Newbie, enquiring tentatively. . . 8500GT PCI

[Silvertop]

Hi all. A newbie here, 'silver surfer' who has never so much opened his PC but now, in retirement, thinks it's about time to do some upgrading. And not paying the local computer repair firm to do it, either.

I have a five year old Dell Dimension 2350 desktop. It has Intel 82845 graphics (64Mb). Now that I have more time, I'd like to run some simulations on it -- but I'm thinking, the graphics performance (which currently seems OK to me, though what do I know?) may benefit from an improvement.

A friend has advised me that my Dimension (Pentium 4, 2.50gHz, 512Mb) has PCI slots only, and so won't take something called an AGP or PCI Express. He sent me a link to a company called Sparkle, and its 8500 GT PCI card.

That said, he's not sure there'd be that much of an improvement on the existing Intel graphics. But anyway.

I delved into the Sparkle site and discovered that the 8500GT comes in 256, 512 and now 1 Gg guise. But Googling also brought me here to this forum, and comments from members saying, basically, that buying a 1Gg 8500GT card was a complete waste of money (actually, some comments were a lot harsher than that) because the card's limitations mean it can't even make full use of 512Mb, never mind 1 Gg.

So OK. I've a lot to learn. And at this stage, I don't understand the rationale behind what are doubtless well-founded criticisms.

But as I'm utterly lost, I thought I'd ask here for some help -- please???

Should I simply buy an 8500GT with 256 Mb, and not delude myself into thinking that bigger numbers necessarily represent an improvement (or, indeed, a wise investment?)

Or is there another PCI-slot graphics card which the experienced here might recommend?

Many thanks: any advice / help wll be much appreciated!

:toast:

[Kreij]

Welcome to TPU !!

It is my opinion that it is not worth your time or money to upgrade your 2350.

You would be much better off doing research and building a new system for yourself.
You will be able to get all the help you need on these forums.

[Darknova]

Welcome to TPU !!

It is my opinion that it is not worth your time or money to upgrade your 2350.

You would be much better off doing research and building a new system for yourself.
You will be able to get all the help you need on these forums.

+1

There are times when you just have to admit that your current PC won't get any better no matter how much money you throw at it. I think this is definately one of them.

Upgrading to any PCI card is a waste of money with the latest PCI-E technology now emerging, and at affordable prices (£100odd for an ATi 3850).

[Kreij]

You say you are "in retirement" so if you have ample time on your hands, and the willingness to learn, you can build yourself a system that will make that old 2350 look stupid for rather minimal cost.

It will also give a great sense of satisfaction when you put everything together and fire it up for the first time and it works! (disclaimer: If it works :D )

But the real enjoyment of computers is getting your hands dirty and learning how (and how not to) do things yourself. If you keep an eye on the For Sale/For Trade threads you will find fantastic deals from people dumping hardware because they are upgrading.

Our goal here is not to tell you what to do, but to gently guide you to the point where you are no longer happy in life if you can't get another couple megahertzs out of your overclock :D

[Silvertop]

Kreij & Darknova:

That has to be the fastest welcome anyone ever had! I only popped downstairs for tea and you two have obliged with help + advice + welcome in the interim.

OK. As that is the advice, I'll scrap the notion of upgrading the Dell (which when it was bought, at what seems only a short time ago, was described as a "good all rounder" -- well, probably was then; I guess, it's the pace of change.)

If nobody minds, I'll hang around this forum and seek to learn and listen; sadly, there's nothing I can contribute myself at the moment. But, suitably inspired by others here, I shall now have to persuade Mrs Silvertop of the reasonableness of the argument to replace the Dell with a home-built PC (ah yes, we'll both build it, seeeing as she's retired now, too) and when we connect it to the wall socket and blow the entire National Grid, she, or I (depending on who is still surviving) will come back on here. . . looking for help.

Sincere thanks to you both: when one is a newbie, it's always difficult, taking those first steps and not making an immediate prat-fall. . .

:)

[Darknova]

Kreij & Darknova:

That has to be the fastest welcome anyone ever had! I only popped downstairs for tea and you two have obliged with help + advice + welcome in the interim.

OK. As that is the advice, I'll scrap the notion of upgrading the Dell (which when it was bought, at what seems only a short time ago, was described as a "good all rounder" -- well, probably was then; I guess, it's the pace of change.)

If nobody minds, I'll hang around this forum and seek to learn and listen; sadly, there's nothing I can contribute myself at the moment. But, suitably inspired by others here, I shall now have to persuade Mrs Silvertop of the reasonableness of the argument to replace the Dell with a home-built PC (ah yes, we'll both build it, seeeing as she's retired now, too) and when we connect it to the wall socket and blow the entire National Grid, she, or I (depending on who is still surviving) will come back on here. . . looking for help.

Sincere thanks to you both: when one is a newbie, it's always difficult, taking those first steps and not making an immediate prat-fall. . .

:)


Hang around as long as you want, and if you have any questions. Just ask and we'll do our best to help you out :D

[ShadowFold]

Look at my specs, Dual core 2gigs of ram and a nice 512mb video card.I built that for around 600$ with out the card but today you can build an even better system with that much. Do you live in the US or Europe?

[WhiteLotus]

we've all been a newbie before! hell i was when i first joined but know I'm learning things almost daily, this site really does have to be one of the best learning resources out there and with such a massive range of people willing to help you, you can't go wrong!

my advise is to build something new as well, you can get a pretty good all rounder for not a lot at all if you build it yourself and then you can donate your old computer to charity/family member if you wish.

you can get energy saving computer components as well so don't worry too much about an increasing energy bill.

[WhiteLotus]

i admit this is not the best computer in the world - and may or may not be a massive improvement on your current system but this is the kind of thing that you expect for your money.

I'm sure that if you do decided to spec up a computer for yourself there will be many here that can give you a lot of good input!

[thoughtdisorder]

Welcome to TPU! :toast:

[Silvertop]

Well, wot can I say? At risk of repetition, sincere thanks to you all! Feel like I've just walked in on a party. . . and someone's thrust drinks into both my hands (yeah, go on, forget the food. . .)

Shadowfold / Whitelotus -- I'm going to go through all the specs and then figure out precisely (or, more or less) what they mean and the implications.

Oh, I'm in Europe. Well: the border between England and Scotland, really. Which may or may not be part of Europe, as the locals don't recognise either country. . .

thoughtdisorder: and cheers to you, if only I'd not clicked the quick post option. Doh!

[Darknova]

Well, wot can I say? At risk of repetition, sincere thanks to you all! Feel like I've just walked in on a party. . . and someone's thrust drinks into both my hands (yeah, go on, forget the food. . .)

Shadowfold / Whitelotus -- I'm going to go through all the specs and then figure out precisely (or, more or less) what they mean and the implications.

Oh, I'm in Europe. Well: the border between England and Scotland, really. Which may or may not be part of Europe, as the locals don't recognise either country. . .

thoughtdisorder: and cheers to you, if only I'd not clicked the quick post option. Doh!

Yey, another Briton! Heheh.

[WhiteLotus]

we grow in numbers!

if you did want to look at some sites for pricing on computers then i suggest the following:

dabs.co.uk
ebuyer.co.uk
scan.co.uk
ocuk.co.uk

and if you did want a pre built system then meshcomputers.co.uk do good deals

[jives11]

Hi all. A newbie here, 'silver surfer' who has never so much opened his PC but now, in retirement, thinks it's about time to do some upgrading. And not paying the local computer repair firm to do it, either.

I have a five year old Dell Dimension 2350 desktop. It has Intel 82845 graphics (64Mb). Now that I have more time, I'd like to run some simulations on it -- but I'm thinking, the graphics performance (which currently seems OK to me, though what do I know?) may benefit from an improvement.

A friend has advised me that my Dimension (Pentium 4, 2.50gHz, 512Mb) has PCI slots only, and so won't take something called an AGP or PCI Express. He sent me a link to a company called Sparkle, and its 8500 GT PCI card.

That said, he's not sure there'd be that much of an improvement on the existing Intel graphics. But anyway.

I delved into the Sparkle site and discovered that the 8500GT comes in 256, 512 and now 1 Gg guise. But Googling also brought me here to this forum, and comments from members saying, basically, that buying a 1Gg 8500GT card was a complete waste of money (actually, some comments were a lot harsher than that) because the card's limitations mean it can't even make full use of 512Mb, never mind 1 Gg.

So OK. I've a lot to learn. And at this stage, I don't understand the rationale behind what are doubtless well-founded criticisms.

But as I'm utterly lost, I thought I'd ask here for some help -- please???

Should I simply buy an 8500GT with 256 Mb, and not delude myself into thinking that bigger numbers necessarily represent an improvement (or, indeed, a wise investment?)

Or is there another PCI-slot graphics card which the experienced here might recommend?

Many thanks: any advice / help wll be much appreciated!

:toast:


OK so I have a dell dimension 2350 with a sparkle 8500GT PCI card. Mine has 256Mb of memory, 128bit bus + 1 Gb on the PC. I can get up to around 5600 on 3dmark03. Is it an improvement on the inbuilt graphics ? - YES, many games refuse to even play with onboard. Is it a worthwhile way of upgrading ? I think so.

I have probably 60 games and applications installed on this machine. Buying a new rig and transferring everything across would be too much for me. I know a new MOBO costs around £60, but you need to change everything , and also buy a copy of XP. It's not trivial. I have learned a lot more weedling the last few percent out of a dimension 2350 than I have done on my Dual Core E5600 + ASrock Dual VSTA based machine

If you are interested http://mr-ives.blogspot.com/search/label/Dell

[Focus182]

if you want a low end pc for only simple graphics .. im not talking about crysis or call of duty then go with a 7300GT,a simple dual core such as a 4800 X2 from amd or lower .. no point going any higher.. and 1gb of ddr2 ram .. that woould cost you hardly anything at all .. if you looking for a mid range system for games but not things like super amazing omg graphics and performace then buy hmm well i have a 5600 X2,2gb ddr2 ram and a 8600GTS but you would want a 8600GT because the GTS is just not worst the extra money realy .. and if you want a high end pc then go for a Quad core from Intel (Q6600 is good) a 8800GT/GTS G92/GTX with 3gb ram .. and fianly if you want the best then go for a top of the range Quad core from intel and 4-8gb ram and a 9800GX2 graphic card if you want a single card but if you want sli then go for 3 9800GTX's insted of two 9800GX2's ..if you can wait then wait for the new nvidia graphic cards coming out if you want the best system ;) and it might lower the other graphic card prices.

p.s sorry for typeing this so untidy lol xD

~Focus

[Paulieg]

Silvertop, welcome to tpu! As you've noticed, there as so many people here willing to help. When it does come time to make a decision to build and chose components, you won't find a better group of guys to assist you. We will help you chose the best components for your needs, help you find the best prices and put it all together. I hope you stick around long enough to see that building your own system is the best option, period. Not to mention it would make a great hobby for your retirement. :D