New graphics Card query

Thinking of upgrading my graphics card, as I do not get a high fps anymore, even after altering graphics settings and doing everything that I have read about settings.

I have a nvidia 7300LE turbocache 512mb 128 dedicated.

pc is Windows xp, Dell Dimension E520 duo core, 2.6 processors, 2gb ram. Runs sl perfectly well but the card I think needs upgrading.

If I upgrade to a geforce 9800Gt or GTX with 1gb memory, will this increase my performance on sl and fps?

I think the 9800 is in my price range.

You will see a big difference. The 7300 is Nvidia's low end model from four generations ago. The 9800 is the high end card for the last generation of Nvidia GPUs. It has 4 times the memory bandwidth, faster memory (and does not steal system memory like the Turbocache system does), and has more processing cores.

You should have no problems running on high-ultra settings on a 9800 card.

You will probably need to upgrade the power supply to run a 9800GTX.

Good point. 9800GT requires 400 watts, GTX requires 450. Your stock unit should be 305.

Thanks for that point Veritable, and I was aware that maybe the power supply needs increasing, as I think the Dell have 300, Will point this out to my pc man.

Think I need to have a look on ebay for best choice of price.

Now this a weird one, i know people have the 9800GTX 1gb memory, but cannot find this on nvidia site only 512. There is a 9800 GX2 with 1gb memory?

The Nvidia reference design has 512 MB memory. Card makers may add more memory.

Take a look here for models with 1 GB memory.

Its hard to get hold of 9800 GTX now, so looking for the 260 GTX,

Is there any make of nvidia geforce cards to stay well away from
I'm seeing different brands, Asus, Gigabyte, Zotac, and many more Pilat.

Any to stay clear away from.

I don't have brand recommenations but be sure to get the current GTX260 with 216 processing cores instead of the older 192 core model. The old ones should be very hard to find now, but check.

If you look up the cards on Newegg, they usually have some pretty good reviews on the different makes.

Your Dell may not require a power supply upgrade.

Go to the DELL FORUMS and search the forum for your PC type and "Video card upgrade" or even the model number of the card.

I have the 420XPS it comes with a 350watt power supply but yet it can run the 9800GT without a problem, including an upgrade CPU from 2 core to 4 cores and 8 gigs of ram.

The DELL FORUMs specifically said as posted by a Dell tech support agent that my XPS could handle certain cards with its 350 watt power supply and they may have the same information for your machine.

The reviews are sometimes horribly misleading and just create useless fear.

When looking for video card all i kept reading from the reviews were things like "Card didn't fit in my case", "Card is huge", "card covers a slot", and so on. Nothing but things that confused me and made me apprehensive.

The best thing is just go for what has the best RATING and maybe peruse the reviews. However, the video card i ordered had more than one person saying the card was TOO BIG for their machines and how huge the card was but yet in my XPS there was plenty of room and nowhere close to being hard to fit.

That is a good point...I tend to read the reviews and discard those that either say "This sux cuz i didn't read the specs before i bought it" or "ATI ROCKS!!!!!!!!! Nvidiots sux!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and use the more intellegent reviews to make a decision. The more reviews a product has, the easier it is to use the scale at the top to make a decision.

Well the 9800GTX+ is a big card. It fit in my machine, but barely (I could have moved my 8 in 1 card reader had it been necessary but I didn't have to). It also is fat......and it does cover the slot directly below it when installed in the computer (that slot for me is a PCI slot which I have 4 with only two populated so not a problem for me). And the power supply requirements for that card is 450 watts minimum (I believe the 9800 GT is 400 watts.....but won't swear to that). I don't doubt a 350 watt ps will work but for how long I do have doubts about...........over loaded power supplies get hotter than they are designed to get and heat kills electronic components over time. The problem with taking a chance on running a card that requires more wattage than your power supply can sustain is that when the power supply fails (which it eventually will) it often produces spikes in voltages...........not only is the card in question at risk so are almost every other hardware device installed in the machine.

Dell tech support actually posted a list of cards that the XPS 420 could use without upgrading the power supply. If it was going to cause peoples machines to go down, i doubt Dell would want that extra head ache of modders sending their machines back because they failed after doing a tech support recommended upgrade.

What i suspect is that there is a discrepancy between what the card manufacturer says the requirements are versus what the requirements really are. And whatever the actual requirements, Dell feels safe and confident enough to tell their tech support that putting a 9800GT into a box with a 350PS is A-OK.

I've also had a computer in my life everyday since December 85 starting with a Macintosh 128k, and i have never had a computer with a power supply go bad, ever - 24 years of solid power supply's, so i feel safe in saying i will probably never experience a bad power supply unless it fails out of the box in the machine.

The video card manufacturer assumes that you are using every PCI slot in your computer and using a power-hungry CPU. They do add on a bit to their requirements to account for fully-loaded systems.

If the Dell techs say it's OK, I would believe them. You can also get a more realistic estimate of your power needs by going to http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp and putting in your system details.

If the hardware device is specifically listed as being okay to use (that is a warranty) then go ahead and use it............if the power supply fails, taking your video card, half your memory modules, your CPU and catches your hard drive on fire then Dell is going to replace it all. It might be that nVidia over states the requirements for their cards.........for obvious reasons about replacing damaged devices plus the card if the power supply fails due to some overload. I just wanted to point out operating any electronic device out of it's designed requirements can (and often does) result in problems. My point to posting what I posted is to counter what could have been taken as a statement that a 350 watt power supply (any 350 watt power supply) is plenty for a video with published minimum requirements that are higher.

I wonder if Dell would warrant my 9800GTX+ on their machines? It's minimum requirement is 450 watt. It's up to you. It's your computer. I just wouldn't do it myself. I wouldn't recommend anyone else doing it either. I guess I've not been as lucky as you with my power supplies...........I have one fail for no apparrent reason. And one fail because I over loaded it. I've also had a few computers in my lifetime.......most of which I've built myself.