Upgrading my graphics card

[Dodger]

A few months ago, I was given a free Dell Dimension 2530 computer. The video card worked okay for blockland except for some lag from heavy bricks. But I bought spore thinking it will be entertaining. But it says my graphics card is not good enough. I did research and examining and determined my comp had purely pci slots. It has 2 that are being used (1 for wireless card, 1 for crappy graphics card) and 1 free pci slot.  I did more research and discovered a pci nvidia geforce 6200 would be a good upgrade. I heard it can support (at least the agp put i think pci also) up to pixel shader 3.0 and spore is 2.0. Do yall have any tips for installing card, better suggestions (im on tight budget, not more than 50$) for the card or any other good ideas? Ohh and the slot is 120 pin, but not sure what this means.
Oh and can i switch between graphics cards so i dont have to remove my old card?

[Ad Bot]

[Osak]

If you want something worthwhile, choose the 9500 gt. Or just get a new motherboard and get that same card for cheap.

I found the driver for an update:

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=r49442&formatcnt=1&libid=0&typeid=-1&dateid=-1&formatid=-1&fileid=58292

[Dodger]

If you want something worthwhile, choose the 9500 gt. Or just get a new motherboard and get that same card for cheap.

Does the 9500 gt have a pci version. And i dont want to replace mother board I'm on tight budget.

[Osak]

Does the 9500 gt have a pci version. And i dont want to replace mother board I'm on tight budget.

It does, but it exceeds your 50 dollar budget. So does the other solution. Attempt to get a budget of 150 or download the driver.

I'm a loving idiot, that driver is not compatible with the current PC your have.

[Dodger]

Yeah a dimension 2350 is like the worst comp for gaming.

[CC]

If you have a computer with under 2.0 shaders you really just need a new computer.
And Spore isn't worth it anyway.

[Dodger]

If you have a computer with under 2.0 shaders you really just need a new computer.
And Spore isn't worth it anyway.

Pixel shaders are implemented into the game ands the graphics card needs the support for that. Changing a graphics card is easy. Also I bought a EVGA Nvidia geforce 6200 pci card and will get it in a couple days. Bump

[General Nick]

A 6200 is god awful. Why the HELL did you buy that?

[Inv3rted]

Doesn't the 6200 use an AGP slot? If that's the only thing you can get, you need a new motherboard.

[Reactor Worker]

How about something of this list?

[General Nick]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133245

That one looks good. I'm confident it can run SPORE and Blockland, but SPORE will probably be on low settings.

[Dodger]

The 6200 also comes in a pci version. bIts lower specs then the other cards but its a value card. I just need a card that will be able to support newer games on somewhat efficent settings.

[General Nick]

The 6200 also comes in a pci version. bIts lower specs then the other cards but its a value card. I just need a card that will be able to support newer games on somewhat efficent settings.

Yeah, a 6200 is the bottom of the bucket in terms of performance.

[Dodger]

I just need a card that is better than my current one which is like an old Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller. All i want is a small upgrade not a major upgrade because i don't have the suffiecent funds.

[Marcem]

So, in this case, you don't even have a graphics card.