HD 3650

[Macaco386]

Hey

I recently picked up the sudden urge to upgrade my PC, mostly because i had realized my graphics card struggles to crank out a playable framerate for team fortress 2 with medium settings, {its a radeon x600, pro possibly, ancient, I know}

Here are my specs

three year old Dell Dimension E510 {custom job}

Windows XP

Intel 945p motherboard
Pentium D 2.8 ghz dual core processor {smithfield architecture}
Radeon x600 256mb {pro, possibly}
two 512mb sticks of ddr2 ram
two SATA hard drives
a netgear network card
a dvd/RW drive
a PSU labeled, on inspection 305W, with 80MM fan {not sure of the model, was inside the rig on purchase}
another fan, 120MM i believe

I own an xbox 360, so i don't want to spend too much or go to a lot of trouble,

I'm thinking an HD 3650 will suffice, relatively low power use for my weak PSU, and cheap, while still many times more powerful {yes, i know my CPU will probably hold it back, but it should offer a huge boost anyway}

Can my PSU handle it? and if it can't, would it damage my computer?

would i have enough power left over for smaller upgrades, like RAM? and lastly, my moniter, is a VGA, so would a DVI to VGA cable work?

Thanks for digesting that positive wall of text

 

[AKM880]

Your GPU slot is PCIe x16. I would rather go with a ATI HD4650 than a HD3650, they are both around the same price. You should get decent gameplay with this card. Good Luck.

ATI HD4650

 

[daft]

i agree with akm880. the 4650 is much better than the 3650

 

[nutz]

TF2 Is mostly about the CPU

 

[AKM880]

I can play TF2 at 1280x1024 with decent FPS. I think a Pentium-D should even be better....

 

[coozie7]

Agree with the other guys: Get a 4650 instead, it's a similar price and much faster. Do not worry about the card being 'too fast', you can increase the AA/AF for improved image quality without sacrificing framerates
Yes, the card will run perfectly on your exising PSU, in fact others have run 9800GT or HD4770 cards on it so the HD4650 will be no problems at all.
You'll have plenty of power to spare to upgrade the RAM and add a second optical drive if need be.
Yes, the converters work, but image quality can suffer, so look for a card that has a built-in VGA output.
Like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102838

 

[Macaco386]

sounds good! I think i will go with the HD4650

Thanks guys, coozie7 for the thorough answer