Hi, I have no video card in my Dell 2350. I'm running directly off of the mother board. Everything on G3.5 looks pretty good to tell you the truth but I wonder how much better it would look with a 256MB video card from Dell. Can anyone tell me the changes I will notice if I spend 150.00 on a card? Thanks for everyones comments.

Don't buy from Dell, buy an after market card from either an online vendor or even Best Buy. First, you need to know if your PC's video interface is AGP or PCI-Express...or with it being a Dell, does it even HAVE a graphics card slot? A lot of the smaller footprint desktop machines with built-in video are limited to using only the built-in video adapter.

That being said, a quick look at Best Buy's web site has a PNY GeForce 7600 with 512MB of DDR2 for $149 in either AGP or PCI-E.

the Gforce cards work good and for 150$$ you will do well by a 7600

Cool, thanks for the information.

I need to upgrade my video card, G3 doesnt run so hot with a intel extreme graphics card. I dont have any AGP or PCI Express slots, all I have is just regular PCI. Which PCI card is decent and comparable to the 7600?

Would this one get it done? [link=http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7638292&type=product&id=11309879 62366]BFG GeForce 6200 OC [/link]

The knife edge page says the 6200TC will work but nothing about the 6200OC.

Chris,
I just have installed this card yesterday and installed G3. I'm no computer expert but the sim. seems to be running just fine.

Wow...how old a computer are you using that it doesn't have an AGP or PCI-E slot?

Doesn't have to be old to not have an AGP or PCI-E slot. That's why some of those companies can sell the small machines for so little. $300 sounds nice until you try and upgrade....

Exactly what knight said. Its about 2 years old. Am I going to be lacking anything in graphics with just having PCI?

Yep. Your're going to have have at least AGP if you want any decent performance. I doubt any vid cards are being made for just PCI anymore. Sounds like time for a PC upgrade. Dell has some good deals. Do a search for Dell coupons on google and a ton of 10-20% off coupons can be found. Little known fact that can save a bunch of money.

...

If all you've got is a PCI slot, then you're pretty much SOL. I know, I've searched far and wide for a decent PCI card for one of my old machines. Ended up with a Nvidia 5200 PCI and it sucked.

Computer buy tip for the future

When shopping for a computer, the processor, memory and hard drive aren't the only things to consider. If the video is built into the motherboard, make sure that there is a video expansion slot (AGP or PCI-E) because that is one of the things that is upgraded most often, especially if you're into gaming. Game makers always push the envelope in graphics so the newest games will usually only perform well on the next-to-newest video card specs. These cards are usually in the $150-250 range and are one or two steps behind the top-end $500 cards.

Those inexpensive machines can be nice, but the manufacturers cut back on the cost by having everything built into the motherboard making them pretty much un-upgradable. This method is known as "future sales". You want to upgrade that Dell that's sitting on your desk? Sorry. It's time to buy a whole new computer.

I used to be a firm Dell supporter until they started miniaturizing their machines and paring back their custominzing options. I've since built my last 4 computers from components because I was able to purchase the parts and options that I wanted.

The problem with PCI and today's video cards is that the pipe from the card to the processor is just too small to keep up with the speed of the video card. Hence, it's almost impossible to find any modern cards in PCI models. Heck, it's getting hard to find newer cards in anything other than PCI-Express.