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What version of AGP does a Dimension 4600 use?
Thanks in advance for any help. Here's my situation:
I need to replace my video card, and I'm looking at the market for a mid-range AGP card to fit in my Dimension 4600 (obviously microATX). I found a 7300GT, but the slots on the card look much different than my AGP interface. The specifications for this particular card require an "AGP interface 2.0 or greater". I tried to research this, but ran into confusion about compatibility. Is the Dimension 4600 up to this spec, or do I need to look elsewhere?
This is the card I pulled up, note the 3 "slots". http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3092427&CatId=318
Here is the backstory, with more information:
About 2 years ago, I upgraded my Dimension 4600's power supply, video card, and added more RAM. I am now running a PC Power & Cooling 400W Silencer. Up until earlier this evening, I was running an eVGA 7600GS. I experienced a problem with the video shutting off. The PC was very dirty, and was cleaned. The problem persisted. I examined the computer internally (computer running), and the video card fan was not spinning. I pulled the card and took a look, and it looks like a capacitor blew. I did some research and read of others who've had similar problems with this video card.
Any help is truly appreciated.
JMICHAEL
1.7K Posts
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May 8th, 2009 14:00
I had a 7600GS in my 4600 and never had any problems with it. You will be very disappointed with the 7300GT compared the the 7600GS. There are just a lot less choices with AGP cards now even compared to just one year ago. If you could find a 7600GT, that would be the one to get with Nvidia. However, I think they're gone. The best AGP cards available now are with ATI. The HD 3850 is probably the best you can get. I see the X1950 Pro is still available at TigerDirect which is better than the 7600GT. The HD 2600 XT also might be worth looking at. Even the HD 3650 or HD 2600 Pro is better than the 7300GT if you're looking for something in the lower price range.
AKM8
56 Posts
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May 8th, 2009 23:00
I have a AGP version of the HD 3650, its a great card but it can have its driver problems most of the time. :emotion-12: . You might want to look into that. And some AGP ATi card shave bad drivers, it took me almost a couple days to find the right one.
schrutedit
2 Posts
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May 8th, 2009 23:00
Thanks for the response.
After some more research, I've found that a HD 3650 would work OK with the 4600. I was a little concerned about power requirements (450W recommended PSU), but one reviewer on a website claimed to be running the card with the stock Dell PSU. I think with a quality 400W unit installed, it should be ok. Also of note, I added a second internal hard drive. So that's 2 optical drives and 2 hard drives on the IDE bus (Thing weighs a ton, let me tell you).
Would it be a bad idea to disconnect/remove the floppy drive (unused) and CD-RW drive? (DVD-ROM drive serves as primary/boot drive). Would that reduce any load on the PSU? I also have a Modem/Fax card I don't need. I'd like to remove that, but without a way to cover the back of the case I think it would mess with air flow to have a giant hole in the back. I could really use a card slot cover. Right now I have an empty PCI slot next to the AGP slot, so I should have enough room, but removing a hulk-size PCI card would be really nice.
AKM8
56 Posts
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May 9th, 2009 00:00
I doubt it would make a huge difference, also please note that the HD 3650 requires another floppy disk molex connector to run.
lpprikej
650 Posts
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May 19th, 2009 11:00