Dell Dimension 3000, Upgradable? Help to convert to AGP

[alexkolb]

Hello!

I just got a Dell Dimension 3000 as a gift. Specs are:
(important ones)
IP 4 , 2.8 ,533 fsb
512 ram 400 mhz
80hdd
Inter extreme integrated video !

The price my gift giver paid for this is 988 CAD ( aobut 840 usd). Unfortunately this PC doesn't have an AGP slot. So i wounder if it is possible to change a Dell MB for a MB with APG, take all dell parts (i'm satisfied with everything except Video), and assemble it back into dell casing, and add a video?

Yeh, and as I understood after doing some reading, there is no point in buying a PCI video card like radeon 9250 or nvidia gfx 5500, cuz they just woun't cut it for my favourite games like Unreal Tournament 2004, HL 2, some strategies... Am i right?

And are those parts like CPU, fans, HDD, cdroms from Dell computer going to work on a different motherboard?

Please answer me somebody

[photolady]

Those parts, the cpu, memory, harddrive (those are all compatible with other computers), fans (same as harddrive), same with cdrom drives will work with a new motherboard. The only thing you might have a problem with is the power supply in the dell case. Most Dell powersupply's are proprietary, and won't work on ordinary motherboards. And buying a different one for the case, well, might not fit. I think I would just buy a new case and power supply along with the new motherboard.

Most video cards come in PCI versions, so you could just buy a better one such as the fx5700 or ATI 9800.....however, performance is not up to what the AGP version would be.

[alexkolb]

thanks for the reply,

so as i understood all dell parts will work with non-dell MB?

and i have only seen PCI ati 9250 and fx 5700, other video cards aren't made for PCI...
do you think fx 5700 is a good video?

[alexkolb]

thanks for the reply,

so as i understood all dell parts will work with non-dell MB?

I have only seen PCI ati 9250 and fx 5700, anyone knows which one is better and if those cards are still not bad for average gamer (like i'm not gonna play HL2 at 1600x1200, can it be run with above cards at say 1024? with medium settings)

So do you think i should buy new case with PSU, MB, and Video, or just buy one of the above videocards and it will be enough?

Thank you.

[mmj7]

Did you check newegg? http://www.newegg.com/app/searchProd...InnerManu=1126

if you are gonna rip it apart your gonna salvage about maybe 300-400 worth of stuff. its gonna cost you about 200+ for video and about 100+ for mobo 100+ for case and power, depending on what you do. Bang for buck

[Baser-X]

Well, as mmj7 pointed out, even if you pull the useable parts out of the Dell you're still going to spend several hundred $$ on a new case/psu/mobo/video and possibly soundcard. If you've got that kind of cash to throw around, why not just build a "gaming" machine. You can build nice gaming machine online for $500 or less if you don't need a monitor. $600 if you do. Then you can use the Dell for whatever else you may want.

[alexkolb]

nop, i dont have cash to through around... im a poor student

on newegg.com the best (the most expensive one) i saw was radeon 9250 , 256mb.
Anyway, can anyone tell me where do these cards(all pci bus): Radeon 9250 , and GeForce FX 5200 and 5700 LE stand compared to say (agp bus) radeon x300, or 9800, or fx 6600 ?
And which one is the best of the above mentiones pci videocards?
And will i be able to play contemporary games with them with decent fps?
thank you.

[alexkolb]

oh, and what do you think of fx5500 pci ?

[photolady]

The fx5500 is still a low end card even in the AGP model. But it's better than the FX5200 or Radeon 9250, which are lower still for gamers. But this one listed below is better than the 5500. It's a FX5700LE. It also is availabe in PCI.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...140-041&depa=0

Now for those other three. Starting with, the X300, this card is a PCI-E which won't work in your present computer as it uses the newer technology of PCI Express slot. You might want to take a look over at Toms Hardware in the link below gives you an idea of fps on most recent video cards.

http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.c...charts-07.html

And I'm not a newbie to computers, just to these forums.

[72montecarlo]

The new games your looking to play such as HL2 and UT2004 i can tell you will not play well at all with a pci bus card. even if its the best pci card you can find. the pci bus is just too slow and will surely bog down at high resolution. you may get a reasonable gaming experience at 1024x768 with low settings If your lucky. The new games using advanced dx8 and dx9 shaders and the like need a lot of oomph to work right and a pci video card wont cut it. if you dont have 400$ to swap parts over to a new box, this may be your only option. You could probably do it for 250$ though if you looked around. 50$ for a decent case with psu. 80$ for a good socket 478 mobo with agp 4x/8x. and 120$ for a agp 8x geforce 5700 with 128mb onboard. The video card is by no means the best but would surely play games like hl2 and UT2004 at high res with moderate settings quite well. this card would start to bog down on a game like doom 3 however. although not unplayable at 1024x768 at medium settings or 1280x1024 at low.

[alexkolb]

2 Photolady,

yes, sure i know that x300 and such are pci-e , i have a dell 8400 now , with 1gb ram, 120hdd, p4 3.4 ht, x300se 128mb, but my dad is going to take it from me

To all of you:
so i wanted to know how much slower fx 5700 le 128 - 256 mb pci will be than x300 se, (and others too, like radeon 9250...)
And by the way, where does intel integrated graphich 2 stand, i mean is it comparable to geforce 3 say?

[alexkolb]

will i be able to play UT 2004 at 1024 with medium settings onPCI 5700LE 128 or 256 mb? if yes, ill just go ahead and buy it instead of bothering with all case replacement and stuff, and i'm also afraid for my dell waranty if im gonna do such a thing

[photolady]

I was curious why those other prices of a case were so high. Don't know where that member was buying his parts, but www.newegg.com is the place I shop for all my computer builds. I have bought good cases for less than $70 with power supply, Enermax to name one (psu by Enermax is one of the top rated psu). I also agree about the pci card, which I believe I mentioned in one of my posts, that it was not as fast as an agp card would be. Motherboards as was mentioned, run about $80 to $100 depending on which brand you get, the top brands being, Asus, Gigabtye, and MSI, IMO.

To sum it up, I agree with 72montecarlo, get a case with powersupply, motherboard with agp slot, and either the FX5700 or FX5900 and you probably won't spend more than $250 on the whole lot.

[photolady]

For play back, that card should be fine, though not for some of the new games. The X300 SE is at the bottom of the line in performance in the Radeon line.

Tom's Hardware does Benchmark tests on a whole slue of video cards, using current games, such as Unreal and call of duty. If you want to know the performance of the lastest video cards with these games, check out the link below. Note: these are all agp card, I don't think anyone would consider even using a pci card for the newest games out today.

http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.c...charts-06.html

[alexkolb]

what would you compare intel integrated graphics 2? like geforce 3?