Game crashes; video card needs replacement?

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by WEBSTER

well in my opinion his rig isnt worth more than $150 so i definately wouldnt suggest spending that much money on such an outdated rig. he needs a better cpu, ram, and mobo so i would say dont spend money on that old rig and just keep it for bookkeeping and records and build or buy an updated computer that you can properly run todays games on.

If a new rig is out of the question, your base computer that you have will run the game with a videocard. Also, as mentioned, 2 gig of RAM. RAM is very cheap these days as well as a decent vid card. Go no less than a Nvidia 7600 vid card. Also, check your power supply to run the card. I suspect Dell jammed in a 300 watt pile of worn parts.

I recommend Tigerdirect.com for the purchases of these items. Great prices with reviews by users and they are have great sales on the items you need.

[gimpy117]

oh I know I was just demonstrating that you can get some good cards on newegg for not too much cash.

[Soundman]

Originally Posted by gimpy117

oh I know I was just demonstrating that you can get some good cards on newegg for not too much cash.

Heck, I was browsing New Egg yesterday and they have some pretty decent complete gaming computers for under 1000.00. Surprised the hell outta me!

yep the best two out there IMHO are tiger direct and newegg but i find you have to use rebates with tiger direct where newegg does not often do rebates and instead lowers the price to give the same deals without you having waiting on the rebate. as long as you compare those two sites against each other you should always have the best possible price.

[SteamWake]

I can vouch for New Egg.

Done buisness with them no issues

[Fish40]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

If a new rig is out of the question, your base computer that you have will run the game with a videocard. Also, as mentioned, 2 gig of RAM. RAM is very cheap these days as well as a decent vid card. Go no less than a Nvidia 7600 vid card. Also, check your power supply to run the card. I suspect Dell jammed in a 300 watt pile of worn parts.

I recommend Tigerdirect.com for the purchases of these items. Great prices with reviews by users and they are have great sales on the items you need.

I agree about Tigerdirect, as well as Newegg. I've used both with no probs. As for replaceing the PSU on a Dell, you need to be careful. A standard formfactor off the shelf PSU will not fit in the Dell case. At least that's the experience I had with my Dimension 8250. I went here: www.pcpowerandcooling.com They have PSU's that are made especially for Dells. They're not cheap, but they are well made. I've upgraded several things in my Dell, all of which I was told by Dell couldn't be done.

[gimpy117]

Originally Posted by Fish40

I agree about Tigerdirect, as well as Newegg. I've used both with no probs. As for replaceing the PSU on a Dell, you need to be careful. A standard formfactor off the shelf PSU will not fit in the Dell case. At least that's the experience I had with my Dimension 8250. I went here: www.pcpowerandcooling.com They have PSU's that are made especially for Dells. They're not cheap, but they are well made. I've upgraded several things in my Dell, all of which I was told by Dell couldn't be done.

Yes, I agree If your gonna game you need a new PSU!! a cheap board you can get away with if you don't overclock or anything, but when your PSU wonks out and kills your whole PC you'll be sorry (happened to me on an Emachines)

[old_tex]

Isn't the Dell 5150 a laptop computer? If so, you are probably stuck with the video. I don't believe there is any option for adding a video card. If it does not do shading, etc., it will not run SH4. I have a nice wide-screen Toshiba with the same problem. They are not extensable. That is probably the issue here. You will have to get another computer that is capable of expansion. (Other than memory chips). Old_tex

[gimpy117]

I think your right....

it's too bad but he's right....you'll need a whole new computer to play SHIV

[I'm goin' down]

It is a desktop. We are going to take it in to a repariman for evaluation after we see if the drivers need updating. Intel has program that will do that task for us.

Originally Posted by I'm goin' down

It is a desktop. We are going to take it in to a repariman for evaluation after we see if the drivers need updating. Intel has program that will do that task for us.

be very carefull sir, i have never met a repairman yet that didnt want to talk you into buying one part then another promising just one more thing will do it then at the end of the process you spent $1000 and even if it does work when your done, the end result is your still stuck with an old slow computer that barely runs games at decent frame rates. think about it, if you buy parts he makes money installing them so he has his best intrest in mind not yours.

please sir think carefully at the full complete list of everything plus labor costs then consider any old parts you keep can and might fail soon after. if this happens you will be stuck with some parts made only for certain dells making then extremely hard to sell if not worthless.

for $800 to $1000 you can build a completely brand new rig that you can plug your keyboard and monitor into. in march 2008 i built an intel q6600 2.4ghz quad core processor, gigabyte p35 mobo, samsung dvd/cd, 320gb hdd, nvidia 8800gt 512mb video card. 600 watt psu, and centurian aluminum mid tower case all for only $914 including shipping and handling. prices have come down a lot since then so i could probably built it for under $800 now

if you want to try building your own look here for help: http://forums.techpowerup.com/forumdisplay.php?f=61

they will help you select the right equipt in your price range for the type of computer you want. its a good place for help and advice.

if your not ready to build your own then ask that repairman for a price to build you a gaming computer.