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Upgrade memory or Video Card?

N

newz

Junior Member
I am looking for some advise about upgrading a 1.9 meg Pentium 4 desktop computer. It is actually my nephews 3 year old dell. He likes video games and would like to get better perfomance. He only has 256 meg of memory and a gforce 2 card. He plays world of warcraft and other games like that. Considering the cpu is no long top drawer....which upgrade would help the most.... more memory (how much?) or a newer video card? Which card? I am worried a new video card might be too much for the puny 250 watt power supplies that dell typically uses.

Will the older cpu negate any major improvements.
 
I'm assuming it's either 1.8 or 2.0 ghz Pent4... unless they made a 1.9 and I'm a moron.

I was in a thread today and somebody mentioned running 6800s on 250watt dell powersupplies being alright.

How much are you looking to spend? Ideally you could do both for not all that much money. Another 256mb of ram and a radeon9600pro would only be about $130 or so...
 
Originally posted by: newz
I am looking for some advise about upgrading a 1.9 meg Pentium 4 desktop computer. It is actually my nephews 3 year old dell. He likes video games and would like to get better perfomance. He only has 256 meg of memory and a gforce 2 card. He plays world of warcraft and other games like that. Considering the cpu is no long top drawer....which upgrade would help the most.... more memory (how much?) or a newer video card? Which card? I am worried a new video card might be too much for the puny 250 watt power supplies that dell typically uses.

Will the older cpu negate any major improvements.
Click to expand...

No worries- I got a big jump in performance on my AXP 1700+ going from Ti4400>9700Pro.

I'd think a GF6600GT/9800Pro and a 512MB stick would make that a whole new computer for ~$250
 
That is hard one, I would almost say both, sticks of 256mb can be had cheaply and I imagine it is only pc2700, but I could be wrong. Especially if he is running winxp, if he is running 98 then he can get away with that, I would definately look into a ti4200, or a radeon 9600 or better in the video card area, overall a stick of 256 and a new vid card could probably be had for used and new for under a hundred easily. Does his games lag or anything some tips on what and where he would need performance would help. Now a days with XP 512 is a must.
 
Wow you guys are fast. Thanks. According to dell it is a 1.89 Pentium 4. He is running Win XP and wants better frame rates. More memory is a no brainer...but should we go with just a 256 meg upgrade (instead of 512) and use the money toward a better video card? Which of the lower end cards are not power hungry. Also noise is a concern...his computer is in the family room- don't want his dad to get upset over a buzzing video card fan.
 
If you can get a stick of 512 for cheap I would go with that just to be on the safe side, but check your mem speed to see what type of memory to get, I think dell will have that info for you. Ti4200 is a quiet little baby I would go with that if you can find a good deal, give us a price range to work with and we will find you the best set up for the money.
 
512 should be fine. I think the difference you'd get going from 512 to 768 (if you added 512 to the 256) is minimal for most stuff, and the money would be better spent on a better videocard.

That's cool about the 1.89 pentium 4, never heard of a 1.9 🙂 (or at least I don't remember them being popular 😉)

I don't think a radeon 9600pro is going to be too loud. It's not a hairdryer like a lot of the newer cards out there.

If you're really concerned about noise, you could get a lower end videocard that has passive cooling or get a 3rd part cooling solution for a faster card, but unless you need total silence, a 9600pro or something is going to be fine I'd suspect.
 
Thank you....this is great. I tend to agree that much more memory over 512 on this old of a system will give only a minor boost. I would like to stay under $125 since the rig will probably get replaced in a year. Any good passive cooling video cards? So power draw shouldn't be an issue for the 250 watt power supply.
 
go with used, get a 4200 off the board, and stick of 256 some where, they are overpriced new to tell you the truth, check pricewatch.com. for deals..
 
DX9 would be good. 6200 looks nice but it has active cooling. Noise? Dx9 card with passive cooling?
 
Another option is a GeForce4-Ti4400 AGP 4x. I had an MSI one and it was a great card that overclocked from 275/275 to 330/325 on its fan it came with. Just an idea.🙂
 
The only "problem" that I can see with that system, is that, well, I'm guessing its RDRAM (newz, confirm please 😉 ). If it in fact is RDRAM, then its gonna be expensive, especially for a 512MB stick. I saw that you just wanted to add another 256MB, so its still gonna be EXPENSIVE. Remember, thats only for 256MB. If, in fact, its DDR, then its only going to be PC2100 or at most, PC2700. Then its alot CHEAPER.

As far as video card goes, a GF6200 would be great. Then, perhaps, you could unlock the pipelines, and get GF6600ish performance. That would be perfect, I think. Good luck, and let me know if this helps.

EDIT: As far as noise on that card goes, its not gonna be that noisy. The fan is most likely relatively low speed, so noise shouldn't be an issue.
 
Originally posted by: geforcetony
The only "problem" that I can see with that system, is that, well, I'm guessing its RDRAM (newz, confirm please 😉 ). If it is in fact RDRAM, then its gonna be expensive, especially for a 512MB stick.
Click to expand...

Good point. I forget alot old p4 used rambus. If that is the case here, definately just spend the $ on a vid card. You can find a Ti4600 (was the top end before Radeon 9700) for under $100, new or used.
 
Thanks again for all the great suggestions. It is regular ddr memory so a stick will be cheap. While I asked for passively cooled video cards I probably should stay clear of them as the pc is kept in a tight corner of a den next to a couch...not much air circulation. Temps could get high.
 
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