h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am about to replace my onboard graphics for a decent card, so that my pc can auctully run HL2 without stuttering.

What would you say is the best i can get for my money. £50 is the budget, cos thats how much i just found in my account, i thought i had less.


*waits patiently*

What's your current spec? It may not be a graphics card upgrade you need but a complete computer overhaul.

graphics will help lol.

1.8 GHz celeron
512mb DDR ram (upgraded from 256 before christmas)
on board graphics
60gb hdd

512 broadband through a router

And my motherboard, according to the manual, is a:

IM845GL Motherboard

No AGP slot so will ahve to be pci card

Hmm, no AGP and the motherboard predates PCI-Express by a few years. Lets see...

Here we go, apparently they do a PCI version of the ATI Radeon 9200 for under £50. Have a look at places like Ebuyer or Dabs for it.

Try for something that is DirectX 9 complient. Even Tiger Woods Links 2004 needs DX9. A 9200SE is only DX 8.1 Having the DX9 driver, does not mean the card supports the driver features, so strange things start to happen.



ATi Radeon 9500
or...
NVidia GeForce4 FX5200 (Ultra if pos.)



If you are considering going in for Linux, NVidia cards tend to be better supported for games, even though an ATi gives a better picture (personal choice is ATi).



Your real problem is PCI only, as finding Radeon 9500 PCI eak! For £50(ish) why not a new motherboard with better onboard graphics than you have and a graphics card slot for any future upgrade)?

Spendable money I have now is £50 and thats the last of it.

Though i have a job that pays pretty well, i have to but all the money from that to passing my driving test, as then i will be moreuseful on the job, then i can start spendinth that money as i wish.

My decision for now is that im gonna get a graphics card to help take the strain away from my cpu in the games, with it trying to both run the game and do the graphics.

Then go and build a new computer once i have the money, with the motherbaord and graphics chosen so they can play nice with my games.

That way i can have a resonable new machine, and a not to shabby second one.


Though till then wouldn't mind my games running smoohtly.
So i would rather just buy a graphics card than try and upgrade my mother board.
Besides i tend to regard getting a new motherbaord as time to get a new system.


Thanks for advice


*goes and looks up the cards*

"DabsValue GeForce FX5200 128MB DDR PCI DVI VO"
-surprsingly from dabs.
Including delivery will cost me £55 (which i can stretch too)

Otherwise the rest of the items i might consider arn't in stock.

Ebuyer provides cards that are lower by about £20 or break my budget.


The GeForce would be able to let this pc handle things beyond when i have stopped using it as a main machine.

Bear in mind that when you upgrade, a PCI card will really slow your machine down compared to an AGP model; AGP cards communicate at least 2x as fast with the CPU, some as much as 16x as fast. If you plan to upgrade your motherboard in less than three months I'd suggest you wait till then and spend the extra £50 on a top-notch motherboard with an onboard Radeon 9600 AGP 4x or similar.

Oh, and Happy Holidays!

btw, what sort of Celeron do you have? Is it a socket 478 chip?

I just wonder, because for about £89 Dabs sell a barebones system with decent onboard graphics ("Intel Extreme Graphic 2") that takes a S478 CPU and DDR RAM. The advantage comes in the *next* upgrade, as it has an 8x AGP socket...

QuickLinx 38KXUR; they're out of stock at the moment, but might have it back by the time you saved up the extra £39...

(Oh and it also has: Serial ATA x 2, DMA/ATA-100 (Ultra) x 2, USB 2.0 x 8, Serial Port x 1, RJ45 Lan Port x 1, PS/2 Mouse x 1, PS/2 Keyboard x 1, Parallel Port (ECP/EPP/SPP) x 1, Floppy Port x 1)

Alternately, if you're dead set on upgrading your current machine, consider Dabs QuickLinx 2WF8UR - there's no point in blowing a lot of money on a card you'll abandon when you move on to a faster machine.

urgh i dunno

as always with computers far to many options ...

Fistly, buing from "DABS" out of stock, yep, you need to speak to a person, ask for "a physical stock check, as you will want to collect." - Should you later that day decide to have it sent, it's simple enough to have the order amended, DABS like mail order, it's where the money is.



Secondly, yes buy the graphics card, if you are going to build a new system later, a "good" motherboard will not have on-board graphics, as you're expected to to go 'hi-end' possibly PCI-E, or at the very least AGP 8x (AGP 16x cards a ****off expensive for what you get).



Even motherboards with PCI-E will tend to offer a PCI slot or two for a while, so you PCI card will become a *get it working card* until you can afford a new ATi X300 or whatever the latest £300 card will be in the future)... This means you could revert you current board back to on-board graphics and have a second Linux box/ Net box, leaving a new machine free for games.



A new board now... EQS brand, not renowned for spectacular boards, but do the job, if you buy them for a specific application. Then again you may well be better off waiting for the motherboard you really want; you've said passing that driving test is important, your budget won't get smaller as a result of passing a driving test, bar wanting to buy a car.



Buy a PCI grahics card now, it's a safe purchase, that can be used as a tool in future PC builds too.

I won't have to worry about budgeting to buy a car, company vehicles are a wonderful thing.


the one that i was looking at was instock with 5 or 6 of them.


Im playing half life 2 now i have reached revenholme and though plable and enjobale with it stutering, would be more fun if it was smooooth.

I need to do somehting about it

You know you could ask them to supply the card all-in for £50, other vendors do it for that money, and DABS are bound to want to sell it, knowing the cost price, but don't trust the 'in-stock' on the system though.

I just bought a label printer from Dabs' "Used stock" for £34, list price £260... Then I went searching for the labels. So far I can't find any. It uses thermal labels, as opposed to plain labels and a thermal ribbon, which I assume is why they were wanting to get rid of it.

Still, I just found a DVD recorder for under £100 (ex-VAT from eBuyer) so life ain't all bad...

Well i ain't gonna be spending anymoney now.

my mate raked and found a GeForce 2. so i upgraded my onbard to that

my games are already running better.


*mutters as he finsihes the post* now to start planing the builiding of the next computer.*mutter*