upgrades!

[dannyday5821]

I have windows XP service pack 2, 2 gig ram, AMD athlon dual core processor on a compaq computer - at the moment i have the radeon X1300 series graphics card, which has served me well, but....

i want to upgrade! would my comp with these specs be able to upgrade to a

ATI Radeon Connect 3D - X1950 XTX 512MB GDDR4 DVI-I / DVI-I / VIVO

basically, the big red thing from this website...
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/1911725/ATI-Rade on-Connect-3D-X1950-XTX-512MB-GDDR4-DVI-I-DVI- I-VIVO/Product.html

really, i just want to buy it, then pay some guy to come to my house and install it for me, abit pointless if he turns up and says "soz mate, your comp wont take it!"

thanks for your help!

[ACtheTROLL]

personally ... I'd go over to nvidia
from that point on it's a case of how deep your pockets are

Given that you have a Dual core yes you probably can

but to be certain ... what mobo are you using?
how old is the machine?

System Requirements:

PCI Express� based PC is required with one x16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard. For CrossFire configurations two x16 slots are required

Connection to the system power supply is required

450-Watt power supply or greater recommended (assumes fully loaded system) For CrossFire configurations a 550-Watt power supply is required

512MB of system memory

[dannyday5821]

its only a year old computer... as for this the system requirements, if im honest, i dont really understand them! how do i go about knowing if i have the right stuff?

[vehelpfulguy]

Rather than risk buying a graphics card that does not fit, find a local PC builder or local company that builds PCs and ask them to do it for you (not PC world).

This is a high end graphics card and is really only needed if you are going to play the latest games.

I am not a graphics card expert, but I understand that 256Mb is enough memory and extra memory above that will not gain you anything.

This web site has a few forums, including a PC builders forum, and the people are very technical, so maybe ask on there

http://www.micromart.co.uk/

[vehelpfulguy]

Make sure you consider your power supply.

This card requires a 450W power supply.

Some generic PCs only come with 300W or 350W power supplies.

If you tried to run this graphics card with less than a 450W power supply you may damage the power supply or some other component on your PC (such as the graphics card!).

Your PC documentation should tell you what power supply you have.

[Llamatron]

It's not just about the wattage but also about the quality, perhaps more so. My spare PC had a cheap 350W power supply. I connected up a fourth hard drive and the thing wouldn't power on. I replaced it with an expensive 220W and it runs without a problem.

My EVGA nVidia 8800GTX is fab. I can run BioShock at my monitors max resolution with all the pretty stuff switched on. The Half Life 2: Lost Coast stress test averages 168fps. Which is nice.

[ACtheTROLL]

Very nice llama .... I have exactly the same card ... but running on a quad.
download http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php
run it and come back with this info

Mainboard : EVGA 122-CK-NF68
Chipset : nVidia nForce 680i SLI SPP
Processor : Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 @ 2666 MHz
Physical Memory : 4096 MB (4 x 1024 DDR2-SDRAM )
Windows Performance Index : 5.6
(I should know better at my age!)

VHG
If you look you'll see danny is wanting to change out what was (and still is) a reasonably good card ... so I think we are talking gamer here in that case the extra 256 will make a big difference ...
buy yourself a copy of BioShock and see!

Where does your info that more that 256Mb has no effect come from?
certainly not any mainstream PC mag, journal or forum I've seen in the last 8 months
Perhaps you should pick up the telling bone ... and tell your tekkie? friends that electrickery is now used in the latest counting boxes

[ACtheTROLL]

oops .... could have put that better ....

dannyday5821 download
http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php
to get the info we need

[dannyday5821]

i will download this thingy to get you some more info, cant now as im at work! But i will as soon as i can guys! and by the way, your totally right! the graphics card ive got is sufficent, even to run modern games, like company of heroes. but i love graphics so much i want to be able to yank all the settings on ultra or very high to really experience the game at its full graphical potential!

so thanks for your help guys...just be patient!

[ACtheTROLL]

danny

just a thought while you are still in the planning stages

Nvidia has it's fingers in a lot of the high end games currently written and being developed
it's only rumour but supposedly this current batch of ati cards won't support some of the finer options.

The other side of the argument is ....
a - you asked about ati
b - you must be familiar with them