Need Help with getting New Video Card+New RAM

Post by **bicostp** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 12:51 pm

The PCI slots are easy to point out; there's usually 3 or 4 of them on minitowers.

The AGP slot looks like a PCI slot, except it's further away from the edge of the motherboard, and the plastic it's molded out of is usually a different color than the PCI slots.

<img src="http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/4443 ... 2256lq.jpg">
In this image, the light colored slots are PCI and the darker slot is AGP.

Nonsense Man · Post by **Nonsense Man** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 3:37 pm

this probally sounds really nooby but how do you figure out how many watts you power supply is??

xelion · Post by **xelion** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 3:51 pm

look on the power supply... It usually says somewhere on it. It's the big block at the top of the case usually with a bunch of cords comming out of it.

Just a guess but I'd say your computer is either 250watts or 300watts.

Nonsense Man · Post by **Nonsense Man** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 4:06 pm

well i can't tell. i wanted to know if i could use those video cards cause it says i should have at least a 300watt power supply.

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 4:32 pm

cause it says i should have at least a 300watt power supply

Well...That's a LIE!!!!1!!1!11one

I have a Sempron64, 2x 160GB hard drives, a DVD burner, 1GB ram, Audigy 2 ZS, AND an X1800XT, all running on a puny micro-atx form factor 270 watt power supply. As long as you don't bombard your computer with extra trash, you should be perfectly fine regardless of what graphics card you choose. (unless you hit X1900's and GeForce 7900's, which may need a more substantial 12v line than available in most PSU's)

sniper_spike · Post by **sniper_spike** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 6:09 pm

Wow, you're seriously not getting all the power you could from that 1800XT with that crappy 270W PSU, I bet the amp rating on the +12V rail is not even 15A LOL. You've gone way too far with the corner cutting, almost like Dell!

xelion · Post by **xelion** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 6:10 pm

teraflop122 wrote:
cause it says i should have at least a 300watt power supply
Well...That's a LIE!!!!1!!1!11one I have a Sempron64, 2x 160GB hard drives, a DVD burner, 1GB ram, Audigy 2 ZS, AND an X1800XT, all running on a puny micro-atx form factor 270 watt power supply. As long as you don't bombard your computer with extra trash, you should be perfectly fine regardless of what graphics card you choose. (unless you hit X1900's and GeForce 7900's, which may need a more substantial 12v line than available in most PSU's)

Heh, wow. I'm surprised your computer even turns on, you are risking a lot, that could blow your psu pretty easy and might kill your whole setup with it.

sniper_spike · Post by **sniper_spike** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 6:37 pm

xelion wrote:If you are wanting to play good games like that you are going to need a card that is better than those, you will need at least a 6600GT for Oblivion, I have mine overclocked and it runs alright on some pretty bsaic setting, if you want better than that, and for you rprice range I'd try and find an APG(because almost all computers have them) 6800GT or something like that, maybe even a better one, 7400(?) ish I dunno. Ram is pretty cheap, try and find some OCZ ram 1gb 512 mb dual channel ram, I got mine for like 160, and spend the resyt on the card. I'm at school right now, but I'llt ry to find you some links to some to buy.

Like the one guy said, you probably have to take out your existing video card to get to the AGP slot, if you look in the case they are alwasy at the top, and usually brown, while the PCI slots are white, it is also a larger slot I think.

If I was you i'd get this ram http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820220033 It is dual channel... which I'm actually not sure if your computer supports, probably not now that I think of that.... so yeah, I'd go with some Kingston value ram to add to your existing...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820141424

Video card I'll edit this post later we have to go soon...

If you are willing to spend more I'd get this one(if your computer does acutally have the agp slot) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130269 If you just want whatwill get you by for most games... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130268

If you don't like either of those, remember eVGA, it's a good cmopna,y and they have a nice warranty on their cards where if you decide you want to upgrade your card in like the next 90 days or so you can return it, pay the difference and get a better card. It's a short time for that, but it could be useful.

So yeah, I'm trying to rush right now I'm supposed to be going backt o class right now, so yeah, hope this helps.

edit: PCI video card if your computer really doesn't have an AGP slot, (but I still think it does) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814143058

Why an expensive card like the 7800GS (which would get tremendously bottlenecked by a 2.5ghz P4) for such a junky little PC? Even a 6800XT might be pushing it. And ya, the Kingston Value would be better (I don't know about dual-channel support [regarding the compaq]), but overclocking RAM like OCZ or that Patriot set would really be a waste of money on such a system.

xelion · Post by **xelion** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 7:11 pm

sniper_spike wrote:
xelion wrote:If you are wanting to play good games like that you are going to need a card that is better than those, you will need at least a 6600GT for Oblivion, I have mine overclocked and it runs alright on some pretty bsaic setting, if you want better than that, and for you rprice range I'd try and find an APG(because almost all computers have them) 6800GT or something like that, maybe even a better one, 7400(?) ish I dunno. Ram is pretty cheap, try and find some OCZ ram 1gb 512 mb dual channel ram, I got mine for like 160, and spend the resyt on the card. I'm at school right now, but I'llt ry to find you some links to some to buy.

Like the one guy said, you probably have to take out your existing video card to get to the AGP slot, if you look in the case they are alwasy at the top, and usually brown, while the PCI slots are white, it is also a larger slot I think.

If I was you i'd get this ram http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820220033 It is dual channel... which I'm actually not sure if your computer supports, probably not now that I think of that.... so yeah, I'd go with some Kingston value ram to add to your existing...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820141424

Video card I'll edit this post later we have to go soon...

If you are willing to spend more I'd get this one(if your computer does acutally have the agp slot) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130269 If you just want whatwill get you by for most games... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130268

If you don't like either of those, remember eVGA, it's a good cmopna,y and they have a nice warranty on their cards where if you decide you want to upgrade your card in like the next 90 days or so you can return it, pay the difference and get a better card. It's a short time for that, but it could be useful.

So yeah, I'm trying to rush right now I'm supposed to be going backt o class right now, so yeah, hope this helps.

edit: PCI video card if your computer really doesn't have an AGP slot, (but I still think it does) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814143058
Why an expensive card like the 7800GS (which would get tremendously bottlenecked by a 2.5ghz P4) for such a junky little PC? Even a 6800XT might be pushing it. And ya, the Kingston Value would be better (I don't know about dual-channel support [regarding the compaq]), but overclocking RAM like OCZ or that Patriot set would really be a waste of money on such a system.

Future Proofing, next time he gets a better computer, or builds a new one, one less part he has to buy again.

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 7:22 pm

Wow, that is so typical of the geek mentality. You guys see something you didn't know to be possible, so you automatically hunt down some reason to denounce it

Unfortunately for all your glowering, my PC has run stable for many months, as have the various duplicates I have sold. Factoring everything in, I'm not "risking" anything at all.

you're seriously not getting all the power you could from that 1800XT with that crappy 270W PSU

My X1800XT produces benchmarks similar to other X1800XT's in other setups. "Crappy" PSU? That's strange, I see no label on my PSU that says "Crappy." "Crappy" is not the brand name either. Sorry, I'm just trying to decifer the logical reasoning you used to determine the quality of this PSU merely from knowing its form factor and wattage rating.

Sheesh

I was expecting some ohh's and ahh's and maybe even a "wow, I didn't know you could do that." I guess I was holding too many of you to a higher standard than reality.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 7:56 pm

teraflop122 wrote:Wow, that is so typical of the geek mentality. You guys see something you didn't know to be possible, so you automatically hunt down some reason to denounce it

Unfortunately for all your glowering, my PC has run stable for many months, as have the various duplicates I have sold. Factoring everything in, I'm not "risking" anything at all.

you're seriously not getting all the power you could from that 1800XT with that crappy 270W PSU
My X1800XT produces benchmarks similar to other X1800XT's in other setups. "Crappy" PSU? That's strange, I see no label on my PSU that says "Crappy." "Crappy" is not the brand name either. Sorry, I'm just trying to decifer the logical reasoning you used to determine the quality of this PSU merely from knowing its form factor and wattage rating.

Sheesh I was expecting some ohh's and ahh's and maybe even a "wow, I didn't know you could do that." I guess I was holding too many of you to a higher standard than reality.

Well at least now I won't be scared to upgrade parts, my psu is about 250w. I'll likely get a whole new computer instead of upgrading this one, though.

sniper_spike · Post by **sniper_spike** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:44 pm

teraflop122 wrote:Wow, that is so typical of the geek mentality. You guys see something you didn't know to be possible, so you automatically hunt down some reason to denounce it

Unfortunately for all your glowering, my PC has run stable for many months, as have the various duplicates I have sold. Factoring everything in, I'm not "risking" anything at all.

you're seriously not getting all the power you could from that 1800XT with that crappy 270W PSU
My X1800XT produces benchmarks similar to other X1800XT's in other setups. "Crappy" PSU? That's strange, I see no label on my PSU that says "Crappy." "Crappy" is not the brand name either. Sorry, I'm just trying to decifer the logical reasoning you used to determine the quality of this PSU merely from knowing its form factor and wattage rating.

Sheesh I was expecting some ohh's and ahh's and maybe even a "wow, I didn't know you could do that." I guess I was holding too many of you to a higher standard than reality.

It performs similar? Really? Well now you get your ohh's and ahh's, and a "Wow, I didn't know you could do that," from me at least

I'll stick with my nice Xion 600W PSU, though.

Sorry, I've just never seen a PSU with such a low watt rating actually have the balls (rails) for such a card. I mean my 7800GTX has a reccomended +12V amp rating of 26A (which my PSU meets [30A]).

@Xelion:
Yes, but DX10 cards are just around the corner, so why future-proof with expensive and soon-to-be-expired tech?

xelion · Post by **xelion** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:55 pm

I wasn't trying to denounce anything or glower, I was just saying that with that small of a psu it just seems risky to me, it's your computer however, and I am amazed it runs fine.

Yeah, I forgot about DX10, but he has the money, why not go the extra yard?

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 6:08 am

Yeah, sorry about my previous post. I was having a rough day