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Need A Good Graphics Card
Hey wats up all, I'm buying a new Inspiron Dell fully loaded, but the graphics card they offer doesn't seem good at all (Radeon HD 2400 Pro Graphics Media Card). I am good with computers but don't know what to look for when it comes to a video card, can someone help? Also, if anyone knows of any good graphics cards that i can get for under $100 (Preferably at BestBuy), if they wouldn't mind sharing?!
Thanks!
Comments
can anyone help?
Actually you are in luck due to the rescent price wars between GPU manufacturers and the heated competition. Yes a dell HD2400 is crap, also chances are the Power Supply won't be sufficient to support a good video card. Make sure in the pre-select you choose a power supply with atleast 500w of power.
If you want a descent videocard under $100 you won't find it at best buy unless they are having a clearance sale on good video card. Unfortunetly they don't. So I dug around at Newegg for the best one for under $100. Here are some suggestions. Also these are Open Box items, so you will have to download the drivers from nVidia or ATI which is what you want to do anyway.
Open Box MSI 9600GT OC $87.62
Open Box Sapphire HD3870 $86.27
After more reading. Dell is shit. You should pick a better manufacturer if you don't know how to build yourself. You should pick one that atleast lets you pick your power supply since for a video card it will be important. Like getting one of the premades off newegg or tigersdirect.com
If you *have* to buy Dell, try and find a comperably priced and specced XPS. That GPU is poop for running games. So Inspiron we're talking somewhere in the $1,000-$1,400 range for a new one with some decent trimmings? I think also that the Inspirons have a 300W PSU which will limit you, whereas an XPS I think comes with a 375W standard which will give you more options without having to upgrade your PSU. If I can't convince you to go with something other than a Dell, or at least a Dell XPS system then we'll see what we can do with that Inspiron.
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"Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places..." ~ H.P.Lovecraft, "From Beyond"
Member Since March 2004
The 3870 is about 15-30% faster then the 9600GT in most benchmarks, get the 3870 for $86, more performance for the same price just about.
Who let you in the VIP section?
I like AMD, but the HD3870 only performs marginally better then the 9600GT.
Meh I am bias when it comes to hardware. I don't hold one company or another as a favorite. I tend to go where the better hardware is always. Unless the differences are marginal then I go for price/performance.
Who let you in the VIP section?
Thanks all for replys..haha and ya..i cant get an xps at the moment, although that would be pretty sweet.
Its honestly not my choice to get inspiron but heres what i got, just need a good graphics card to go with it, i know u said newegg has some good ones, but in regards to bestbuy again, whats the cheapest good video card they have. I did look at the one at newegg too which is real nice, just for convenience really getting it at bestbuy. Thanks
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E7200 (3MB L2, 2.53 GHZ, 1066FSB)
Windows Vista, 4g ram and am just looking for a graphics card that would work
I wouldn't recommend buying a card from Bestbuy. They are known to overcharge quite a bit, and also sell alot of items that don't work and will require you to exchange them once or more before you find one that does work.
I also don't recommend any card lower than an Nvidia 8800gt / 9600gt or an ATI 3850, and the 512mb version of each. You will probably be dissapointed by any weaker cards, and these are the real bang for your buck deals right now. For a little more money you get cards that are 2x - 5x faster than the next lower models.
If you are willing to buy it online and pay a little over $100, newegg.com has this Asus 8800gt 512mb for $119 and it isn't showing me any added price for ups 3 day shipping, so the shipping may be free right now.
It also comes with a free copy of Alone in the Dark.
This would be my recommended purchase. The 8800gt 512 is a great card, and for 120 bucks it is an unbeatable value.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121263
haha ok then nvm about bestbuy ! thanks though, appreciate advice
thats a real nice card, would this comp i just got be able to support it?
I cannot ethically recommend best buy. You are paying $90 for a $30 graphics card thats over a year old, particularly the HD2400. Its an entry level card for its generation and will have trouble supporting even medium range 3D. If you order from Newegg and Dell at the same time, you will get the graphics card before the Dell Machine arrives. In this situation I don't think you should sacrafice quality for convinience since the quality difference is so huge.
If you want to know a store to shop at instead of ordering online, you might wanna try Fry's Electronics or CompUSA since you will get a better quality video card for the money. Here is a small list of where video cards rank and what you should be looking for from top to bottom. I don't recommend buying a video card off this list if you want a "good" video card. Also you will most likely need a new power supply since the one on the Inspiron won't be able to power any card better then what is listed as choices.
Oh, i didn't realise that the power supply would be so weak.
You might have a hard time getting a card that will run off that. The 8800gt's require a 400 watt power supply minimum, and over 28 amps on the 12v rail.
If you have no idea about 12v rail amps which i didn't, you can check this great list at guru3d that gives the 12v amps for a bunch of name brand power supplies.
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=205763
If you buy an off brand power supply, no matter how many watts it says it is, it will most likely be junk and fail you.
CleffyII gave some great recommendations, but i always worry about open-box items. They are definately worth the price, but if you can afford a little over $100 i would recommend you buy a retail because you cannot exchange open-box items and you only have 15 days to get a refund, plus all open-box items from newegg have some form of physical defect (scratches / dents etc.) It could end up a hastle for you.
I guess this is probably coming out to be more than you planned to deal with, and most likely will cost more than you hoped, hehe. Yeah, pc's are a pain in the ass sometimes, lol.
No wonder Dell and the companies like it make so much money. But you really do save a ton building them yourself, and end up with a much better machine.
ya i kno i recieved it as a gift though and have it now,, so i was trying to make the best of it
is the power supply upgradable, or am i stuck with it
Ohh forgot an important question. Is it a slim-case? The Inspiron has 1 slim-case in its lineup. If so you are really screwed on video card.
If you can upgrade the power supply, i say go for it.
A crappy PSU can cause alot of problems, black screens, pc reboots, bad performance or it can totally go out and take other pc parts with it.
Video cards have gotten pretty power hungry, and having a PSU just a little too weak either in watts or amps can cause any good graphics card to perform like crap.
I think with the PSU his Dell is coming with that he wont be able to run the 8800 series, I am not sure about the 9600 he may be ok on that. Two other nvidia cards worth mentioning are the 7900 and 7950 gx2 series older but still great cards and close to the performance of the 8800. I doubt that he will be able to run the 7950 Gx2 though, but maybe I am wrong. i cant remember wether it was the 7900 or 7950 that had power management issues.
I said in my above post that Dell Inspirons come with a 300W PSU! So no, he's going to have a time finding a decent GPU to throw in there without upgrading it. Yes ApsPlace you can probably upgrade your PSU, but it's a little more involved than snapping in a new GPU. Put a decent 400W PSU in there instead...
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"Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places..." ~ H.P.Lovecraft, "From Beyond"
Member Since March 2004