AGP Graphics Card for Dell GX270 PC

[Bydo]

Just rescued this little network PC from the bin. A company who've left their premises in the building where I work left it behind (along with a host of other computer equipment that wasn?t needed).

It's not bad for free (P4 2.8ghz), and it's certainly a lot better than the ancient Time Athlon 700 that I've been using for the last 7 years!!

I just need to buy a DVD writer combo drive and a graphics card for it. This is were you guys come in, I'm asking the forum because I'm totally out of touch with what's what in terms of Nvidia and ATI etc.

I want to spend ?100 max for as good a card as I can get (has to be AGP remember), in order to buy and play Half Life 2 with pretty much full on effects and a good frame-rate.

Can anyone please recommend the best solution for this, or am I expecting too much for ?100 and the performance of this little Dell?

[Jusatsushi]

You could probably pick up a GeForce 7600 AGP for under ?100 (it's what I have and does the job very well for the price), but how much RAM do you have? I'd say despite the card you'd need at least a gig to run HL2 at max settings.

Try looking at www.overclockers.co.uk

[Bydo]

Cheers mate, I've got 512gig, but not sure if it's the latest type - think it's DDR 300 thought, maybe.

Suppose I could buy some more of the same type to make it a gig, but for God sake I might have been better just buying a new PC with what it's going to end up costing

[Hohum]

Yeah, you'd prolly need 1 gig to run HL2 smoothly. It can stutter/hitch quite a lot if you have less than that, regardless of your graphics card.

[Bydo]

Thanks hohum, but as I've had chance to check out the system over the weekend, I've realised that it will only take a low-profile graphics card like a Matrox type thing.

Shame that I can't use it for games now, but at least I can have it as a much better work station than the rubbish Time one I've had for ages.

[smouty]

I've realised that it will only take a low-profile graphics card like a Matrox type thing.

If your not worried about the case you can hack it about a bit to get the card to fit. You won't be able to close it obviously. I would be more worried about the power requirements of a recent video card. The small form factor Dells normally have limited PSUs. I've found a number of these corporate boxes are not upto it.

[Bydo]

Just bought a cheap low-profile XFX GFORCE 6200 256MB DDR2 (AGP). I'm yet to install it as I'm currently waiting for the half-height bracket to be sent to me.

After what you said smouty, I'm a little concerned that it may not work on my PC.

[smouty]

Looking at pics of the 6200 it doesn't have an additional power connector so it may not be too power hungry. You should be OK.

[Bydo]

Looking at pics of the 6200 it doesn't have an additional power connector so it may not be too power hungry. You should be OK.

Thanks mate.

I still do have my reservations though, I checked my power pack and it's only 210w output, but my graphics card requires 380w!

If only I was aware of this before I bought it! I'll have to put it down to my inexperience with building PCs.

[smouty]

Thanks mate.

I still do have my reservations though, I checked my power pack and it's only 210w output, but my graphics card requires 380w!

Your video card requires 380w or a 380w capable PSU.
The PSU in my shuttle is only 240w but has a much higher efficiency than standard PC PSUs and will happily run X800s and 6800 series cards.
Lets hope you're lucky

[Bydo]

Your video card requires 380w or a 380w capable PSU.
The PSU in my shuttle is only 240w but has a much higher efficiency than standard PC PSUs and will happily run X800s and 6800 series cards.
Lets hope you're lucky

Thanks again for all your help Smouty, hopfully I'll be able to give it a try this weekend - fingers crossed, it just might work!

[JohnMcL7]

I've found Dell power supplies to be decent, I would be surprised if you have any issues running a 6200 in there.

John

[Mofoman]

a 6200 is a very weak graphics card remember, you willl have alot of trouble playing modern games with it.Stuff like Battlefield 2142 will be a nightmare with it.

[Bydo]

a 6200 is a very weak graphics card remember, you willl have alot of trouble playing modern games with it.Stuff like Battlefield 2142 will be a nightmare with it.

I put it in at the weekend and it seems to work fine!

I realise it's no great shakes in the power department, but I only have a small form factor PC and, after looking on the web, the 6200 was the best I could get that fitted my requirements (AGP, low-profile etc...).

[Bydo]

Will these specs now play Half Life 2 on good settings?

P4 2.8 ghz
1024 RAM
256 mb Geforce 6200
(only got dial up web connection - is this a problem for registering?)

I'm going to buy it today, so I hope it does!