Placing a $250ish video card in an older system

[crimson8k]

I've got a Dell XPS gen 4. The specs: p4 3.4gig 1gig ram 460watt PSU . I'm currently using a Geforce 6800 PCI Express. I'm thinking of spending up to $250 on a new card, but would I be wasting money? Will my system be able to get the most out of a card in that range? If so, what card would be best? I'm also wondering when the best time to buy is. I won't need this upgrade for at least a month. Is the trend to get cards cheaper right before Christmas, or might the prices drop lower in January?

One other thing. I want to add more system memory, but I'm a little confused on the subject. My documentation says my computer will support up to 4 gigs of 400- and 533-MHz DDR2. I used PC Wizard to check what I have currently. It tells me I'm running DDR2-SDRAM PC2-4300 (266 MHz). Then I go to crucial.com, and I use their system scanner to find what type of ram I need. However, it tells me I'm using DDR2 PC2-5100....So I'm a little confused about what memory I'm actually using. Even more confusing to me. The crucial site tells me I can use DDR2 PC2-4200 DDR2-533, PC2-5300 DDR2-667, and PC2-6400 DDR2-800? I was thinking of adding 2gigs, so I would have a total of 3 gigs. But what type do I buy, and can I even keep the 1 gig of ram I currently have? Help!

 

[bamacre]

Yes, the cpu will be able to keep up with a new $250 video card, you're fine.

As for the memory, you should have 533mhz DDR2. However, I would dump the 1GB you have now, because the memory Dell uses (Samsung, Infineon, Nanya, Micron) doesn't play well with retail stuff. So dump it, and find a 2x1GB kit of Corsair Value Select DDR2 533mhz or 667mhz, whichever you can find cheaper. All you really need is 400mhz DDR2 (in dual channel) to get the 800mhz FSB of the cpu, but that's not plentiful these days, so 533 or 667 will be fine. Corsair VS works great in Dell DDR2 systems.

 

[crimson8k]

Ok, thanks for the help. Now to decide between the 7950GT or the X1950 PRO.

 

[Sootymooty]

Both are good cards, although the 7950GT is a tad faster in games, nothing huge though.

I'd go for whichever is cheaper!

 

[Farmer]

For $250 you can get yourself a PCI-E X1950XT, definitely faster than a 7950GT.

 

[crimson8k]

The SAPPHIRE Radeon X1950XT 256MB looks promising, but some people were saying it has cooling issues. I might take a wait and see approach. Maybe they will come out with a rebate, and I can buy an upgraded cooling solution.

 

[CP5670]

The temperatures reported in the last review are a little on the high side, but the card can handle them just fine.