oldschool PC with PCIe slot for some newer games

[Turbonium]

Alright, so here are the specs of an old machine I put together (for fun more than anything):

- Pentium 4 3.4GHz 512K Hyper-Threading (Northwood)
- 1GB (2x512MB) DDR400 running in single channel mode (mobo limitation)

The mobo has a PCI Express x16 slot, surprisingly.

I want to use it for newer, but somewhat less demanding games on low settings (things like Torchlight II, maybe some Diablo 3, or even some Dota 2 on low settings).

Can a $50 video card accomplish this at a decent level (30FPS)? I'm thinking something along the lines of a GT 610.

I'm mainly worried about the CPU being a major bottleneck.

 

[NTMBK]

You're best off looking for a fairly decent second hand graphics card. Try to find something like a Geforce 8800, or 9600.

 

[Shmee]

^ Would agree with this. If you buy new, I would recommend a 6570 for about $63

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=REG&A=details

Also, hate to say it, but you might be REALLY cpu bottle necked even then. Do you know if your motherboard supports any conroe core era based dual cores, like a C2D or a pentium/celeron dual core? Any conroe era based CPU would be a major upgrade you might be able to pick up on ebay or something. Depends on board of course.

 

[SlowSpyder]

It looks like used Radeon 5770's/6770's are pretty cheap on Ebay. Those cards would likely max out a P4 and then some.

 

[Enigmoid]

Your CPU and RAM (1 GB is simply not enough) will limit you tremendously.

 

[Turbonium]

^ Would agree with this. If you buy new, I would recommend a 6570 for about $63

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=REG&A=details

Also, hate to say it, but you might be REALLY cpu bottle necked even then. Do you know if your motherboard supports any conroe core era based dual cores, like a C2D or a pentium/celeron dual core? Any conroe era based CPU would be a major upgrade you might be able to pick up on ebay or something. Depends on board of course.

It's S478, so I'm fairly sure it doesn't.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/VIA/P4VM890/

Your CPU and RAM (1 GB is simply not enough) will limit you tremendously.

Won't the limited RAM mainly just affect load times more than anything?

 

[Shmee]

Holy! I figured if it was a 3.4 GHz P4 it had to be an 800MHz FSB 775 board. I guess not :C

As for the ram, mmm, no, having limited RAM will slow everything down once you start running out.

 

[Turbonium]

Yea, it's an enigma of a motherboard... S478 with PCIe, go figure.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Question is... will a modern PCI-E graphics card work in there?!

There is only one way to find out, plug her in! But I would say, there is a 50% chance, it won't.

The Geforce 6xxx series probably would "start" your computer, anything more recent, it's doubtful.

EDIT: A PCI based (Geforce 520 / 610) card should work in there. Albeit, there are some issues with older boards (based on VIA chipsets mostly) and recent nVIDIA drivers. But you'll get about 10-20 FPS in Borderlands 2 with that @ 1280x1024xLow settings (I played about 20 mins. Not really enjoyable). DOTA2 might be playable. You would have no problem playing back video content, though.

Pros: Plays 1080i and 1080p much better than my i3-530 ever did. No stuttering. No noticeable artifacts and much smoother playback while watching live/recorded tv.
Cons: The heatsink is huge. It touches the top of my low-profile case. But it's fanless...
Other Thoughts: I took a gamble going PCI over PCIe, and I won. My mobo only has 2 PCIe slots that are occupied by tv tuner cards. I couldn't take the poor video quality of the i3-530 with Intel HD graphics anymore, so I got this. Much better! Perfect for HTPCs.

Good luck!