*How to Ask for Advice about Choosing a New GPU*

[RingoStar2022red]

I have an emachine T6528 with Nvidia GeForce 6100 video card Shared video memory, Max allocated RAM 128.0 MB.
Expansion slots available PCI Express x16
The emachine has AMD Athlon 64 3500+ / 2.2GHz Processor
I have 2.3 GB Ram installed.
Memory is DDR SDRAM 400.0 MHz PC3200

I am running Windows XP

I purchased a Dell 23" monitor with resolution of 1920 x1080. Everything looks good, a little slow except for streaming video. The video is fuzzy or the sound and picture don't synchronize.

I am not a gamer, I just search the internet, read the news, watch Netflix, and Hulu and YouTube.

I would like to keep the purchase under $50.00 otherwise, I might just buy a new computer.

What would you suggest as an upgrade video card?

Thanks

Kenneth

 

[rolli59]

Buying a new computer is the best advice but if it just video that you want to run better a cheap HD4350 would do the job http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127613

 

[RingoStar2022red]

Buying a new computer is the best advice but if it just video that you want to run better a cheap HD4350 would do the job http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127613

I looked at the card you are recommending and it shows that the memory is DDR3, mine is DDR. From what I have read it would not work. Is that right?

Thanks

 

[Vettedude]

Video RAM only communicates with the GPU, it has nothing to do with your system RAM.

Get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131339 Saves a few bucks over the 4350 and is a slightly better card. Slightly. Like VERY slightly.

 

[fantastik250]

Along with the recommendations above, also check out the 6450 or GT 440

 

[JKatwyopc]

The Radeon HD 5450 card probably won't work. The OP's computer is an older system with PCIe v1.0. I tried to install a 5450 card in a very similar system about a year and a half ago and it didn't work because the PCIe slot wasn't capable of recognizing a PCIe v2.0 card. Got a 4350 card and it worked just fine because it was a PCIe v1.0 card. I also notice that most of the 4350 cards listed on newegg seem to be PCIe v2.0 as well.

 

[rolli59]

Normally PCIe ver 2.0 cards work in older boards the problem starts with ver 2.1 cards that came out in the HD5xxx series from ATI (AMD).
OP as stated above the installed ram on the card has nothing to do with your system ram. Video (G)DDR ram is up to GDDR5 now a days but system ram is still at DDR3.

 

[RingoStar2022red]

I looked at all the recommendations so far, and could not find any PCIe 1.0.

Do you think your original recommendation - MSI R4350-MD1GD3H/LP Radeon HD 4350 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card - would work?

I notice it is a PCI Express 2.0 x16 and you are saying that DDR3 on the card is not a conflict with DDR RAM.

I don't know how the card interacts with the Motherboard. Is there any potential conflict there?

Thanks

 

[Rockdpm]

New computer. most machines in store come with like a gt 530 or similar radeon card

 

[JKatwyopc]

The Video Card has its own RAM that it uses just for the video system. That RAM is not considered part of the system RAM because it is not connected to the CPU's memory controller and therefore is not usable by the CPU to store data or programs. Instead the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) uses the video RAM to store the information it needs to generate the video images that it displays on your monitor.

 

[fantastik250]

pci-e 2.0 cards will be compatible with pci-e 1.0 slots. There are some issues with 2.1 pci-e cards in a pci-e 1.0 slot.

As JKat has mentioned, the Ram (DDR) on your computer is separate from the graphics card ram (GDDR5)

 

[rolli59]

I looked at all the recommendations so far, and could not find any PCIe 1.0.

Do you think your original recommendation - MSI R4350-MD1GD3H/LP Radeon HD 4350 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card - would work?

I notice it is a PCI Express 2.0 x16 and you are saying that DDR3 on the card is not a conflict with DDR RAM.

I don't know how the card interacts with the Motherboard. Is there any potential conflict there?

Thanks

The card should be compatible as said before the problem is with 2.1 cards in 1.x slots! The video ram is only for internal use on the GPU and has nothing to do with the system ram. Basically it should work fine.

 

[Vettedude]

I'd recommend a new computer anyways. You don't need anything fancy, a modern dual core computer with 3-4 GB DDR3 RAM and Windows 7 would be a huge upgrade.

Its hard to notice a big speed difference between DDR2 and DDR3, but I can notice a difference between DDR and DDR2 or 3. (I'm talking computer RAM here, not VRAM on the GPU which is totally separate)

 

[rolli59]

I'd recommend a new computer anyways. You don't need anything fancy, a modern dual core computer with 3-4 GB DDR3 RAM and Windows 7 would be a huge upgrade.

Its hard to notice a big speed difference between DDR2 and DDR3, but I can notice a difference between DDR and DDR2 or 3. (I'm talking computer RAM here, not VRAM on the GPU which is totally separate)

And that has nothing to do with that you are running the DDR3 with a newer and lot faster CPU than the old one that ran with the DDR ram? It is more the whole platform change that creates the difference than the ram itself.

 

[Vettedude]

And that has nothing to do with that you are running the DDR3 with a newer and lot faster CPU than the old one that ran with the DDR ram? It is more the whole platform change that creates the difference than the ram itself.

Yes but faster RAM helps when using Vista or 7 because of SuperFetch. Doesn't matter though, a modern computer would be a huge upgrade.

 

[RingoStar2022red]

Thanks for all of your responses. I have been trying to gather information on video cards and I have learned the most here in a short time.

I am going to go ahead and order the

MSI R4350-MD1GD3H/LP Radeon HD 4350 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card

I will put off the new computer for maybe another year. It is tempting, but for a little bit of money I can keep this one going.

Thanks again.