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Dell Dimension 8200: upgrading video

I have a Dell Dimension 8200 with a few upgrades, but still the video it came with, an

NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400

which ranked pretty low when I looked at modern graphics cards.
Unfortunately the 8200 has only a 250W power supply, as well as only having AGP 4x,
no PCI Express slots.

Summary

I found people were successfully using either the Nvidia 6600LE, or the 6600GT, and that the GT was a much better performer.

Unfortunately, neither model is widely available for new sales anymore. You may have to get from e.g. eBay.

Details

My current MX 400 card is near the bottom of a 2005 video card ranking.

SpongeBob's Upgrade Site used to be a useful resource but it is offline, you can check the Internet Archive version of it.

Although the 6600GT is spec'ed for a higher power supply, people say it will be fine as the Dell PSUs are over-spec'ed.

Useful postings I found:

* Dimansion 8200 ( I would like to go to a 256mb Video Card) Which one
(talks mainly about the 6600LE)

* 3D Gamers: Upgrade Question (at the bottom of the thread)

Just a few days ago, I upgraded the original GeForce 4 Ti 4600 with a lovely BFG 6600 GT OC. The new card runs quietly and reliably

* Nvidia Forums: Recommendation - Card Upgrade for Older PC

I would just get a 6600gt, it will give you as much performance that you could possibly get out of 4x

I installed the BFG 6600GT OC, plugged in the necessary Molux power plug at the back, and downloaded the drivers (Graphics Drivers->GeForce) from Nvidia as recommended by BFG. Appears to be working fine. A bit noisy though (there is a big fan on the card).

Previously:
upgraded RAM
upgraded CPU

Next:
upgrading hard drive posted by Richard at 11:55 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

works of genius

Helsinki Complaints Choir

Complaints Choir of Birmingham posted by Richard at 16:46 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

geekcred: Seaquest Galactica

To further boost my geek cred, behold this insight:

The display viewers on Seaquest DSV have the same format (chopped off corners) as most paper documents in the new Battlestar Galactica.

Yeah, I know, screencaps would be good to demonstrate this, but trust me.

Labels: battlestar galactica

posted by Richard at 12:58 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

all shall be inventoried - new glasses

As promised.



posted by Richard at 12:28 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Gears of War - Mad World

If you want a legal copy of the Gary Jules version of Mad World, as heard in the Gears of War ad, it's now available in iTunes Canada. posted by Richard at 10:14 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)