GeForce 5900XT

Hi guys, looking to upgrade my piece of crap excuse for a graphics card which is a GeForce 2 MX/400 32MB ... AGP 4X. That's all my motherboard supports, I think since it's about a year and a half old. It's a dell dimension 8200.

Well I'm going to bestbuy to pickup this graphics card for $230, and I'm getting Battlefield Vietnam with that as well. The only downside is that I will only be able to run it on AGP 4X because that's what my motherboard supports. I was looking to get a new motherboard if I'm not happy on my cards performance.

I also only have 256MB of RD Ram PC800.

What do you guys think before I go buy this and install this? And is there any advice you guys can lend me when I'm installing this?

To cahnge the G/C go into your device manager in your control panel and select your Graphics Card under display adaptors and choose the option to remover your drivers,
then turn your computer off (dont restart it!!).

Open your system up and if you have an Anti statci wrist stap available put it on, otherwise leave you power lead plugged in (to the wall and computer) but make sure it is turned off at the wall!!.

Then just swap the graphics card around. When it boots back up windows will anounce that it has found new hardware so just put the driver cd in and let windows do the rest for you.

You can just swap them round without removing the drivers first but I have had a few problems in the past when I didnt remove them first, so better being safe!!

With reference to the preformance of your card, after spending all that money on a Gforce 5900xt it would be a shame not to upgrade your Mo/Bo as you wont ever get the full potential from you G/C, AGP x8 is a vast upgrade in proformance from x4!!

Thanks for your help, yes but I was told there was a large difference between 8X and 4X. I want to upgrade my motherboard because of this.. however I'm not the handy type guy. I mean, I can always get the G/C and then upgrade my motherboard with new ram. This way If I get the G/C it will allow me time to save up for some ram and a new MOBO

What you just posted makes me not want to even get a new graphics card, because the installation sounds like a hassle and I might screw something up.

Can you put this in easier terms?

Sorry! No its not a hassle at all its prob one of the easiest things you can do!

For ease of maintanece forget about uninstalling the drivers for now and see if you can get away without doing it.

I am presuming that you dont have an anti static strap so leave your pc power lead plugged into the wall but make sure it is turned off at the wall.

Open your PC up and locate your graphics card, it is normally the first card installed there, if your unsure which on it is, it will be the one you plug your monitor into, so it should be easy to locate.

Now just unscrew the little securing screw and take it out and put your new one in, making sure you dont touch the gold coloured connectors on the bottom of it!.

Put your PC back together again and boot it up, If you are using windows it will come up and say that it has detected new hardware and say what it is, GForce 5900xt in this case, and ask what you want it to do: install drivers automatically(recommended) OR search for new drivers by your self.

Since you seem new to this, the easiest thing you could do now is press cancel and just get back to your desktop then, put the driver cd in (it will come with the G/C) and let it all install by itself, all you will have to do is restart your computer when prompted to!

Provided it all works OK thats it done!

Although if your thinking of upgrading your Mo/Bo and memory aswell it might be an idea to atleast upgrade your Mo/Bo first so you will atleast get the benifits of a new Graphics card and memory when you install them!

Hope it simplifies it a bit for you, let me know if you are unsure of anything!

Ok yes simplifies it alot, thanks. So what your trying to tell me is get my motherboard before my G/C and Ram?

I was going to get my motherboard before my ram, but not before my G/C.

Its up to you at the end of the day but if it was me, I would get the Mo/Bo first as, you will get the full benifits of your G/C and memory when you get them if you have a Mo/Bo that fully supports them!

Its personal preference at the end of the day, your pc will still work no matter what you do, it all depends on your wallet in the end!

Yeah, well my wallet isn't ''fat'' right now lol. So I'll get a MOBO in about a month or two with some new ram. Got a birthday coming up on the 18th of May.

LOL, all you need now is rich parents!

Dont forget to check ebay first, you can get some good bits of hardware from there.

T0PNO7CH

You seem to be talking $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

OK......I have not seen MoBo prices move that much in the last three years...............nor memory for that matter

Videocards are like automobiles...........new model each year................

My advice is get the MoBo and memory, then look at videocards...........the one you mention will fall in price over the next six months :)

Cheers

You dont have to buy a brand new MoBo either, one that is anything upto a year old will be easily good enough for your home desktop PC, so dont feel you have to buy the latest and most expensive MoBo out there!

Check ebay first! I just won this on it: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...ADME:B:BN:UK:1 Bargin!

I've bought, and installed the GeForce FX 5900 XT. Gaming purposes of course.. lol, however I'm looking for some cheap ram most likely 2x512 PC 800 or 2x256 PC800 (RD Ram)

Hi

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I'm looking for some cheap ram most likely 2x512 PC 800 or 2x256 PC800 (RD Ram)

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NO, you are not.......................cheap frequently means nasty! Try Cruicial, they make high quality reasonably priced RAM with a lifetime guarantee.

I say that with passion as cheap RAM can cause problems, particularly with an expensive video card

Many other PC problems are caused by people putting in cheap RAM, it is like buying a "cheap fire extinguisher" :eek:

I would save money by buying less, but not "cheaper"

Just my experience

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Originally posted here by nihil
Hi

NO, you are not.......................cheap frequently means nasty! Try Cruicial, they make high quality reasonably priced RAM with a lifetime guarantee.

I say that with passion as cheap RAM can cause problems, particularly with an expensive video card

Many other PC problems are caused by people putting in cheap RAM, it is like buying a "cheap fire extinguisher" :eek:

I would save money by buying less, but not "cheaper"

Just my experience

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I agree.

Its like buying a tricked out car with a small motor that does not go fast.

BTW: If you open your case on that Dell you are probably going to void your warrenty. (Just so you know - if you bought a longer than 1 year warrenty)

I have to agree with nihil and CXG if your get the upgrade to play games then whats the point of not having the right stuff. Check this place out Newegg.com. It has great prices and exelent service. Read the product reviews they give a feel for what you can expect out of the hardware.

I'd personally recomend ATI over Nvidia for graphics cards.

Unfortunately, "Cheap" and "RDRAM" generally don't go together. ;)

Have you considered getting a board that will support your processor but offer you dual channel DDR support instead? You wouldn't be able to use your existing ram, but DDR is cheap enough and the boards that do it are cheap enough it might warrant the difference. Just a suggestion.

If you want to get some preformance out of the game, just get a new motherboard. You can find a relatively cheap yet high preformance barod for about $90 or so that supports 4GB of PC3200 ram, and 8x AGP.

Also, getting DDR ram will help your preformance a bit more, btu I think you'll see more preformance upgrades with a faster Hard Drive and you should be set with that video card. Howerver I do not recomment buying from best buy. Sure they are a nice store but you won't always get the best deal there. I like http://www.newegg.com and http://www.tcwo.com
They have cheap prices and quality parts.

Also since you playingi BF:V, check out my website for a clan I started.
http://americanrebels.net