6200se to 6800 upgrade help

Please can someone help me? I just recently bought a new HP pavillion tower for multimedia purposes and game playing. One of the problems I am seeing is I have a nice computer but a horrible video card. Here are my specs:

HP Pavillion d4100y
Windows XP (home edition)
Pentium ® D 940
3.2GHz, 4MB, 800MHz
2GB DDR2-667MHz dual channel SDRAM (2x1024)
NVIDIA Geforce 6200se

Any type of program that involves rich graphics crashes this brand new computer. Simple programs like Adobe Photoshop 7, Adobe Premier, Microsoft word 2000 and even second life have caused bad crashes almost constantly. After the repeated hardware failures, I sent in the tower to have HP deal with it. Please keep in mind this is a 3 month old computer in my possession and has crashed since day one.

I talked to many people in SL about graphic cards and all tell me that my 6200se cannot handle what I am putting it through. I am no guru when it comes to computers and like eveyone else, just want to experience game time without crashes, data loss and constant reboot.

I was told to try and upgrade my graphics card to the NVIDIA Geforce 6800 GT but worry after reading so much bad reports about these cards if it will help my particular HP model. I ask this because I havent found a site that discusses comparrison/contrast between cards. For example, I found the 6800 line alright, but which do I use? Which would be best for my specs. listed above? I am so worried that after waiting for this computer to come back and installing a new video card will cause bad stresses. Would it be the:

6800
6800 GTX
6800 GT
6800 GS

For Second Life, it says to use a NVIDIA Geforce2, 4MX or better. It also says 6600 and an FX 5600 will work but I don't think I can use those on my tower.

As you can see by my post, I am horribly confused and am asking for help from anyone who can help a geeky gal out. I do not have the computer back yet but fear if I try these programs again without changing the card, I will cause damage and have to send it back again.
I think I can see how it works. This 6200se came with the computer I built online. According to the list I had to choose from while building this computer, the NVIDIA was the first and cheapest, the second was an ATI Radeon X1300 Pro and the third and best choice was the Radeon X 1600XT.
I am thinking maybe the NVIDIA isn't good for my computer seeing as the standard d4100y's came with the NVIDIA 6800 (but I dont know which) but since I built mine online and didn't know any better, I just settled on a standard card (1st choice).

Is there a way I can see a comparrison/contrast chart to help me safely decide the "RIGHT" upgrade for this set up?

Please help me someone!

Sara

I would buy an NVidia 7600GT or 7900GT, depending on budget, rather than any of the 6-series cards, because they have better support of the newest features.

I have no problem with budget (as high as 350.00) if it will ease worries. I was just thinking systematically. I have a 6200-thought I should stay within the 6000 series. I am just worried a 7000 will not work as I dont know if its compatable with my system. Would it matter if I put a 7600 GT in there? Thank you Shirley for the help! =D

Compatability shouldn't be an issue, any card from a 6800, 7800, 7900 from Nvidia or X1800 or X1900 from ATI will work just fine. Obviously depending on price some perform better than others however all will work just fine with SL. Find one that fits your budget and run with it. Have HP said they'll do the upgrade for you?

BTW www.tomshardware.com Very good site which includes periodically comparison charts for graphics cards.

Thank you Katier, I was really hoping you'd see this post. I will most assuredly go with the 7800. Now does it matter if its the GT, GTX or ? After I chat with you folks more about this, I will call HP and have them put the specified card in. As I said, online gaming is alien to me therefore I never knew the importance of video cards. Now I do, in fact I know more about my computer now than I ever did because of this crisis. Does it make a difference between the GT or GTX? I prefer the better of the two as budget is irrelevant. Thank you again Katier for answering my "batsignal".

I think the GTX is better than the GT.

What I have heard are some issues with the x800 series in SL. Some driver issues, but they may be fixed by now. the x600 (6600 and 7600) woork fine, as do the x900s.

The only thing you'll need to be careful of is making sure you get the right interface. They come in 2 flavours, AGP and PCI-e. Check what your PC uses before you buy. PCI-e is newer and better, but not all systems can use it.

Power Supply people.. you need to make sure that HP has a big enough power supply to handle any aftermarket graphics card. Most mass market computers come with just enough of a power supply to run and that's it. In fact it may be what is causing your crashing now as once you send high end graphics to any card, it consumes a lot more power. I can cause my huge battery backup to overload by running three instances of SL on one computer. You will need to ensure you have a big enough power supply to handle the card you put in. Check the card specs, it will tell you the size required. That HP likely has a 300 watt and to run a 7800 series card, I would say a 400 watt would be sufficient but you need to make sure.

Yes, its PCI express type. As for the power supply, I don't understand why that's an issue as this was not a store bought/mass market computer. Kath, please understand this was built online through a pick and choose selction of drop down menu's on HP's site. I don't think they'd build me a computer that wouldn't work? How would you check for power supply specs? Currently, the computer is in the shop getting fixed and I cannot physically access my computer. I was planning on calling them to install the new card. As I feared, this is getting more confusing.

I would advise against the 7800. I have one, a 7800 GT. It's a really nice card for most purposes BUT it won't show rippled water in SL. This has been discussed eleswhere here. It's not just me but rather is a generic issue with the 7000 Series of Nvidias.

Also I'm not sure Nividas and SL go together very well. I have an uber 15Mbs cable connec tion and an excellent custom gaming rig that cuts through ALL other online games at highest quality settings. BUT the performance I get from SL sux even at minimal quality settings..

It's specifically the 7800 (and the 6800 for that matter). My 6600 works fine with all features on, and the 7600 works too, just faster.

Unfortunatly anything made by HP is a mass market computer, you chose options just like buying a car and choosing the color or CD player. They build a lot of computers and they usually work well enough. The power supply is probably more than enough to run your computer the way it was when it was put together. A 6200se is not going to pull a lot of power compared to a 7800GTX card. It's like buying a compact car, the engine is fine to move the car around the way it should but if you decide to pull a heavy trailer, you need to make sure the engine can handle the strain. Power supply is the same way, it has to be big enough to handle the load.

usually, they will tell you the size of the power supply when you build/buy it. if it were in front of you, you could open the case and look at the label. With it at the shop, you may have to look up your computer specs or call Tech support. If they are installing the card, they may contact you and tell you you need a bigger PS but that isn't a sure thing.

HEY !! GOOD NEWS!!!

I was doing a search of the forums to check on whether the 7900 nvidia also has a rippled water problem. In doing so I stumbled upon a post in a thread that had a link to the latest NGO modified Nvidia driver. I took a chance and installed and I NOW GET RIPPLED WATER WITH MY 7800!

I'll go back and try to find that URL again and post it here. If your in a hurry for it do a search for "rippled" and "7900" and you will find it (I don't recall which search term turned up this driver - sorry)

Ok, so a possible increase of powersupply and the *7600/7800 GT seem to be the way to go? Now will this help with other games as well? I am just trying to prevent a possible upgrade prematurely when it could be solved now. If the *7600/7800 is reasonable, I would get that if it won't hurt my HP. It's because of problems like this I wonder if there is a system out there that can handle these applications. I figured this tower could handle most anything and seemed to get crippled by an "online" game. Only 3 months old in my possession and it has already been beaten. I know SL is big and gobbles up alot of memory, but so many people have less a set up that I have and run no problem. Even with the 6200se!!! I will look into the *7600/7800 GT and an increase of power. Thank you Kathmandu, Hok, Sio and Katier.

*= will get either or

Sara

upgrading from 6200se to 7800 does alot for games, for SL err so so, but compared to a 6200 yeah you will notice a diffrence.

6800/7800 has a water ripple issue?, o.O both mine work.

New powersupplies are usually way quieter/better then stock ones.

Thili, is there a card that works GOOD for SL? It seems SL is the one game that is hard to have a good experience in. If I can get a card that runs SL good, then other games shouldnt be a problem. I just dread getting a new card, waiting all that time for the computer only for someone to say "ohhhh you should of gotten blah, blah, blah, blah. Why didnt you say something before?" In my experience with computers, that has happened alot which is why I am taking this route-to avoid that mess! =-(

yeah i done that bought something and go why did i do that o.O , a 6800 card is prob the most okish card for SL as a 7800 wont do much for speed diffrence (i get a wopping 1.5fps diffrence on mine) , still to much handled by your processor vs vid card for SL, but theres hardly much price diffrence for a 7800 now, so that would be the one id choose, pref min 256mb ram on vid card.

-.-; i have yet to run into any troubles with my older 6800gt 256mb card for SL, but if you want to play newer games do get a 7800.

You MAY need a new PSU. Just ask the shop what PSU you currently have and we'll be able to advise.

Basically any model 6800/7800/7900 will work fine ( once we've verified your PSU ) and ust buy the one that fits your budget. The main benefit you'll get going up the models is increased performance. That will allow more eye candy, longer view distances etc.

I am absolutely in agreement with Kathmandu on this, crashes when running graphics-intensive software really point towards insufficient power. I struggled with this one for a long time until I put 2 and 2 together.

In my case I have a generic 450W power supply and while it ran my system internals OK, when I added a couple of cold-cathode lights to my case I found that it crashed in any app using OpenGL or Direct3D. I checked and noticed the 12 volt rail dropping as low as 11.1 volts, and 5 volt rail dropping to 4.75 or thereabouts! I haven't had an issue since turning off my case lights.

My system is noisy and I can actually HEAR it strain when it is under load - the fan spins up on the graphics card, indicating much higher power consumption.

So to add something constructive, I would recommend going with a branded power supply over a generic - in my experience branded supplies have a higher threshold for momentary power drain and can 'pull through' those difficult moments which might trip a generic supply of the same nominal power.

The PSU is a lite-on 400w with dual +12v rails. I was reading that HP makes their PSU's specific for their machines so I'd probably have to get a new one if needed through them.

oh great i just bought a 6200 and will let you know how it goes but back to the subject - HP/Compaq have always been a problem because of 'custom' hardware causing incompatibilities with software and rather than go with the obvious try looking at the ram simms - my system was forever crashing on graphics load and it turned out to be 1 single chip on 1 simm causing random faults in the system itself due to changing/dropping bits
at random intervals with consistant monotony - just a thought

This should do it :p

MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE PSU: TURBO-COOL® 1KW Developed to power next-gen graphics and quad CPU servers, the Turbo-Cool® 1KW delivers 1000 watts (one kilowatt) of continuous, rock-solid power with a peak of 1100 watts! Built with three independent AC-DC power modules, the Turbo-Cool® 1KW is an efficient, amazingly quiet, EPS12V/SLI power supply with 66A (70A peak) of 12VDC in a form factor that fits most ATX cases. Truly, the ultimate computer power supply!

1. 1KW Continuous (1.1KW Peak) @ 50°C
   
2. Fits Std. ATX Cases (20” min. depth)
   
3. +12VDC Rails Total 66A (70A Peak)
   
4. High Efficiency with .99 Power Factor
   
5. Rock-Solid, Super-Clean DC Output
   
6. Amazingly Quiet Cooling System
   
7. Dual PCI Express Video Connectors
   
8. 15 Drive Connectors (incl. 6 SATA)
   
9. EPS12V and nVidia SLI certified
   
10. 5-Year Warranty; Unbeatable Support
    

Over..freakin'..kill but yeah.. definitly would work. The problem with generic, Singapore cheap cheap PSUs is they put 400 watts on the label but the PSU won't handle 300 watts. There isn't a standard for determining watts so 400 watts may be the power it consumes, not what it produces or it may be the plant owner's lucky number. The amp rating on the 12 volt rails will tell you a lot more than watt ratings anyway. If you have 17amps or better on your 12 volt rails then it should be enough for a single 7800 GTX. If HP says they have a 400 watt PSU installed then it may be enough, if it were me, I'd try it with the power supply it has and if it works without problems then you are golden and it saves you $80 for a new PSU.

omg! 80 dollars is alot better than I was thinking. I was thinking around 200.00 for a new PSU. I dont wish to be able to flush neighbors toilets or disrupt satellites in orbit, I just want to be able to handle these and most others games without "happy crashing". When the machine arrives here, I will try to run SL but I know I'll have to reinstall first and foremost. I will look into the link you sent Thili and see if this will help. I tried all night yesterday to reach tech support but gave up after being on hold for 45 min. I will brush this all past them and see if I can this all done before the tower comes home. Thank you Thili and Kath! =-D

dont take my link seriously its totally overkill for a normal pc , around 500-550watt should be more then enough for most

Using 2 psu's now (server case)
Mist 500watt
bzerk 500watt.

this is the bzerk one amp's,

+3.3V :28 A +5V :30 A +12V(1) :34 A (has 4)

wich has yet to fail anything i connect to it and i have alot...of harddrives and dvdroms, 2x19"lcds', 1x27"lcd", 1x21"lcd, total 1486gig, 3dvdburner

(why 2 powersupplies? cause im lazy and didnt take other out yet -.-)

i seen 1800watt psu's -.-;
wonder what you could run on those before its overheating and failing :>

You had me worried there for a minute Thili as I looked up the cost for that pup. 499.99 is just a smear out of the price range I'd care to spend on a PSU alone. I did find a decent 550w though I think on newegg. Please have a look and see if this would be sufficient enough to handle this and other SIM worlds.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103932

In case the link breaks, the PSU is this:

Antec TruePower 2.0 TP2-550 EPS12V ATX12V 550W Power Supply - Retail

Dual +12V: Yes
Efficiency: > 70%
Fans: 2
Hold-up Time: 17ms min.
Input Voltage: 115/230 V
Main Connector: 20+4-Pin
Over Voltage Protection: +5V trip point < +6.5V, +3.3V trip point < +4.1V, +12V trip point < +14.4V
PFC: No
Power Good Signal: 100-500ms
SLI Support: NVIDIA SLI Certified

Model #: TP2-550 EPS12V
Item #: N82E16817103932
In Stock