Video Card Upgrade - Dimension 4100

Question

I have a Dimension 4100.  (933MHz, XP Home, current video card - 32MB, NVIDIA, M64)   I want to upgrade my video card on my system to allow me to use RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 game software. The system requirements from the software provider say: 'Video Card: Any ATI Radeon™ or GeForce™ 2 with 32MB or higher; or other video card with 32MB and hardware T&L (ATI Radeon™ 64 MB SDR or GeForce™ 2 Pro or other video card with 64 MB or more memory and hardware T&L recommended)* * Indicates device should be compatible with DirectX® version 9.0b or higher.' What do you suggest that is compatible with my Dimension 4100?  Price is a concern.  I saw only couple of graphics cards on dell.com, but couldn't tell what was compatible or what would meet the specification requirements.  I know there are a lot more choices out there.  I don't do much gaming, so I'm not video card savvy and any explanation would be helpful. Question - in the system requirements, what is T&L mean?

Don I · Answer

What's ur price range? R/Don ID4400XP Home SP2Bios A06P4 2.8 GHz 400 FSB (Finally!!)1024MB RAMBFG 6200 OC 256 MB AGP

Bladdou · Answer

I'm looking to minimize my investment in this machine.  So, my first priority is to meet the minimum specs.  If a $50 card will work and play that game consistently, I'll be happy.  If it takes more to make it work properly, then I just need to know that.

Don I · Answer

For 50 the lowest card I would go is a Geforce FX 5500. Heres a link for 5500 cards. Pick one, they all vary in prices and dont worry about memory. Dont bother getting a 256 just get a 128.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=Go&DEPA=0&type=&description=5500+agp&Category=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0

(These cards will play ur game with no problem. It will also play the newer games.)

R/
Don I

D4400
XP Home SP2
Bios A06
P4 2.8 GHz 400 FSB (Finally!!)
1024MB RAM
BFG 6200 OC 256 MB AGP

Message Edited by Don I on 07-12-2005 01:55 PM

Don I · Answer

Answer for ur other question

Transform & Lighting (T&L)
Two separate engines on the GPU that provide for a powerful, balanced PC platform and enable extremely high polygon count scenes. Transform performance determines how complex objects can be and how many can appear in a scene without sacrificing frame rate. Lighting techniques add to a scene's realism by changing the appearance of objects based on light sources.

R/
Don I

D4400
XP Home SP2
Bios A06
P4 2.8 GHz 400 FSB (Finally!!)
1024MB RAM
BFG 6200 OC 256 MB AGP

speedstep · Answer

A Geforce FX5200 is OK but the 5500 is better sometimes by 100 percent or more due to some Geforce FX5200'S having 64 bit vs 128 bit video ram interface.

Here is a compare with a 4100 and TUALTIN 1.2GHZ update. Your results with a 5200 ULTRA card or a 5500 should be close if not Exactly the same. The OS here is XP SP2 with 256 megs of ram and NVIDIA drivers 56.72 directX 9.0C. The only thing that changed was the VIDEO card. The system stayed the same.

3DMARK2001 PROJECT FILE

PROJECT
Name My Benchmark
Description
Registration Name
Registration Key
3DMark Version 330

DISPLAY
Platform NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro (Microsoft Corporation)
CPU Optimization D3D Software T&L
Width 1024
Height 768
Depth 32 bit
Z-Buffering 24 bit
Texture Format 32 bit
Buffering Double
Refresh Rate 60 Hz
FSAA Mode None

RESULTS
3DMark Score 894
Game 1 - Car Chase - Low Detail 16.6 fps
Game 1 - Car Chase - High Detail 8.5 fps
Game 2 - Dragothic - Low Detail 12.6 fps
Game 2 - Dragothic - High Detail 7.2 fps
Game 3 - Lobby - Low Detail 12.7 fps
Game 3 - Lobby - High Detail 8.0 fps
Game 4 - Nature Not supported by hardware
Fill Rate (Single-Texturing) 96.2 MTexels/s
Fill Rate (Multi-Texturing) 110.6 MTexels/s
High Polygon Count (1 Light) 2.8 MTriangles/s
High Polygon Count (8 Lights) 1.9 MTriangles/s
Environment Bump Mapping Not supported by hardware
DOT3 Bump Mapping Not supported by hardware
Vertex Shader 13.1 fps
Pixel Shader Not supported by hardware
Advanced Pixel Shader Not supported by hardware
Point Sprites 0.9 MSprites/s

************************************************
3DMARK2001 PROJECT FILE

PROJECT
Name My Benchmark
Description
Registration Name
Registration Key
3DMark Version 330

DISPLAY
Platform NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 (Microsoft Corporation)
CPU Optimization D3D Pure Hardware T&L
Width 1024
Height 768
Depth 32 bit
Z-Buffering 24 bit
Texture Format Compressed
Buffering Double
Refresh Rate 60 Hz
FSAA Mode None

RESULTS
3DMark Score 4409
Game 1 - Car Chase - Low Detail 69.9 fps
Game 1 - Car Chase - High Detail 22.4 fps
Game 2 - Dragothic - Low Detail 68.8 fps
Game 2 - Dragothic - High Detail 43.8 fps
Game 3 - Lobby - Low Detail 70.0 fps
Game 3 - Lobby - High Detail 33.1 fps
Game 4 - Nature 16.8 fps
Fill Rate (Single-Texturing) 330.6 MTexels/s
Fill Rate (Multi-Texturing) 700.2 MTexels/s
High Polygon Count (1 Light) 25.2 MTriangles/s
High Polygon Count (8 Lights) 4.7 MTriangles/s
Environment Bump Mapping 61.6 fps
DOT3 Bump Mapping 41.2 fps
Vertex Shader 36.5 fps
Pixel Shader 44.0 fps
Advanced Pixel Shader 24.6 fps
Point Sprites 8.8 MSprites/s

SPARCO14 · Answer

I dont think Fx5500 is worth for 50 bucks. try Asus Radeon 9550 trust me its much better than a 5500. heres the link. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814121511

SPARCO14 · Answer

Nvidia FX5200 < FX5200 ULTRA < FX5500 > Radeon 9550.

skip FX5XXX they r not good based on my exp. For example
in Half-life 2 Im getting 30FPS with a 5200 while 60FPS
with a 9550 btw I got a 3dmarkscore of 8200 smething with a radeon 9550.

Bladdou · Answer

Thanks for the input so far.  Based on what I've read skimming through other posts and those who responded to mine, I'm beginning to narrow this down.   It does seem that consensus is to make sure the card is 128 bit (memory interface or memory bus).  Looking at my current system specs AGP (vers 2.0) lists a maximum AGP card connector data width of 32 bits in a connector that supporst AGP 4x.  I'm guessing that 4x32=128, so the 128 bit recommendation makes sense as to maximimize throughput.  Please correct me if I'm wrong.   So, needing to be DX9.0 compatible, specifying 128 bit memory interface and looking at a target price of $50 (but willing to go to about $80 if it makes sense), that seems to leave me with a couple of choices:   NVidia FX5200 - there are cards that are 128 bit, so this may be an option.  ($39-$69 @ newegg) NVidia FX5500  ($57-73) Radeon 9550    ($56-129) Radeon 9600    ($69+) Radeon 9600 Pro  ($74+)   With regards to 128MB vs. 256MB, there isn't a clear consensus, but from what I'm seeing the 256MB are about $5-8 more expensive, which seems reasonable if it has some effect on performance.  The question might be - how do I compare a 9600Pro with 128 MB vs. a 9600 with 256 MB if they are the same price.  For the FX5500, the 256MB version was the least expensive.   Finally, what brands do you recommend or not recommend?   The FX5--- brands on NewEgg included XFX, AOpen, Rosewill, Albatron, eVGA, Gigabyte, Fujiplus ($39 for an FX5200), PNY, Apollo   The 9--0 brands included Sapphire, Gigabyte, eVGA, Powercolor, ASUS, Amigo, EPoX, MSI, GECube, JetWay, Connect3D, ELSA.

SPARCO14 · Answer

go for the 9600PRO, I recommend the gigabyte one ($80.00) because it has 600mhz memory clock while the first 4 are 466mhz.   here's the link http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125169   256mb is not worth , it doesnt even affect the peformance.

Locked Topics – Desktops General

Was this post helpful?