Ram and Graphics card Questions

[mark1111]

Happy New Year to everyone! I have a few questions, easy ones I hope.

My computer, Dell 8250 has been kind of acting up/slowing down, and new games require a graphics card with pixel shading. My current graphics card is a geforce4 mx 420.

I have four slots for ram, currently 2ea 256mb pc1066, and 2 empty ones. I was thinking of adding 2 more and getting a new graphics card, maybe a geforce fx 5200.

Now the question is, do I need to replace the ram, and add two more, or will the graphics card help out enough?

The cheapest ram I found was $109 each! At that price (over 400), I might be better off buying a new system.

What do you all think?

 

[mark1111]

Thanks Seven.

 

[mark1111]

Thought I would bump this for a look from others.

 

[mike_n_herrin]

i think you do need more ram. 512 is low and honestly even 1 gig is low for some games.

according to crucial's web site, you have to install your memory in pairs. it says your max memory is a gig and half (but that's for the 533 mhz front side bus system, there also appears to be a 400 mhz front side bus system with the same model # as yours, i'm not sure which you have). the type of memory your machine takes is a kind that "we" thought was going to catch on (RDRAM aka rambus), but it didn't. that's partly why it's so expensive for you. i would look on ebay for a cheaper/used memory chips.

here is a link to an ebay search i just did: http://search.ebay.com/rdram-1066_W...QsaobfmtsZinsifQQsaprchiZQQsaprcloZQQsbrsrtZd

if you sort by price (lowest first) about 4 down is a couple 256 MB chips for your system for about 50 bucks. it's used though. the seller has 100% positive feed back and says guaranteed working when you receive it. i would try something like that.

 

[soldierofglory]

Happy New Year to everyone! I have a few questions, easy ones I hope.

My computer, Dell 8250 has been kind of acting up/slowing down, and new games require a graphics card with pixel shading. My current graphics card is a geforce4 mx 420.

I have four slots for ram, currently 2ea 256mb pc1066, and 2 empty ones. I was thinking of adding 2 more and getting a new graphics card, maybe a geforce fx 5200.

Now the question is, do I need to replace the ram, and add two more, or will the graphics card help out enough?

The cheapest ram I found was $109 each! At that price (over 400), I might be better off buying a new system.

What do you all think?

IMHO, if you want to game on a Dell PC, it could be very difficult, especially on these older models. These RDRAMs are very difficult to be obtained, and they are painfully expensive, even with a small quantity. And nowadays, 1GB DDR2 RAM can be sold for a very low price, so there will be no excuse not to change to a better system if you want to game on it.

What kind of games are you playing currently? If those modern ones like Half-Life 2 or Doom3 onwards, a Geforce FX 5200 isn't going to cut it. They are too weak for that (honestly I tried that before).

A whole new system rebuild is feasible for a new generation gaming. Especially when DDR2 RAM sticks are at rock bottom prices. You can easily do well with newer games w/ a X2/C2D/PentiumDC with a resonably good videocard like the 7900/8600GTS onwards.

 

[Negasta]

I agree that you definitely need a new PC.

Even the cheapest systems bow contain C2D chips as standard.

 

[mark1111]

I would like to thank all of you for the input. It is greatly appreciated!

I think I will try ebay and see what pans out.

A friend of mine thought we might try to build our own since we both have plenty of time, for the next few months anyway. This could be a learning experience or you all will learn to ignore my pleas for help!

Again, thank you all.