Video Card Advice

I am running a Dell Dimension E520 desktop computer with the following:
Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 - 32 bit
Intel Pentium D CPU 2.80 GHz
2GB RAM
NVIDIAŽ GeForceŽ 7300 LE 128MB
250 GB Harddrive
Comcast Economy Internet - 1.5 Mbs (I think - but I have experienced the same problems when I had the next higher speed too)
D-Link Modem
Linksys Router WRT54G

I've had to turn off all of the animations/features in Windows Vista to keep it from being slow. I think my issue is that I need to upgrade my video card but I'm not positive. Other issues I have include: watching a movie (file) from hard drive might skip if I have other programs open (including just firefox accessing a graphics intensive website), video download freezes at various websites including YouTube, and I am unable to install/play modern computer games (ex: Overlord 3, The Witcher).

So I think I need a video card upgrade. Do you agree? If so, which video card should I buy as an upgrade? It will obviously need to be compatible with the rest of my setup. Dell's support site has one option to upgrade for my video card. They recommend: VisionTEK Radeon HD 2600 PRO 512 MB DDR2 PCI Express Graphics Card for $115.99.

Is this a good recommendation? I have no idea how often they update their recommendations for old desktop computers.

I don't have a price range I need it to cost but I don't think I need a top of the line video card. Of course I would be interested in a slick deal on a compatible card. Let me know what you think.

You need to know if your card is PCI-e or AGP. Most likely you have PCI-e, in which case most current cards should be better than your old 7300.

ASUS nVidia GT220 $50 AR and FS.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6814121347

This card will be leaps and bounds better than the HD 2600 that Dell recommends.

check you system performance under control panel system and see what it says about your card also make sure you have the latest drivers. I have a PC with 2 GB of RAM using onboard video with a quad core processor and it works fine?

I dont think your problem is due to your video card for the most part. It sounds to me much more like a combination of lack of ram, and windows clutter over time. Was your computer faster when you first got it? Did you ever have this problem then? What your describing for the other problems with the system is pretty classic for RAM issues. Now the slow aero interface is more of a graphics issues but the switching between applications is not a graphics issue.

If this was me I would do the following, Backup my important files and format the PC. Reinstall the OS and drivers and then test to see if your problems improve, they should. Since it sounds like your doing alot of multiasking I would look at adding another gb of memory (you may have to buy a 2gb stick and then run with one of the 2, 1gb sticks you have now if you only have 2 slots). Then after the memory and format upgrade the video card if necessary.

Upgrade to Flash 10.1 as well with your new card - it should support hardware H.264 acceleration with most newer cards which offloads a lot off your CPU. Your old card is not supported and your older CPU isn't up to the task of higher quality Flash videos.

I wouldn't spend too much on the system though, given its age... but the 2GB of memory is also rather limiting.

Quote from rustynail1978 : You need to know if your card is PCI-e or AGP. Most likely you have PCI-e, in which case most current cards should be better than your old 7300. ASUS nVidia GT220 $50 AR and FS. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6814121347 This card will be leaps and bounds better than the HD 2600 that Dell recommends.

Nice choice.

video card recommendation:

9400GT if you don't have the dual-rail 305w power supply, GT220 if you do (or have an aftermarket one that's at least as good as it)

dell's btx form factor case requires video card to be a single-slot wide card. if the heat sink/fan on it would still cover up an adjacent slot when installed in an atx system, you need to compare its hsf position with available space inside.. see pic.. that card *barely* fit before running into the cpu heatsink/shroud.

[imageshack.us]

you'll probably want to zip-tie a low-rpm fan to the inside of the back of the case (what the white is in the upper-right of the above picture, a quiet 80mm fan inside some fan bracket from a really old case, zip-tied to the back on the inside).

the card above is a 9500GT with GDDR3 memory in a dell system with same form factor, btx, and the 305w dual-rail power supply. does generate a noticeable amount of heat under the desk when it is on compared to an identical-but-without-video-card system that sits next to it.


memory upgrade:

add another GB or two of RAM. note that with 32 bit version of windows, most installed memory over 3GB is not usable by windows.. but if 2x1gb kit is the most cost effective option, no reason not to get that anyway.


internet speed:

1.5mbit download speed is barely fast enough for standard-resolution streaming video from sites like hulu.com. it works, it's what i have at work, but you won't be watching any hi-res or HD resolution streaming video unless you let it all buffer first.


other stuff

check your system for spyware/malware/viruses, and any unneeded startup programs.

i run vista on 2gb on a comparable system (little faster 1st-gen dual core athlon but lesser on-board graphics).. i don't have to turn off any of the aero eye candy that's in vista to run it... and it runs well, including streaming videos, video off the hdd, and even some gaming (up to something like HL2).

Thanks for all of the responses so far.

Quote from rustynail1978 : You need to know if your card is PCI-e or AGP. Most likely you have PCI-e, in which case most current cards should be better than your old 7300. ASUS nVidia GT220 $50 AR and FS. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6814121347 This card will be leaps and bounds better than the HD 2600 that Dell recommends.

I'm pretty sure my card is PCI-e based on this webpage I found: http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce_7300.html.
This seems like a pretty good option for me so far.

Quote from komondor : check you system performance under control panel system and see what it says about your card also make sure you have the latest drivers. I have a PC with 2 GB of RAM using onboard video with a quad core processor and it works fine?

Yeah I don't know why my computer is like this. Ever since I first bought it I had to dial back the animation features on Windows Vista so that it would work more smoothly. Here's what my performance/Windows Experience Index says:
Your computer has a Windows Experience Index base score of 3.1.
Processor: 4.7
Memory (RAM): 5.6
Graphics: 3.6
Gaming graphics: 3.1
Primary hard disk: 5.3
(let me know if you're interested in the detailed report)

Based on these scores I assumed my 2 GB RAM was fine, but maybe I should look in to upgrading to 3GB or 4GB.

Quote from LiquidRetro : I dont think your problem is due to your video card for the most part. It sounds to me much more like a combination of lack of ram, and windows clutter over time. Was your computer faster when you first got it? Did you ever have this problem then? What your describing for the other problems with the system is pretty classic for RAM issues. Now the slow aero interface is more of a graphics issues but the switching between applications is not a graphics issue. If this was me I would do the following, Backup my important files and format the PC. Reinstall the OS and drivers and then test to see if your problems improve, they should. Since it sounds like your doing alot of multiasking I would look at adding another gb of memory (you may have to buy a 2gb stick and then run with one of the 2, 1gb sticks you have now if you only have 2 slots). Then after the memory and format upgrade the video card if necessary.

Good advice. I think these issues date back to when I bought the computer. I'll consider the Windows reinstall which is always good advice (but a huge pain to do). I think I have 2 1GB sticks now. Just to clarify you're saying to buy one 2GB stick and replace one of the 1GB sticks with that new 2GB stick? Any compatibility issues I need to worry about there? Should I buy that 2GB from Dell or does it not really matter?

Also, I went into device manager and told it to update my driver (automatically via the internet) for the video card and it says it is all up to date.

Quote from lazybadger : I think I have 2 1GB sticks now. Just to clarify you're saying to buy one 2GB stick and replace one of the 1GB sticks with that new 2GB stick? Any compatibility issues I need to worry about there? Should I buy that 2GB from Dell or does it not really matter?

pop the side cover and look.... it could have shipped with 2x1gb or 4x512mb modules (possible, but the less likely of the two configurations).. either way you want still want the same 2x1gb upgrade... either adding to two empty slots (for 4gb total) or replacing 2x512mb (for total of 3gb instead of 4gb).


doesn't matter where you get the memory as long as you buy a reputable brand from a reputable vendor... i have kingston and crucial in our dells, bought from newegg, kingston (direct) or amazon... match the same speed, the bios memory info page should tell you what speed you have now. usually ddr2-800 will work in systems that take slower memory.. but we have some prescott and smithfield-based dells that won't take memory faster than ddr2-667.

Quote from rustynail1978 : You need to know if your card is PCI-e or AGP. Most likely you have PCI-e, in which case most current cards should be better than your old 7300. ASUS nVidia GT220 $50 AR and FS. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6814121347 This card will be leaps and bounds better than the HD 2600 that Dell recommends.

I was just researching this video card that was recommended. It looks like a good one. Any reason I shouldn't spend the extra $10 and the ASUS GT240 for $60 AR + $7.56 shipping? It seems more powerful, will this one suit my current setup as well?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6814121353

Without more RAM and a better processor, you will only see video improvement up to a point before your system starts holding the video card back. An nVidia 8600GTS series would be a good cheap-and-proven solution, and not be too much of a heat or power load on your system. These can be found pretty cheaply online or via ebay/craigslist. You shouldn't need to pay more than $25 or so for one.

The GT220 as mentioned above would be a good solution too but be wary of paying any more than $50. If you need certain outputs (2x DVI, HDMI, etc) you'll need to do some research because there are a huge variety of options out there for any of our suggestions.

Everything said above is good advice! Had to edit my reply more than once because someone beat me to the punch! But I do feel like you might have some system hardware issues that are holding back your performance even more than just video (though video would be a good investment). That said, I would also recommend:

running chkdsk c: /f from a command line to do some checking and housecleaning on your hard drive. You'll need to say yes and restart the computer to run it. If you see errors like "bad sector" or pages and pages of errors... you may need a new drive or further investigation.
airdust/vacuum your case interior and power supply/heatsink
touch the exposed metal surfaces of your heatsink (if reachable) and hard drive. You should be able to hold your fingers against them- if they are extremely hot, you may have overheating issues.

Quote from 2cheap4retail : video card recommendation: 9400GT if you don't have the dual-rail 305w power supply, GT220 if you do (or have an aftermarket one that's at least as good as it) dell's btx form factor case requires video card to be a single-slot wide card. if the heat sink/fan on it would still cover up an adjacent slot when installed in an atx system, you need to compare its hsf position with available space inside.. see pic.. that card *barely* fit before running into the cpu heatsink/shroud. [imageshack.us] you'll probably want to zip-tie a low-rpm fan to the inside of the back of the case (what the white is in the upper-right of the above picture, a quiet 80mm fan inside some fan bracket from a really old case, zip-tied to the back on the inside). the card above is a 9500GT with GDDR3 memory in a dell system with same form factor, btx, and the 305w dual-rail power supply. does generate a noticeable amount of heat under the desk when it is on compared to an identical-but-without-video-card system that sits next to it. memory upgrade: add another GB or two of RAM. note that with 32 bit version of windows, most installed memory over 3GB is not usable by windows.. but if 2x1gb kit is the most cost effective option, no reason not to get that anyway. internet speed: 1.5mbit download speed is barely fast enough for standard-resolution streaming video from sites like hulu.com. it works, it's what i have at work, but you won't be watching any hi-res or HD resolution streaming video unless you let it all buffer first. other stuff check your system for spyware/malware/viruses, and any unneeded startup programs. i run vista on 2gb on a comparable system (little faster 1st-gen dual core athlon but lesser on-board graphics).. i don't have to turn off any of the aero eye candy that's in vista to run it... and it runs well, including streaming videos, video off the hdd, and even some gaming (up to something like HL2).

Blah, BTX form factor is so lame.

The only upside is that you can use ATX power supplies... modding the fan shroud shoudln't be too much of an issue.

Quote from jameswross : Blah, BTX form factor is so lame. The only upside is that you can use ATX power supplies... modding the fan shroud shoudln't be too much of an issue.

Dell used to (may not now) switch one pin on the ATX power connector so if you tried to use a non-dell PSU in your machine it would torch your motherboard... That was a fun discovery for several of my clients. =D

The new ATI 6000* series g-cards are coming out soon so the 5000* series will be going down in price, might as well wait just a bit longer.