Best possible video card for my computer!?

Question

Hi I need help(not a surprise) with my computer, I need to know what the best possible card is for my computer here are my specs

Windows: Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2(soon to be 3)
Memory (RAM): 767 MB
CPU Info: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz
CPU Speed: 2390.9 MHz
Sound card: SoundMAX Digital Audio
Display Adapters: RADEON 7500 SERIES | RADEON 7500 SERIES | NetMeeting driver | RDPDD Chained DD
Monitors: 1
Screen Resolution: 1024 X 768 - 32 bit
Network: Network Present
Network Adapters: D-Link WDA-2320 Desktop Adapter - Packet Scheduler Miniport
CD / DVD Drives: D: LITEON DVD-ROM LTD163 | E: MagicISOVirtual DVD-ROM
Mouse: 5 Button Wheel Mouse Present
Hard Disks: C: 37.2GB
Hard Disks - Free: C: 4.9GB
Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
Product Make: OptiPlex GX260
AC Power Status: OnLine
BIOS Info: AT/AT COMPATIBLE | 11/01/04 | DELL - 9
Motherboard: Dell Computer Corp. 02X378
Power Supply: 400W
Slot: PCI

Plox help meh D:

Answer 1

Well, there are 3 different models of the GX260.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/opgx260/en/ug/index.htm



Do you have the minitower? I'm assuming so, because you've listed a 400W power supply (which must have been upgraded at some point, the factory Dell power supplies are much weaker).



The best AGP cards on the market are the Radeon 4670 and Radeon 3850. Their performance is almost identical. In your case it won't matter which you get, because your computer's AGP slot is only 4X, anyway. The 4670 is newer and draws less power.



http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-HD3850-512MB-Graphics/dp/B00145CQUC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1267022394&sr=8-1



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161284&cm_re=radeon_4670_agp-_-14-161-284-_-Product



Good luck!

Answer 2

That's hardly a computer that would entitle someone to call themselves "King Gamer" lol.



C-Man is correct about the the HD 3850 and HD 4670 as the best AGP cards out there but jeez, those cards cost over $100 each and won't perform that well because AGP bottlenecks them. Also, your 400W power supply is not strong enough for the 3850, it's only strong enough for the 4670. This system upgrade would be a better option:



CPU: AMD Sempron 140 2.7GHz - $33

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103698

Motherboard: Foxconn M61PMP-K AM3 - $47 (-$7 mail-in-rebate=$40)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186189

RAM: 2GB (1X2GB) Crucial DDR3-1333MHz - $50

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148221



Total Cost: $130 (-$7 mail-in-rebate=$123)



This would completely change your computer to a platform that is fully up to date with a much faster CPU and RAM. It would also give you a PCI-Express v2.0 slot which is key because:



ATi Radeon HD 4670 1GB AGP - $123

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161284



So the slow AGP version of the HD 4670 costs as much as the full system upgrade by itself and would be completely bottlenecked by not only the AGP slot but your ancient 32-bit Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz CPU. In addition to that, no card weaker than an ATi Radeon HD 4870 or nVidia GeForce GTX 260, even in PCI-Express v2.0 form, is powerful enough to play games in situations where it would use more than 512MB of RAM. Now, check THIS out:



ATi Radeon HD 4670 512MB PCI-Express v2.0 - $63

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814141114



The PCI-Express v2.0 card, which has EIGHT TIMES the bandwidth of AGP 8x, is about HALF the price of the AGP card with the same GPU. This card would slaughter the AGP card and if you had the CPU I recommended which is a 64-bit chip at 2.7GHz, the card wouldn't get bottlenecked! The total to actually turn your computer into a system that can actually play real games is $193. Any money you spend on one of those AGP cards will be a complete waste! Look at it this way, you can spend $123 and still not be able to play anything properly or you can spend less than 50% more and not only play games properly but have a system that will feel like a total rocket to you. You will have more than DOUBLED your CPU processing power and more than TRIPLED your memory clock speed. Not a bad way to spend $60, definite bargain eh?



Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz:

Passmark Score: 322

Passmark Rank: 740th in the world, listed near the bottom in low-end CPUs

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Pentium+4+2.40GHz



AMD Sempron 140 2.4GHz:

Passmark Score: 887

Passmark Rank: 443rd in the world, listed at the top of low-mid-range CPUs

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=AMD+Sempron+140

Answer 3

If you can’t find the right video drivers manually I would recommend just getting a software program that can do it for you. There is a program I use which will find drivers for just about all hardware devices. The best part is it takes a snapshot of your system specifications and matches the right driver to go with it. Perform a free driver scan at:

http://www.drivers-updates.net/drivers/video-card-drivers-download.html

You can also search by the following link:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/

Answer 4

it is tricky to tell you if it is reliable or no longer. reliable relies upon on meant use. A 240 is a noticeably reliable card and could play maximum video games released around 2008 at ideal settings. greater present day video games will require lesser graphical settings with that card. it is quite no longer undesirable hardware. it is basically elderly.