PCI Express Recommendation?

[Scottie2004]

Just upgraded my flagging pc to a new Dell Dimension 3100 and I need a good recomendation for a PCI Express card, around £100. The PSU coming with the Dell is rated at 230W but it's almost silent, will I need to replace? Also, would prefer it to be as quiet as possible but not as a compromise over speed.

Needs to be able to play a decent game of Battlefield 2 with the following specs.

P4 630 3.2, 2 MB L2 Cache 800MHz FSB,
2x512MB DDR2,
160 Gig SATA,
230 Watt PSU.

Intel Integrated Graphics.

Thanks.

 

[a1ex2001]

That power supply is going to struggle with running a modern graphics card and £100 is going to strggle to get you top notch performance in BF2. Unfortunately you may find it difficult to replace the power supply as dell often use funny shaped conectors and getting adapters can be a pain.

 

[Scottie2004]

I was thinking 6600 GT, would that be feasible?

 

[Raikiri]

Problem is it is a dell...

I am being serious not just bashing them, they use proprietory conections ont heir motherboards/PSUs so if the PSU isnt up to the task you wont be able to upgrade it.

 

[a1ex2001]

you'll probably get away with the 6600GT but it's getting abit long in the tooth for the latest games at high res with the eye candy on

 

[Scottie2004]

The Dell was purchased as my previous pc was getting so long in the tooth that I would have had to replace the majority of the pc anyway, including 17" CRT that was blurry. Also, wanted a professional looking pc for my new home office and I'm not a fan of the appearance of many of the cases on the market.

New Dell was setup as described above including 19" TFT for around £400. I knew that I would have to setup my own graphics card but should have considered the PSU as well.

What cards can I consider with this PSU for £100 - £150 ? Also, there are a few Dells at work with 400W PSUs that I'm pretty sure will not be an issue swapping over with. In this case as well what would be the best option?

Really appreciated, thanks.

 

[jrodga2k5]

Well mate get a really good PSU that is for sure, the Hiper X 580w at £70 is a very good buy, very quiet, will run any components no problem!

Now as for the graphics card.....a lot of guys on here will vouch for the GTO2 if you can get one because you can soft mod it to PE speeds however.....
I would recommend you buy the following

PowerColor ATI Radeon X850 XT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-037-PC)
this is priced at £152.69 inc vat and is unbeatable value and performance at that price.

Just over your budget but you should really stretch it! this comes with a better cooler than the GTO 2 and will easily clock that extra 20mhz to PE speeds

 

[Scottie2004]

Well mate get a really good PSU that is for sure, the Hiper X 580w at £70 is a very good buy, very quiet, will run any components no problem!

Now as for the graphics card.....a lot of guys on here will vouch for the GTO2 if you can get one because you can soft mod it to PE speeds however.....
I would recommend you buy the following

PowerColor ATI Radeon X850 XT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-037-PC)
this is priced at £152.69 inc vat and is unbeatable value and performance at that price.

Just over your budget but you should really stretch it! this comes with a better cooler than the GTO 2 and will easily clock that extra 20mhz to PE speeds

That sounds pretty decent but I'm now thinking I will just save up for a few months and get a decent psu / gcard. I need something shortterm though that I will sell on later.

Is the XFX GeForce PCX6600 GT Extreme Gamers Edition 128MB DDR3 a decent enough card and will it run ok on 230W psu?

 

[crashuk]

If you buy the card plus psu and install yourself it voids the warranty.

 

[crashuk]

or just go out buy a new board psu card.

 

[Scottie2004]

I'm not bothered about the warranty. Bought the system as a base to build upon anyway and only took the one year parts warranty with it.

I'm now looking for a quick upgrade for around £100 without buying new psu. Can I get away with 6600 GT DDR3 on 230W?

 

[Raikiri]

I'm not bothered about the warranty. Bought the system as a base to build upon anyway and only took the one year parts warranty with it.

I'm now looking for a quick upgrade for around £100 without buying new psu. Can I get away with 6600 GT DDR3 on 230W?

Wont know until you try, what amps does the PSU have? (12v being the most important)