that back when Sims 2 came out I got an FX5200 256MB PCI card to be able to play it effectively at minimum details. A 6200 is only a few steps above that card and Sims 3 is more demanding than Sims 2; I don't think it'll really cut it. In fact, the lowest 6-series card to be comparable in performance to the FX 5900 is the 6600.

Other cards that will not cut it: 7200, 7300 (non-GT model), 8400, 9300. Not that you can even get most of the cards on that list in an AGP model anyway. Check out Newegg's AGP section. 25 results.

Also, refer to this handy Graphics Hierarchy Chart.

The most powerful AGP card there ever will be is the Radeon HD 4670. The second most powerful is the Radeon HD 4650. Nvidia stopped caring about AGP a long, long time ago.
 
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4745454b

4745454b

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I agree that a 6200 isn't the way to go. Nvidia has been lacking in AGP cards, last good one they put out in any real numbers was the 7600/7800GS. AMD/ATI has released AGP cards in nearly every gen. 4650 is the popular choice for performance.

I have an old x800XT PE I'm looking to get rid of. Could probably get it to fit in a $5 ship USPS box. Should do quite well for Sims, though its a SM2 card so new games that need SM3 won't work.
 
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