Graphics Card - Dell Other Vista Discussions Discuss Graphics Card - Dell in the Windows Vista forums; I have done a search of graphics cards on this board. I have obtained a new Dell E521 with Vista Premium installed by Dell on system. This particular unit comes ...

[rustydog]

I have done a search of graphics cards on this board.

I have obtained a new Dell E521 with Vista Premium installed by Dell on system.

This particular unit comes with integrated graphics.

I would like to upgrade the integrated to a dedicated graphics card.

I have read a bunch of information about small factor cards, large factor cards, power supply, etc. And I am confused.

There are no children here so gaming is not that important. But I would like to upgrade to some sort of dedicated graphics card. Maybe a middle of the road card.

I have also read about drivers. And that some cards don't work well with Vista.

The only option I could find on the Dell website is: ATI Radeon X1300 Pro 3D card. I have no idea if this is a good card or a waste of money.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a graphics card that will work well with a Dell E521?

[jimpac]

A Nvidia 7600 GS or GT would be a good fit for the E521. The E521 has a 305W powersupply, which would limit your choices if you wanted a high end card such as the 8800 series or ATIx1900/x1950 series. The 7600 (GS or GT) does not require an additional connector as it draws all necessary power directly from the PCI Express x16 slot.

On the Dell forums, numerous people have reported success using the 7600 series cards in the E520 or E521.

I believe that there has been problems with Nvidia's Vista drivers for the 8800 series, but not for their 7600/7900 series cards. ATI does appear to have a more compatible Vista driver at this time.

The x1300 is a low-range card which is outclassed by the 7600 series.

Another option is to wait until more info is available on Nvidia's new 8600 series cards which are just beginning to come onto the market. The 8600 is the replacement for the 7600. ATI is also supposed to release new cards within the next month which will support DX10.

BTW, I use a x1900 GT in my Dell Dimension 8400, and like ATI products greatly. However, as mentioned above the Nvidia 7600 series cards would probably be your best choice at this time if you are looking for a mid-range video card.

[Snuffy]

NVIDIA GeForce 7300LE Graphics with 256MB TurboCache
is not that shabby of a Graphics card.

Graphics wise the Dimension E521 is a step up. Dell includes a 19” LCD monitor that provides a sizable graphical workspace for the price. In addition, Dell includes a NVIDIA GeForce 7300LE graphics card that provides improved 3D performance over integrated graphics used by most companies. While the card claims 256MB of memory, in reality it only has 128MB of memory on the card and it uses an additional 128MB of system memory to bring it up to 256MB.

[rustydog]

Thank you 'jimpac' for taking the time to answer. The 7600 GS looks good to me. I see some stating 256 and 512. What is the difference? Yes, I can see one number is bigger than the other. What is the real world difference?

Also, the avatar you have is one of the best I have seen. Where did you get that?

[jimpac]

There isn't any real world difference between the 256 and 512 MB (except cost of course) in the low or mid-range class of video cards. A few games use the higher amount of video memory at certain resolutions, but these are the exceptions and are best appreciated by someone who has a high-end video card, monitor, etc.

Regarding my avatar: I don't recall which web site I found it at. I googled 'avatar' and reviewed a few sites until I found one that I liked.......

[rustydog]

7600 GS graphics cards

I have looked at some of these and they all seem to state that they require a power supply of 350 watts.

This E521 is rated 305 watts.

Am I reading these numbers correctly?

[crabby]

305 watts looks like a typo, and if you can, get the GT chipset.

crabby

[rustydog]

"Current Dimension Series Information
Dimension E521- This low to midrange desktop mahcine is notable for being among the first from the company to be shipped with AMD processors. Variants of the E521 are offered with CPUs from the Athlon 64, Athlon X2 and Sempron lines. Has a 305 watt power supply."

I got the above information from a website.

So if I have 305 watts, and the 7600GS requires a 350 watts, then I should look esleware for a different graphics card?

[Snuffy]

My 7600GS does not need 350 watts of power. My total system needs more than 350 watts. you must add the max power in watts that every item you use needs. CPU, CPU fan, memory by stick, case fans, DVD driver , HDD's, MOBO total consumption, then Video, plus all the other devices you have installed. USB devices, floppy drives, etc etc
It is recommended that most sytems which run a 7600GS card have a mininum of 350 watts PS. remember the 256MB card uses less power than the 512 MB card.

The GeForce 7600 GS comes clocked at 400/840MHz - these are slightly higher than the reference clocks of 400/800MHz. Just like the GeForce 7600 GT, there is no need for any additional power because the power requirements don't exceed the 75W that a PCI-Express x16 slot is capable of delivering. and the 6600 GT cards uses more power than the 7 Series.

7600GT Its specs are:
PCI-Express
90nm process, 177M transistors
128-bit GDDR3 memory interface
256 MB memory, other configurations possible
Clocks for both vertex engine and core: 560 MHz
Clocks for memory: 700 MHz (1.4 GHz DDR)
5 Vertex Shaders, 12 Pixel Shaders, 8 ROPs
Peak Power consumption: 67W

The AGP slot can only supply 40 watts. The PCIe can supply 70 watts from MB.

Any card whose wattage goes above this would require an external power adapter. Now P=IxE "power in watts = Amps x Volts" ) or P-75 watts/ 12vts = 6.2 amps = p/e=I simple math. or I/P=E . I do hope this helps.
Most items/devices are marked or you can visit the manufacture site and obtain the specs.
Snuffy

[felix8406]

Originally Posted by rustydog

I have obtained a new Dell E521 with Vista Premium installed by Dell on system. This particular unit comes with integrated graphics. I would like to upgrade the integrated to a dedicated graphics card.

Is there any specific reasons you want to add another video card? The reason I ask is that there's always the possibility that you won't gain much by adding another card. You didn't mention how much RAM your PC has, but you might gain more by adding memory instead. The integrated card shares memory with the rest of the PC, adding RAM will make your card more efficient, and will speed up the PC as well.