in my 2400, i just uninstalled the intel eXtreme graphics (eXtreme my A**), didnt do the whole complex task of disabling it.
but one time for some reason i uninstalled my card's drivers, i plugged it into the onboard thinking i was doomed but it worked (the onboard), a guy told me whenever you plug your monitor into the onboard slot, it reinstalls the drivers but that may not work if you completely disable it.

just do what i did, its more failsafe.....wait, are there preformance disadvantages, becase if there are...

The only performance disadvantages I know of is that since it's not disabled it's still sharing rescources. That's what I heard. He's not really a hardcore gamer so I'm not going to worry about it.

You're right about it being more failsafe, so I think I'll just leave it enabled and just make sure I set the BIOS to use the PCI card primarily.

Thanks for the reply!

Hmmm, I have read that there could be problems/conflicts if you don't Disable the integrated graphics after installing a video card.  I have also (often) read that there could be problems if you Uninstall the integrated driver, instead of the recommended method of Disabling it.

Good to know, thanks for the follow up.

Kevin

Hi all:

I have a Dimension 2400 (3 PCI, no AGP, Celeron)
I just bought Power Color ATI 9200SE 128MB PCI video card.
I followed Chris' instruction to the puntuation
Plug the screen cable into the PCI card >>> No boot, nothing, black screen.
Changed the PCI slot >> same result.
Plug the screen cable back to the AGP port: boot again

I just bought the machine at the last Dell promotion.
Is this Dimension 2400 crippled wrt PCI graphic path.

I did call Dell support and was told, unfortunately, this machine can not use PCI graphic card.

I see that some of you also have the Dimension 2400 yet bale to use PCI video.

Am I being misinformed?

Could you please help. Should I return the card?


Cheers,
xosbs

Sorry about your luck so far...  To clear one thing up:  YES, the Dimension 2400 is absolutely able to use PCI graphics cards instead of integrated graphics, this is very common.  There are 3 PCI slots available to do this, and it baffles me why the so-called "expert" Dell support guy on the phone could not tell you this, yet it IS very common that they are wrong.  Perhaps they were confused that you were asking about PCI Express (which is not compatible) rather than regular PCI graphics?

Assuming you did the steps like Disabling the Intel integrated graphics controller in Device Manager, and setting the BIOS integrated video setting to Auto, I don't know what could be wrong.

I'm not an expert, I am just a Dimension 2400 user who has successfully installed 2 different PCI cards in my computer (a GeForce FX5200 and a GeForce FX5500).  The one thing I can tell you is that on these forums there have been numerous reports of problems with ATI Radeon PCI cards sometimes not being compatible with Dimensions, and I've also read that PowerColor may not be the best choice of brands (I'm only saying what I've read... I'm sure there have been some successes with those as well).  But, it appears that Dimension computers have a MUCH better track record with the GeForce PCI cards than with the Radeons... I don't know why... Dimension computers seem to be very "finicky" with PCI card compatibility sometimes... 

If you have no luck, my recommendation would be, if possible, to RETURN the Radeon 9200SE to the store, and exchange it for a GeForce PCI card (FX5200 is common, FX5500 is better).  I guarantee you that you will have a MUCH better chance of success with a GeForce card. 

Good luck,

Kevin