Assistance Required for buying a Graphics Card

[rashidaliamjad]

Hello every one . i'm new at techspot ... i hope everybody is fine ...

so lets get to the point .. actually these days i'm planning to buy a graphics card (VGA or video card) ... but the problem is that i cant find the proper 1 ... which would be suitable for me ... actually an year ago i had a pc , it was :

P 4 1.7 GHz.
512 MB RAM
and 32 MB external VGA ... i can't remember ... from which company it was ... but i sold that 1 and brought nVidia FX 5200 128 MB AGP 8x ....

and after that what i had in my mind was that now it games i play would be running very smoothly ... but it didn't happen ... but thats an old story ... but keeping that in my i thought i should ask some one to assist me in buy a proper graphics card for my pc which i have at the moment ....

first of all let me tell you what type of games i play .. or i would like to play ... Hitman Blood Money , Splinter Cell Series , C&C Generals , C&C Generals Zero Hour , NFS Underground 2 , NFS Most Wanted , NFS Carbon , Prince Of Persia Series , Stronghold Series and there is an upcoming game from UBI Soft ... Assassin Creed ... and there might be some others i can't remember of at the moment.

I Wanted you guys to help me find a proper graphics card to play all these games ... if not with excellent performance than with smooth at least.

i read the guide toVideo Cards Upgrades/ Questions By cfitzarl and i'm trying to provide you each and every detail of my PC , you asked for.

I bought a new PC almost week ago ... not let me tell you every thing in the order you asked for :

1. I already told you about the games i play.

2. Now let me tell you my budget , well my budget is something between $ 110-120.

3. I couldn't understand what you wanted to know about my power supply (sorry for my ignorance) so i opened it and wrote everything which was written on its back. Here it is :

"Dell

Model : HP-P2507FWP REV : H01

AC Input(50-60Hz) : 100-127V~/6A
200-240V~/3A

DC Output : +5V ----/22A , +12V ---/14A
+3.3V ---/18A , -12V ---/1A
+5VFP ---/2A

+5V AND 3.3V SHALL NOT EXCEED 150W

MAX. OUTPUT POWER : 250W

DELL P/N : 8X949

Made In Thailand"

4. My System Specs Are :

i. System Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation.
ii. System Model: Optiplex GX260.
iii. Processor: Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.40 GHz.
iv. Memory: Currently I have 256 MB RAM , but soon i'll add another 512 MB , which will make a total of 512+256=768 , i might remove 256 as well and replace it with another 512 MB. But right now you guys go ahead with 768 MB RAM.
My System also has an AGP 4x slot. but according to my knowledge it can support 8x as well.

5. At the end my country. Well i'm from Pakistan and live in the capital i.e, Islamabad. I can't shop online coz i don't have a credit card for that. Although i can arrange it , but i would prefer payment by money order or something like that. Please fine me such a store or website where i can send money by money order and then thay could ship me my product.

i hope i wrote everything which you required. but still if anything is missing , i'm sorry for that . please tell me . i'll check it and add it.

Thankyou.

 

[Cinders]

http://www.beliscity.com/

http://galaxy.pk/

 

[rashidaliamjad]

Thank you for the web addresses you provided Cinders, i visited the pages , it seems that i no longer have a problem of finding a place to buy , thanks once again , but i also asked that please recommend me a Graphic card depending on my system specs. Please help me with that as well ...

 

[Rik]

You should really think about a better psu (power supply unit), 250watts with only 14 amps on the 12 volt rail is very very low.

You really need 350 watts or more, i recomend you go for a 450watt one.

 

[pdyckman@comcas]

I would use a more powerful PSU. Also you could use at least a gig (or 1.5 gigs) of ram. Make sure that your AGP slot is 8x before trying a better graphics unit. Nvidia puts out some good graphics processors with AGP support. I have used the 7800 GS a lot and it's a great processor. It's a world better than your FX5200. Good Luck.

 

[rashidaliamjad]

You should really think about a better psu (power supply unit), 250watts with only 14 amps on the 12 volt rail is very very low.

You really need 350 watts or more, i recomend you go for a 450watt one.

oookkk ! , thanks rik , thats not a problem , i can change my psu , but if i buy a new 1 , will it easily run with my system. i heard from somewhere that if you connect a more powerful psu to a system , it might damage your motherboard. I mean are there any compatibility issues of psu with systems ? if yes than how can i check that which psu(s) can my system support ?

 

[rashidaliamjad]

I would use a more powerful PSU. Also you could use at least a gig (or 1.5 gigs) of ram. Make sure that your AGP slot is 8x before trying a better graphics unit. Nvidia puts out some good graphics processors with AGP support. I have used the 7800 GS a lot and it's a great processor. It's a world better than your FX5200. Good Luck.

well i'll definitely change my psu , but one thing more my system is a branded 1 from dell , so i think i can only use dell psu(s) , right ? and i also want to know the answer of the question which i asked from rik ... then ill decide something. and about RAM .... well at the moment now I'll go for 1 gb. my pocket won't allow me more than that. ok i checked a local store they have GeFroce 7600GT AGP. Can any one tell me about that 1. what are the its pros and cons ? and how can i check if my AGP is supports 8x as well. My previous system had AGP 4x , but when i bought FX5200 , it was 8x but it worked on that slot. so this slot also might be able to run 4x and 8x as well.

Thank you pdyckman@comcas

Thank you Everyone.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Today's AGP cards are usually backwards compatible with AGP 4x. So go ahead and get that 7600GT if you want, it's a great card. But you'll have one obstacle in your way then. The PSU. It's a proprietary one from Dell that uses different wiring than other PSUs. This PSU is the only upgrade you have but will eat up almost all of your budget because of it's price and the shipping costs involved.

So, all in all, I'd suggest this card from Galaxy.PK since it's the best buy under the circumstances. If you can afford the PSU upgrade though, then get the 7600GT by all means. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[Rik]

I don't agree with that, sorry.

There are quite a lot of cards out there that are x8 only.
I had real trouble getting a compatible card for my old x4 mobo about 2 years ago.

For a x4 mobo, its very important to find a card that clearly states that it is x4/x8 or it will not work.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

The only 'x8 only' video card I've seen is a GeForce 4 Ti4200. So I'm 100% sure that whatever card he buys will be AGP 4x compatible.