Upgrade Graphics Card...Worth it??

dragonV8dragonV8 not here much New
edited February 2004 in Hardware
As we are upgrading Sally's puter today with a new Mobo, 1 Gig ram and a new Intel 3.2 cpu would it be worth upgrading a radeon 7000 card to something better. I can't find enough detail on the existing card and would be guessing it has 64M max.

Looking around the threads, it appears most upgrades are done with gaming in mind.

Sally does not play puter games as such, just uses it for Office, PSP8, Incredimail letter creation etc. Would a card with more ram be better for her system to run smoother/faster??

Seen that many cards on the net, including a link to an aussie internet shop, that i'm fairly well confused. 32M, 64M, 128M, 256M.
I'm sure our radeon 7000 card is probably worth around $50-$60 AUD. I'm thinking to get something in the lines of $200-$300 AUD, providing there are definite advantages. Once the system is upgraded today, it should fly along quite nicely and though a new card might help things along.

I'm not in a rush for the card as it's easy enough to change it later.
All comments will be read with interest as we are still fairly green with a lot of puter related stuff. :type:

Thanks in advance

Jon (and Sally ofcourse)

Keep on folding :smokin:

Comments

  • EyesOnlyEyesOnly Sweden New
    edited February 2004
    That comp will be way faster then it needs to be for those tasks so i would say no a new card is not needed. It could prolly play quite a few games to so i wouldn't worry about it.

    Edit
    That's a nice image.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited February 2004
    No need for a new card for those uses.
  • dragonV8dragonV8 not here much New
    edited February 2004
    Thanks guys. I'l put the money to better use a bit later. Hhmm, RAID maybe? The possibilities are endless.

    Life was so much simpler in the early 80's with DOS an Basic, lol.
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited February 2004
    Make sure you get that puppy folding. Be sure you get 2 console versions in the startup folder to utilize HT.

    Nice PC ;)
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    If she wants to go with a flat LCD you might want a video card with a digital output. It wouldn't take anything fancy, a low end ATI card would handle it well. You can probably pick up a used card from one of your hard core gamer friends. You would get a better card and a great price.
  • dragonV8dragonV8 not here much New
    edited February 2004
    Al_Capown wrote:
    Make sure you get that puppy folding. Be sure you get 2 console versions in the startup folder to utilize HT.

    Nice PC ;)

    :fold: 2 console versions, eh. Had not thought about that. As we are still pretty new to this folding, it is still very much a learning curve. We have a backup puter which is setup for folding. HP Athlon 850, which was not really doing much. My PIV laptop doing the same and Sally had her PIV 2.4 setup also. When we get her puter upgraded, all the old parts will go into the old case to make up another system.

    A couple of weeks ago we bought a new case, so all i will need is a graphics card and a monitor (i think). This will be running very quietly, folding away also. If the new HT setup can do 2 lots, that will make it the same as having 5 computers. Yeehar. I can live with that. :fold:

    Sorry about the rant. I do get a bit carried away sometimes. :type:

    (best i not say anymore, else this thread will end up in the "Folding" section, lol).
  • dragonV8dragonV8 not here much New
    edited February 2004
    edcentric wrote:
    If she wants to go with a flat LCD you might want a video card with a digital output. It wouldn't take anything fancy, a low end ATI card would handle it well. You can probably pick up a used card from one of your hard core gamer friends. You would get a better card and a great price.

    Good thought. Sally already has a Samsung 171N flat monitor, which i would imagine is one of those LCD types.

    It appears to work ok, however saying in that, i do need to buy another graphics card to make the old puter complete and set up for folding.

    Since my knowledge is limited, can you or anyone give a recommendation re: a suitable card. I would think the people at the shop would know, it's just i don't always trust them as they are sales orientated. Certainly won't need one of those high-end gamers card.

    Jon
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited February 2004
    No need for a monitor if its not doing anything. With VNC you can check it from another system.

    If you want a cheap monitor:
    http://www.spoofee.com/forums/showthread.php?p=20119 rebate
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited February 2004
    dragonv8, a suitable card for what? a folding machine, or your wife's machine, so the R7000 can go in the folding machine?
  • dragonV8dragonV8 not here much New
    edited February 2004
    mmonnin wrote:
    No need for a monitor if its not doing anything. With VNC you can check it from another system.

    If you want a cheap monitor:
    http://www.spoofee.com/forums/showthread.php?p=20119 rebate

    Being in Australia, i'd think transport cost would make a good deal costly, though appreciate the link. The "old" puter most likely will only be used as a backup one and therefore just sit there folding away.

    Could you enlighten me on this please." With VNC you can check it from another system." Sounds interesting.

    Jon
  • dragonV8dragonV8 not here much New
    edited February 2004
    Geeky1, the 7000 can go into the folding machine and the NEW one into the upgraded one. I'm sure guys like yourself would possibly find a better way without asking the question like i am, as mmonnin mentioned something about VNC, it's just that with computers my knowledge is fairly limited.

    I was quite happy with your first money-saving reply, till Sally mentioned about what would be needed to make the old puter workable. She woke up after i made the first post. That was when i realised i still needed another card.

    Thanks again.

    Jon

    PS. We are now pulling the cables out of the puter to take it to the shop for the upgrade and when we get back, i'll check the posts again.
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited February 2004
    Oh yeah forgot about that hole ocean distance thing.

    www.realvnc.com

    Install it and you open the program up, enter the name of the computer or IP across a LAN or internet, enter the password to the computer or a made up one and a window pops up with the desktop of the computer you connected to. Your keyboard and mouse control that computer when the window is active.

    Its a nifty free tool that I use to check on my boxes.
  • EyesOnlyEyesOnly Sweden New
    edited February 2004
    I've used it too. It's great.
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    Trouble shooting and such is a lot easier with a monitor. Put the 7000 into the folding box.
    Does the Samsung 171 have a digital input? If so use it, the image will be better. Get a low end ATI card and you will be set. The 9600's can be had reasonably these days, but even a 9200 would be fine.
  • dragonV8dragonV8 not here much New
    edited February 2004
    edcentric wrote:
    Trouble shooting and such is a lot easier with a monitor. Put the 7000 into the folding box.
    Does the Samsung 171 have a digital input? If so use it, the image will be better. Get a low end ATI card and you will be set. The 9600's can be had reasonably these days, but even a 9200 would be fine.

    Picked up a ATI Radeon 9200 SE 128MB this morning. Good price and doubled the Ram from the 7000 card, so that should go ok. It has digital out, but the samsung monitor does not have it, so maybe for the next monitor. Now i can put the 7000 in the next permanent folding machine. Getting there slowly but surely.

    All our puters are networked and on broadband, so when set up they should just look after themselves. :fold:
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