Question about PC upgrade

My eMachines T5010's power supply bit the dust, and was sent back for repairs. It should be back this week hopefully. Meanwhile even tho my Intel Graphic Accelerator 900 card isnt supported, its done a good job. So I thought I should increase my RAM and later on try for a better game card. My machine currently has 512MB of RAM and I've ordered another 1 GB - so that'll get me to 1.5 GB of RAM. I hoped by tripling my RAM performance would be improved. Did I do the right thing?

Specs on my PC are: Pentium 4 processor 516, 2.93 Ghz, 1MB L2, 533 Mhz FSB,512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM, 200 GB 7200-rpm SATA hard drive, Windows XP Home Edition w/SP2, 10/100 Ethernet: 56K v.92 modem, Intel Graphics Media Accel. 900.

I've seen the GeForce 6200 card PCI 128 MB for sale for about $30.00 on a couple of sites.
Also I have looked inside the PC and see a place marked for a PCI-E slot, but I'm sorta confused on what would be best. So Techie advise is very welcome

I hook into the net thru Time-Warner cable btw.

Thanks

All depends on your price range, if you have a PCI-Express X16 slot free, id suggest to get a better video card than a 6200. If I was in your situation, and was tight on cash, I would of ordered an extra 512mb instead of a gig of ram and gotten a new video card also. Having an unsupported card isn't something I would want to keep around, even if it means more ram, the next update can make you never get back in and you would have no support from any Lindens.

This would give you your best bang for the buck:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150130

If $99.97 is too much then you can get an open box 6600 for cheap, like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127192R

Also make sure that your powersupply can give these cards enough juice

My eMachines T5010 has a 300 watt power supply, that enough?

For the $99.97 one (6800XT),it states it requires a minimum 450W or higher. As for the 6600 it says a power supply of 350 (and up) watt is highly recommended for system stability, although I have seen it run on a 250 watt with no isses, but more watts cant hurt.

Just talked to the eMachines tech people, it was my Hard Drive that died, not the power supply as they originally thought. The hard drive has been replaced etc, and its on the way back to me via Fed Ex right now (thank God).

But.. I'm stuck with trying to find a good PCI card as I cant use PCI-E. Is the GeForce 6200 PCI card 128 MB workable with SL? I think its bound to be better than the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 that I'm using now. Thx

You are absoutly right, it would be an upgrade indeed. Take a look at this thread, its a bunch of people looking for a decent PCI card, not PCI-Express


/111/da/113456/1.html

and it looks like you did, lol, best wishes

The 6200 is not much better than the intigrated one you have now although it might be slightly better just because it is supported by SL. No "knock yer socks off" improvement I'm afraid. A 6600 will be lightyears better with the PCI-e interface and can be insanely overclocked in many cases. Mine OCed to better than 6800 speeds.

I beg to differ, the 6200 isn't realy that far behind the 6600 and it beats a FX5200. Given these results were from the PCI-Express versions which Kristy cant use, it still prooves how much better than an Intel chip this card really is.

These are direct links to Doom 3 tests which uses OpenGL on a 6200, all 3 are respectiable review sites, take a look for yourself:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2238&p=6

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=Njc0LDMsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0

http://www.beyond3d.com/previews/nvidia/6200/index.php?p=11

Now as for a 6100 and 6150 thats a different story, much closer to the Intel chip.

I beg to differ, the 6200 isn't realy that far behind the 6600 and it beats a FX5200. Given these results were from the PCI-Express versions which Kristy cant use, it still prooves how much better than an Intel chip this card really is.

These are direct links to Doom 3 tests which uses OpenGL on a 6200, all 3 are respectiable review sites, take a look for yourself:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2238&p=6

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/artic...GhlbnRodXNpYXN0

http://www.beyond3d.com/previews/nv.../index.php?p=11

Now as for a 6100 and 6150 thats a different story, much closer to the Intel chip. For $30 I think its a great deal, spending $60+ on a PCI card IMO is a waste of money since it can only go as fast as the slot itself.
__________

I beg to differ, the 6200 isn't realy that far behind the 6600 and it beats a FX5200. Given these results were from the PCI-Express versions which Kristy cant use, it still prooves how much better than an Intel chip this card really is.

These are direct links to Doom 3 tests which uses OpenGL on a 6200, all 3 are respectiable review sites, take a look for yourself:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2238&p=6

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=Njc0LDMsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0

http://www.beyond3d.com/previews/nvidia/6200/index.php?p=11

Now as for a 6100 and 6150 thats a different story, much closer to the Intel chip. For $30 I think its a great deal, spending $60+ on a PCI card IMO is a waste of money since it can only go as fast as the slot itself.

I beg to differ, the 6200 isn't realy that far behind the 6600 and it beats a FX5200. Given these results were from the PCI-Express versions which Kristy cant use, it still prooves how much better than an Intel chip this card really is.

These are direct links to Doom 3 tests which uses OpenGL on a 6200, all 3 are respectiable review sites, take a look for yourself:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2238&p=6

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=Njc0LDMsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0

http://www.beyond3d.com/previews/nvidia/6200/index.php?p=11

Now as for a 6100 and 6150 thats a different story, much closer to the Intel chip. For $30 I think its a great deal, spending $60+ on a PCI card IMO is a waste of money since it can only go as fast as the slot itself.

I beg to differ, the 6200 isn't realy that far behind the 6600 and it beats a FX5200. Given these results were from the PCI-Express versions which Kristy cant use, it still prooves how much better than an Intel chip this card really is.

These are direct links to Doom 3 tests which uses OpenGL on a 6200, all 3 are respectiable review sites, take a look for yourself:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2238&p=6 (6200 vs 6600)

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=Njc0LDMsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0 (6200 vs Radeon X600 Pro)

http://www.beyond3d.com/previews/nvidia/6200/index.php?p=11 (6200 vs 5200 Ultra)

Now as for a 6100 and 6150 thats a different story, much closer to the Intel chip. For $30 I think its a great deal, spending $60+ on a PCI card IMO is a waste of money since it can only go as fast as the slot itself.