Upgrading a Vostro 200 for Warhammer Online

[Bonger]

Hi and thanks for the assistance.

My girlfriend has a Vostro 200 that she picked up last year. She has recently begun playing Warhammer Online and is experiencing very poor FPS causing choppy gameplay even on the lowest graphics settings. I took a look at it and it is running Vista, 2 gigs of RAM, a 300 watt PSU, an 8300 GS and a Dual Core 2.5.

So, here is the issue. As far as I know, 32 bit Vista can only handle 3 GB or RAM anyway, so throwing in an extra gig seems like a no brainer.

The video card is a separate issue. I know the 8300 GS is garbage. Ideally I would toss in a 9600GT for like 80 bucks along with the RAM and call it a day. I believe that would solve all her problems. However, I am concerned that the 300 W PSU will not be able to power the card. Am I correct? If so, could you recommend a card for under 100 that would work. I don't want to spend more, as at that point, we might as well buy her a new PC.

Thanks for any input!

 

[s44]

4670 should do fine on a Dell "300W" PSU. Those Dells are very conservatively rated. The 4670 is not only under $100 but also the best card without an external power connector.

 

[daveybrat]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127383

Like he said, the ATI HD 4670 is a perfect match for that pc. As fast as a 9600GT and doesn't require additional power.

The MSI one i linked above is nice, a small card and only $65 after rebate.

 

[Creig]

If she has the regular Vostro 200 (not the slim version), a 4670 should be no problem. A friend of mine wanted a decent gaming PC last December so I ordered him a Vostro 200 and an ATI 3870. I had to adapt the power from SATA to PCI-E, but it has been rock solid for a year now on the stock Dell 300w PS.

 

[Bonger]

Awesome guys! Thanks so much. The card is the perfect price!

Secondary issue just occurred to me. From what I see, the Vostro 200 (non slim) has 4 RAM slots. I haven't opened it up myself yet as I don't want to screw around in there more than necesary. I imagine it is set up in a 2 x 1 gig format. Can I just throw in another 1 gig stick, or do I need to do 2 x 1 gig. I guess what I'm asking here is if Dells come configured for dual channel or if I am cool just throwing in a 1 gig stick. I know nothing about this new fangled stuff. I kinda lost touch with computer tech 5 years ago.

Also, just to make sure I don't mess this up, a link to the appropriate RAM on Newegg would be greatly appreciated.

 

[LungingAtThePope]

sticking a single 1gb stick would result in the memory being run in "single channel" mode. A bit slower, but as far as im aware not a massive difference. Personally I would just get 2 more 1gb sticks, ddr2 ram is dirt cheap and it leaves a bit of room in case you want to use 64bit windows vista/7 in future. (This is assuming its not set up as 4 x 512mb sticks, in which case i'd reccomend getting 2 x 2gb sticks). I think you can use cpuz to tell you the layout of the ram if you dont wat to open it up.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Bonger
Hi and thanks for the assistance.

My girlfriend has a Vostro 200 that she picked up last year. She has recently begun playing Warhammer Online and is experiencing very poor FPS causing choppy gameplay even on the lowest graphics settings. I took a look at it and it is running Vista, 2 gigs of RAM, a 300 watt PSU, an 8300 GS and a Dual Core 2.5.

So, here is the issue. As far as I know, 32 bit Vista can only handle 3 GB or RAM anyway, so throwing in an extra gig seems like a no brainer.

The video card is a separate issue. I know the 8300 GS is garbage. Ideally I would toss in a 9600GT for like 80 bucks along with the RAM and call it a day. I believe that would solve all her problems. However, I am concerned that the 300 W PSU will not be able to power the card. Am I correct? If so, could you recommend a card for under 100 that would work. I don't want to spend more, as at that point, we might as well buy her a new PC.

Thanks for any input!

Definitely upgrade the RAM and video card first. What resolution is your gf's LCD? A card in the 9600GT range should be OK up to 1680 with no AA. Also what kind of Dual Core is that? WAR is extremely CPU intensive also, so your gf may still experience poor performance in ORVR or scenarios if that's a Pentium D or older Athlon.

 

[LungingAtThePope]

from experience, a 2.5ghz athlon 64 dual core with a 7600gt ran warhammer online "alright", a single core 2.4ghz athlon 64 and a 4670 runs it like crap, so the cpu seems to be a very large factor. 2.5ghz dual athlonx2 or core2duo should be fine with a decent gfx card though.

 

[daveybrat]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146526

Here you go, add this Crucial 2GB DDR2 kit for $21.99 w/free shipping to your order of the HD 4670!

 

[Bonger]

Awesome guys, thanks so much!

The dual core is a Core 2 Duo 2.5, and her monitor runs native at 1280*1024.

Am I good to go ahead and buy the recommended card and ram?

 

[Keysplayr]

Looks good to me!
Remember, always add RAM in pairs to get your desired quantity. If you have 2GB now (2x 1GB) and want 3GB. You need to add 2x 512 sticks to preserve dual channel (faster) memory operation. If you add a single 1GB stick to "slot 3" for example, all the memory will be forced into single channel mode (slower). Or like others have said, you can add 2x 1GB sticks to slots 3 and 4 for a total of 4 GB. Vista32 will only use about 3.5 GB of the 4GB however. Which is plenty. And DDR2 is so cheap right now.

 

[Bonger]

Thanks a lot everyone! As always, the community here has come through for me again.

I ordered the suggested card and 2 gigs or RAM and will update you on how it works out next week when I get it all installed.

 

[Zap]

For RAM configuration, just open that bad boy up! The Dell Vostro 200 that I owned came with thumbscrews (that weren't knurled ). Mine came with two 512MB sticks for dual channel, and had two more slots.

The Radeon 4670 would be the best choice, followed by the GeForce 9500 GT with GDDR3.

 

[Visual]

a radeon 4830 might be a better choice, if its not out of your budget. you may even find one with a decent rebate so the price difference wont be too big.
it will not be needed at the low resolution of her monitor, but it will be a good investment if she also upgrades to a real monitor soon, or decides to use a hdtv as a monitor. believe me, playing on a 50" 1080p screen is tons of fun.
the psu rating sounds on the low side but i believe it will do fine.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Visual
a radeon 4830 might be a better choice

The problem is that it requires a PCIe power plug, which the Vostro does not have. The Vostro also does not have standard molex plugs with which you would be able to run a normal adaptor.

 

[Creig]

Exactly. The only reason I was able to add a 3870 to my friend's Vostro 200 was by purchasing two SATA => Molex adapters and one dual Molex=>PCI-E adapter and string them all together. It wasn't an ideal situation, but since it's still working perfectly after one year of use I can't knock it.

So yes, you can get a video card requiring a 6-pin PCI-E adapter into a Vostro 200, but not without a little MacGuyvering.

 

[Bonger]

Well, here is the promised update.

The 4670 and 2 gigs of RAM did the trick. The game plays super smooth and looks great. Honestly, I can barely see a difference in quality between this card and my more expensive 9800GT. Nice pick!!

 

[Zap]

:thumbsup: Sweet! Thanks for the update.