Advice Needed!!

Ooroboros

Hey guys, for the past 3 years I've been using my dinky little Dell Inspirion to play WoW, Aion, and other games that don't require a super amazing video card. I'm fairly new to all of this so I need some advice. I just opened up my old 2005 Compaq Presario. It has an Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE graphics card, as well as a PCIEx16 slot. The processor is an AMD Athlon 64. I plan on buying this card to plug into the PCI Express x16 slot. Can anyone give me their opinion on this before I spend the money? Again I'm new to this, and any advice would be great before I make a huge mistake.

syntax42

That might be an upgrade, but it is time to replace the entire system if you plan on gaming with it.  No upgrades can really make your system play modern games.

 

If you really want a gaming desktop, plan to spend $400 for a low-end system.  If you can afford to spend $800+, you should be able to get a fairly good system if you don't include peripherals and a monitor.

Epicent

I would definetely NOT get that card. To be honest with you you REALLY need to upgrade your system. What you have is horrible. If you are new to all this its best to do some research. As a general rule of thumb look at your graphics card, processor and ram if you are just starting out. That card is ddr2. you want at least ddr3 and preferably ddr5. And get at least a gig of the stuff (on the video card). get at least 4 gigs of ram minimum (id get at least 8 personally). get a 64 bit operating system because 32 bit systems will utilize no more than 4 gigs of ram. For processors get at least an i5 3.2 ghz. although even an i3 would be a huge upgrade to what you have. bottom line you could go to a computer store right now and lay down 500 bucks and what you would get would blow that rig out of the water.

Epicent

also dont pay attention to the reviews on that link. Notice they are from 2008 which makes them extremely obselete. sorry if this is a double post.

Ooroboros

Thank you both for the feedback, I'm a college student with a low budget haha..

Just to be clear though, even if I bought a decent card, it still wouldn't make a good improvement?

Epicent

Originally posted by Ooroboros

Thank you both for the feedback, I'm a college student with a low budget haha..

Just to be clear though, even if I bought a decent card, it still wouldn't make a good improvement?

we dont have alot of info about your system but i think its a pretty safe assumption saying no. I dont believe that is a gaming computer since its using onboard graphics and even my girlfriends old xps from that year is complete crap now. (Only a gig of ram, small harddrive, horrible graphics card etc.) also keep in mind you have to see how many watts tyour power supply is.

Quizzical

The card of the original post is a huge waste of money.  Even if you wanted to upgrade to something decidedly low end, you'd be better off with this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102882

That's both a lot faster and also a lot cheaper.  Be warned that "a lot faster" does not actually mean "fast", however.  For comparison, a Radeon HD 7970 has 2048 shaders, a GeForce GTX 680 has 1536 shaders, the Radeon HD 5450 that I linked has 80 shaders, the Radeon HD 3450 of the original post has 40, and a GeForce 6150 that the original poster has today has 3.  No, that last number isn't missing any digits.

Really, though, if you want a viable gaming rig, you should be looking at replacement, not upgrade.  Even a $500 budget can get you something that will last you for some years, especially when you're used to low end performance.

syntax42

If you can assemble a PC, this one is $407 and should play games on low to medium settings.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1271055

 

You will need to buy an operating system and install a CD drive so you can install the OS.  

jdnewell

If you are on a budget then get the card that Quizzical linked and pop in there. It will do until you can get a new system and will be better than what you have.