Graphics card for dell dimension 3100?

Question

Graphics card for dell dimension 3100?

Answer 1

hi dean

ive looked at the dell dimension 3100 and you have a problem since it only supports a pci-express x1 slot and a legacy pci bus slot.... and the card you have mentioned requires a pci-express x16 slot which your pc does not support

so what are you options... well not much to be honest,however there are some graphic cards that support the pci-express x1 slot... however you need to be aware because of the smaller slot size the performance will not be as good as pci-express x16 graphic cards

so what cards can you buy... well first theres the "Club 3D GeForce 210 PCI-E X1 Edition Graphics card"( http://www.trusthardware.co.uk/products.asp?partno=CGNX-212YLIX1 ) .. and this is also a low profile card that means it has a small bracket so it will fit in small form factor cases

also it will happily run with your 250w psu... however you will need to lower detail on most games and also the resolution....but it will run the games you stated without any problems

the next card i recommend is the "ATI FireMV 2250 Graphics card - low profile - 256 MB - DDR2 SDRAM"( http://www.scan.co.uk/products/256mb-ati-firemv-2250-pci-e-%28x1%29-gddr2-dms-59-s-video-sff-oem?utm_source=google+shopping&utm_medium=google+shopping ) and allthough this is not officially a gaming card its still a excellent card especially for a pci-express x1 card

in terms of performance this will run the games you mentioned and will be fine with your 250w psu... allthough your close to borderline in terms of power

another option would be to use the pci bus .. thats the long white slot found on all motherboards and you can also buy graphic cards supporting this slot....

one of the best pci based cards is the "Zotac ZT-62LEH2N-HSL GF 6200LE 512MB PCI DDR2 Silent Graphics Card"( http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0051NIVN4/ref=asc_df_B0051NIVN45679787?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B0051NIVN4 ) ... this supports shader model 3.0 and will run games like team fortress 2 ect but again you will need to run at lower detail and resolution ....

you can also get the "PNY Geforce 8400GS / 512MB / PCI / Graphics Card"( http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/9556293/PNY-Geforce-8400GS-512MB-PCI-Graphics-Card/Product.html ) which to be honest is probally your best overall bet..... this may be one of the slower geforce 8000 series card,however compared to other pci based cards its one of the fastest

and running games like team fortress 2 and terraria you will be able to run these smoothly at low to medium detail.... which is good for a pci based video card

all these will be fine with your dell dimension 3100,however i would have the recommend the last one namely the geforce 8400gs...... this is about the best pci card you can buy and will run with the 250w psu in your pc.....

i hope this helps dean,any questions let me know

good luck mate and happy xmas !

Answer 2

Dell Dimension 3100 Power Supply

Answer 3

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Answer 4

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Answer 5

i would have concerns about the power consumption of todays newer cards. The 5450 is a lower power consumption card, there are pro's and con's in this upgrade.



If pushed to full bore the card will likely draw more power than your pc can handle, depending on the number of devices installed. Hdd's cd roms, even usb devices all play into this. I think the 5450 is rated at around 50 watts. Some manufacturers recommend around 400 watt power supplys with this card. But that all depends on the rest of your hardware as well.



on the other hand, the processor is slow enough that it probably will not ever allow the gpu to go all out and require that much power.



The card you picked will most likely work fine. The pci ports are all backwardes compatible so a 2.0 card will run in a 1.0 slot. But its also more card than the rest of your pc can handle, so you will not be getting the maximum benefit by doing this upgrade.



If it were me id save your money for a whole pc upgrade. Pentium 4's are more or less crippled by facebook games anymore. let alone standalone games.



You can find second generation i3 machines these days for 400 dollars or less.

Answer 6

The Dell Dimension 3100 is something of an oddity. It doesn't have a PCI-E x16 slots for graphics cards. It also doesn't have the older AGP slot. Instead, it has a PCI-E x1 slot and a couple of really ancient PCI slots. It also has a weak 250W power supply.



http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim3100/en/sm/specs0.htm



So the best you can install is a PCI-E x1 graphics card. Unfortunately, VERY few of those exist.



A GeForce GT 520 is about as good as it gets, for around $60:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500233



The GT 520 (which is just an updated version of the GT 220) is better than more expensive PCI-E x1 models like the Radeon HD 5450. And it runs fine on a 250W power supply. Power consumption is slightly lower than the older GeForce GT 220, so your total system power draw is well below 200 watts:



http://www.techspot.com/review/244-ati-radeon-hd-5450/page9.html



In terms of performance, a GT 520 is far better than a Radeon HD 5450, GeForce 210 or the absolutely dreadful GeForce 8400GS (that old card is horribly slow- useless for gaming):

http://www.techspot.com/review/244-ati-radeon-hd-5450/page7.html



I agree with the first poster, it's really not worth spending more than $60 trying to upgrade a machine like that. Single-core Pentium 4 processors are so outdated and slow, that even Facebook is a struggle. I'd recommend getting a new computer with a dual-core CPU, it would perform far better.