Dell Dimension 5100c graphics upgrade?

Zen

Posts: 763   +49
Folks here is the short of it, I am entertaining the notion of buying a new video card. I would just like some advise on what card to pick up and maybe a why attached to the recommendation.

My Dell's motherboard accepts PCI-e video cards, up to x16 speeds. My system is not an exotic one, pretty simple.

Windows XP Professional (SP3) (64bit)
Intel Pentium 4 (H/T) @ 3000 MHz
Patriot DDR2 RAM @ 4000MB's
DVD/CD-ROM Drive
3.5 Inch Diskette Drive
80 Gig Maxtor Hard Drive (Primary)
1 Terabyte External WD Hard Drive (Secondary)

Currently using the Intel(R) 82945G Express Chipset Family (on-board) video adapter at a max power of 224MB's!

Motherboard Spec's, if you need them...

Manufacturer: Intel ( OEM for Dell Dimension 5100C and 5150C )
Dell Compatible Part#: J8888 0J8888
Socket: LGA775
Expansion Slots: PCI Express x16 x 1 / PCI Express x1 x 1
Other Features: Hyper-Threading Technology Support
Connectors: (5) USB 2.0 Ports, (1) Firewire (1) S/PDIF 10/100/1000 LAN
Peripheral Interface: (2) Serial ATA (SATA) Interface
Other: One IDE Channel Supporting ATA-66/100/133 and One Floppy Port
Video: 1X16 PCI Express Slot and Onboard Video
Audio: 5.1 Surround Sound Audio System
Supported Memory: DDR2
Maximum Memory: 4 Dual Channel DIMM Support for up to 4 GB of memory

Thing is I want to get back into some serious video gaming. Right now with my current setup I can only play (old school) based games like Quake III, UT 1999, Half life and such. I want to get back into playing things like Unreal Tournament III, Call of Duty "Modern Warfare" things like that.

I have $50.00 that I can throw at this new card, the trick is that i require something categorized as a "low profile" PCI-e card. I'm willing to be open minded and run with cards made by Nvidia and Radeon and ATI, just as long as it will do the job and work.

So I'm open to suggestions, can anyone recommend any?
 
$50.00 and low-profile aren't usually associated with serious video gaming, unfortunately.
A LOT will depend on what gaming (screen) resolution are gaming at...which seems to be the only spec you haven't listed.
Probably you will be looking at a HD6450 1Gb card (the Sapphire version here).

Here's how the card fares in CoD:MW, and Unreal Tournament III
If you can squeeze another $5 into the budget (and if you believe in mail-in rebates) then this GT430 (or this ECS version for $50 after rebate, as is this EVGA version) would offer a better level of gaming over the 6450, as you'll note from the review links.
 
Wow there's a couple good choices here, I guess I will have to open up my wallet some more and let out another $15 to $20 on top of my $50 budget, that looks like it would do the trick for these type of cards.
 
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