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Advice on graphics upgrade

M

Meat100

n00b
Joined
Apr 19, 2005
Messages
9
Hi, I currenty have a Dell Dimension 8300. It has a P4 3.2, 1gig mem, and an ATI 9800 (non-pro). The system runs great and I have been able to play any game I've wanted for the past 2 years. I have come to the realization that I just don't have the money to build/buy a whole new system for probably a minimum of 1year and half. But its my birthday soon and I told my wife to go in with some of my family for a new graphics card. I was looking at the BFG agp version of the 7800gs for 299, but I have a few questions about this upgrade.

First, do you think it will work in my system and is it a smart move. I know it will be a huge improvment.

My power supply worries me. I'm not sure what dell put in it, but does this card draw significantly more power than my old one? Also, do I need a molex adapter.

Will I need a BIOS upgrade.

Any help, suggestions, ideas will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance
 
Your dell has a pretty robust power supply. It should be ok. You will not have a 6-pin PCI-e Molex connector on that power supply though. So you will need 2 4-pin molex connectors to attach to the 6-pin to 4-pin molex connector adapter that comes with the 7800GS.

It will be a marked improvement over your 9800 Pro. I think it will hold you on high and medium settings at 1280x1024 and lower resolutions for at least a year. 1024x768 for well into another year.

Smart move.... Well that is a matter of opinion. If you game heavily, sure! You can play almost every game out on high - close to high setting with that change. However if you don't game heavily, why not aim for something like an Xbox 360? Its a great alternative nowadays.
 
Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, I do game fairly often and although the 9800 always seems to amaze me, I gearing up for Oblivion and the next itteration of Unreal Tournament. The xbox 360 is impressive and your right about being a good option, but if I follow suite as with other consoles minus the DC, I probably will not play it. Not sure why I don't, they just collect dust and I just always go back to the pc.

Thanks, the power supply was my main concern and I feel a bit more confident about it now.

Would I need a BIOS upgrade, or should fine without one?

Thanks
 
I agree with Treyshadow.

Also you should not need a bios upgrade as the GS is a standard AGP card, nothing fancy.

However it's always good to review bios updates to see what they have to offer.
 
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