New member here......got a problem.

[bonylad]

Yeah, so I fell into the hype. I read the headlines and saw the price. P4 3.0 GHZ! Yadda. yadda, yadda.

I get the thing and look at it, no AGP slots. I am saddled with a integrated vide card that wont play anything I have (HL2, etc)......

So I look again and the realiization that I have only PCI slots sinks in. I run to Staples and buy a card. A GeForce FX 5500 PCI 128mb.

*groans*

Thanks to the excellent HL 2 engine, I can run this great! But now I realize that alot of my games suffere ALOT.

Maybe the 512 DDR PC3200 RAM?

Its the card......has to be the card.

A quick call to DELL to see if I am compatible to PCI Express, leads to a YES! A quick browse and Q&A session on another forum leads me to NO.

*groans*

So here I sit, dejected.

The only thing I can do it upgrade the ram to 1GB PC3200 DDR and get ANOTHER card........a ATI 9200 256 MB and see what happens.

Granted I will never have the power I want, but would this be a pretty decent setup?

Thanks!

Chris

PS Looks to be a good board, hope to be around awhile.

 

[shabby]

Newbie mistake.... were not newbies

 

[nRollo]

Your best bet is to return it if you can.

If not, if your case is not of a proprietary design, you should just sell your motherboard only (keep everything on it, cpu, RAM), replace the motherboard and get a decent video card. 5500s and 9200s are NOT decent gaming cards.

If your case is proprietary, you'll have to sell that too. Sorry.

A 6600GT/9800Pro is bare minimum these days.

 

[TourGuide]

You have been p*wned by your noobness.

No matter what PCI card you plug into that board it will never be more than a mediocre gaming machine. Those types of sytems are for business types, not gamers. From what I've seen of Dell boxes, they are great for creating a proprietary setup. Everything is set for Dell connectors, standoffs, backplates, etc. I'd say your hope is slim to none that ANY of the stuff in that box can be recycled, except perhaps for the CD drives and the floppy (if you specified that they include one). Good luck man.

 

[biostud]

Originally posted by: shabby
Newbie mistake.... were not newbies

and what other name do you post under

That machine will never EVER be a gaming machine, no AGP or PCIe x16 slot == no gaming.

 

[bonylad]

Yeah I got pwned.

Its cool though. I mean I will upgrade the memory still. Play what I can, with this system. I need to save money anways.

This sucks though, because most of the games I own are DVD, and I DONT HAVE A DVD DRIVE. Anyone want to buy some games?

LOTR :Battle for Middle Earth, and UT 2004?

*sigh*

 

[Gamingphreek]

I would do what Rollo said. Sell everything Case and M/B and get new ones. You will be 100% more satisfied than if you upgrade the memory.

-Kevin

 

[iversonyin]

no, if you acatually want a computer that game, u didnt save money by getting dell

sorry, shouldve came here before gettin the dell

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: shabby
Newbie mistake.... were not newbies

Some here are

Joined: 09/14/2000

:Q

seems like we would have a little positive influence on the boy

 

[n7]

* > Dell :roll:


Almost every other brand name computer out there would have had an AGP slot or PCI-e slot...

Not only that, but IIRC, you have a proprietary PSU as well, so if you want to upgrade your motherboard, i believe you have to upgrade your PSU as well, & possibly case too.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: n7
* > Dell :roll:


Almost every other brand name computer out there would have had an AGP slot or PCI-e slot...

Not only that, but IIRC, you have a proprietary PSU as well, so if you want to upgrade your motherboard, i believe you have to upgrade your PSU as well, & possibly case too.

This isn't fair, he probably paid next to nothing for some Dell "Grandpa Special". I'm sure you can put together a real computer at Dell.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

One reason why you don't see any Dell deals on AT

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: bonylad
Yeah I got pwned.

Its cool though. I mean I will upgrade the memory still. Play what I can, with this system. I need to save money anways.

This sucks though, because most of the games I own are DVD, and I DONT HAVE A DVD DRIVE. Anyone want to buy some games?

LOTR :Battle for Middle Earth, and UT 2004?

*sigh*

You do know that there are Dell systems that do kick butt in gaming right? You just didn't do your homework and bought a cheapie.

Next time you will look a bit closer at what your buying i'll wager.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal
One reason why you don't see any Dell deals on AT

Go into FS/FT and do a search for "Dell".

I did. I came up with over 20 full pages of Dell equipment for sale or WTB.
I'd like to know what made you post this? Did you mean AT advertisements for Dell?

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: n7
* > Dell :roll:


Almost every other brand name computer out there would have had an AGP slot or PCI-e slot...

Not only that, but IIRC, you have a proprietary PSU as well, so if you want to upgrade your motherboard, i believe you have to upgrade your PSU as well, & possibly case too.

This isn't fair, he probably paid next to nothing for some Dell "Grandpa Special". I'm sure you can put together a real computer at Dell.

That is a good point.

However, the problem, rarely are the "hot deals" from Dell ever hot, & people don't know what to look for before they buy.

If those people buy an an HP or Gateway or eMachines on sale, they would be getting a more upgradeable computer 9 times outta 10, even if it still does suck.

 

[RalphTheCow]

Hey, Schadenfroh, that was a cheap shot. Yes, I've been around a while, and I bought too quickly. Dell can be OK if you do your homework. In my case, I rushed too much and I'm paying the price. I wanted basically a machine for surfing, word processing, etc., and the Sims for my daughters - never a true gaming machine. My mistake that the Sims are more demanding than a lot of fast-paced games.

 

[shabby]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: shabby
Newbie mistake.... were not newbies

Some here are

Joined: 09/14/2000

:Q

seems like we would have a little positive influence on the boy

Well theres always an odd ball here and there, what can you do

 

[nRollo]

My advice to you OP is sell it on Fleabay. There are a lot of people there who will pay top buck for stuff that wouldn't necessarily appeal to folks here. You might even get what you paid for it.

 

[Pete]

Adding a DVD drive is a negligible cost. Your real problem is your lack of video card upgrade options.

If you want to game, I'd return it if you can. If you bought it at a good price, though, selling it might not be that difficult.

Oh, and welcome to AT.

 

[Thor86]

Dell ownz joo!

 

[bonylad]

Like I said, I got owned. Not by DELL, but be myself. The comp is a good unit, well built and does what it is supposed to. DELL is great in alot of areas. It happens to be I didn't look at what I was getting and now I have to deal with it. DELL is not at fault, I am.

I am figuring out; however, what I can do to at least bring it up to speed somewhat.

EDIT: And now that I have had time to think about it, I wasnt OWNED by DELL, I owned myself. Time to change the sig.

 

[James3shin]

Dell does have some nice gaming options, maybe you could return your current dell and get the gaming option like other people have mentioned...I believe they have the X800XT if memory serves correct, that is if you got dough to blow.

 

[bonylad]

You know I will be honest. I look around this forum, and see that what the "good setup" is. It seems to be some sort or A64 and a 6800GT. Now granted this is wonderful for guys who really WANT 100fps or whatever in HL2 with max settings. I dont care as much. If I can get 45-60fps at 800x600 or similar with settings high, I am happy.

So the question now is.

Will I be able to do this. Given a card update in the future, and an upgrade to 1GB of RAM? On say HL2?

 

[n7]

Unfortunately, due to having no AGP slot, your gaming future will be very low settings indeed.
Having 1024 MB of RAM should help, but with PCI, there simply is no such thing as a good card.

So to answer your question...you will be able to play games at low settings, but they won't run very well.

 

[rogue1979]

Originally posted by: bonylad
Like I said, I got owned. Not by DELL, but be myself. The comp is a good unit, well built and does what it is supposed to. DELL is great in alot of areas. It happens to be I didn't look at what I was getting and now I have to deal with it. DELL is not at fault, I am.

I am figuring out; however, what I can do to at least bring it up to speed somewhat.

EDIT: And now that I have had time to think about it, I wasnt OWNED by DELL, I owned myself. Time to change the sig.

Go to newegg and get a decent motherboard with overclocking options. $65

Buy a generic case with a 500-550-watt power supply. $35

Look at neweggs refurbished video cards and buy a 9600Pro or the like for $93 (or you can get a new Gecube 9550 Extreme, pretty much the same thing for $95)

So far you have invested $190. Sell your 5500 on ebay for $60. Your down to $130. Save your Dell case and motherboard. Put a Celeron D in it for $65. Look for deals on a cheap hard drive (sometimes as low as $39 for an 80MB locally), floppy ($10 online), DVD ($25 online), get a better heatsink ($30), cheapo 512MB PC3200 ($65 online) and a generic 56K modem ($8 online.)

Put it all together and make sure the DVD and better heatsink go in your new rig. You have now spent about $370 total. Put the computer up for sale locally or on ebay. Ask for $295 which should go pretty quick for a modern Celeron D complete with a good 512MB of ram and a decent sized hard drive.

It's alot of work, but bottom line is your Dell blunder will only cost you $75 out of pocket, and for that you got a decent midrange video card, DVD-rom and an overclocked P4 that should hit 3.4GHz.