Just bought a geforce fx 5700 Ultra(your thoughts)

[CraigRT]

for $30, I would have done the same thing.
despite what people say, it's a lot better than a GeForce2 regardless if it was the best video card or not to upgrade to. But at least the price was right!

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: CraigRT
for $30, I would have done the same thing.
despite what people say, it's a lot better than a GeForce2 regardless if it was the best video card or not to upgrade to. But at least the price was right!

Agreed.

 

[aka1nas]

For that system thats a fine upgrade. I was running some Dells of the same spec as yours at a comp lab I was working at when I was at Uni. I managed to get my bosses to upgrade the video a bit when some video adapters went bad and went from a TNT2 to a GF4MX to an all-in-wonder 9600. The CPU on those machines is a bit weak, but if you load it up with 1GB or so of RAM and use that FX card it will handle mose games(except newer stuff like doom3 or battlefield 2) and low to middling settings.

Edit: if that is an rd-ram system is your board dual channel? Do you currently have 2x128MB or 1x256MB in your system? If the latter, drop another 256MB chip and get dual channel working if your board supports it.

 

[ryanv12]

Originally posted by: aka1nas
For that system thats a fine upgrade. I was running some Dells of the same spec as yours at a comp lab I was working at when I was at Uni. I managed to get my bosses to upgrade the video a bit when some video adapters went bad and went from a TNT2 to a GF4MX to an all-in-wonder 9600. The CPU on those machines is a bit weak, but if you load it up with 1GB or so of RAM and use that FX card it will handle mose games(except newer stuff like doom3 or battlefield 2) and low to middling settings.

Edit: if that is an rd-ram system is your board dual channel? Do you currently have 2x128MB or 1x256MB in your system? If the latter, drop another 256MB chip and get dual channel working if your board supports it.

RDRAM only works in pairs, so he has 2x128. I sold 2 pairs of 128 RDRAM for like $30/pair here, so if he can find something like that, it would be great. 512MB should be a great upgrade for AA

 

[blckgrffn]

Wow, great deal on the ultra, really nice....

Anyway, so you want some help upgrading? Well, how much do you want to do? Not much? Well check out:
Barebones ~$120

Sempron 2800+ ~ $85

512 DDR 400 ~ $45

Now, move the optical drives and HD to barebones case, sell the P4 and RD ram, and GF 2 ($50, $30, and $15, respectively) and you should get a great upgrade for less than $200.

Just my opinion though. That would be a pretty easy up grade though, you would just have to install windows over, probably

Nat

 

[BrokenArrow]

Originally posted by: Crescent13
You are going to be two series behind. you are in 5, 6 is now outdated, because of the 7 series. You should have got a 6600.

Outdated? Poor choice of words. Just because the high end series is now (just starting) to be released does not make the previous series of cards 'outdated'. I agree that a better choice would have to been getting a cheap 6600 or 6800 series card. For 139 at zipzoomfly you can get a 6800le that for the price is excellent IMHO. Definitely FAR from 'outdated'.

However, if you just wanted an inexpensive card to play AA, then a 5700 should be just fine.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: klane
yea im not really worried about keeping up with the v cards, new ones come out monthly. i got this one from a friend for $30 bucks, figured it was a good upgrade from a geforce 2. dont really care for all the big games like bf2 and mmorpgs, just want to play army.

You cannot go wrong getting a 5700Ultra for 30 bucks.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: klane
also, in switching Mobo's and grabbing a new processor, can u guys guide me. i will need something that will fit into my current case, it is a dell 8200.

I haven't kept up with the Dell models. Their most popular line lately seems to have been an enlarged SFX or ITX type, with a separate backplane board in the bottom, so the add-in cards all sit vertically, instead of horizontally. That's too far from ATX standard to do anything with. Dell power supplies are also non-standard.

But if you are in a bind, and really can't afford a $25 CompUSA mid-Tower case, look around for a junked Gateway tower. Most of those are a lot closer to ATX standard, so that you can use the case and psu with little or no modification.