Dimension 4100

Question

I have a Dimension 4100 (P3 1 GHz) and am thinking about upgrading my current video card.  I have a ATI Radeon 7500 64MB AGP right now, and I have been doing some reading on the Radeon 9800 Pro (128MB).  For the system requirements, it did say P3, but they recommend a 300W power supply to ensure normal system operation.  After doing a search on these boards, it sounds like I have a 200W in my 4100.  Is that true?  If so, would this 128MB video card still work or is it incompatible with my current system configuration?  Thanks.

Dale Nihiser · Answer

BP

Please don't take this the wrong way, but why put a $350.00 graphics card in a $100.00 computer? Your whole computer would be the bottleneck for the 9800pro. Why not read over in the upgrade section nd look into buying a case, mobo, an inexpensive cpu, canniblize what you can from the 4100, sound card and hard drive & network cards and build a bare bones system around your 9800pro. That's the only way you'll ever see the real benefit from owning a 9800pro.

Your Ati Radeon is a more than ample video card for your Dim 4100.

Good Luck

Dale

Dimension 4100 (Old Paint)
866MHz Pentium III----->1.2GHz Tualatin Cele--->1.6GHz
LinLin 370 socket adapter (geekverter)
Intel A10 Bios
256Mb Sdram 133Mhz fsb
Ati Radeon 7500 64Mb DDR Ram
Sound Blaster Live Value!
Ctx 19" monitor
genericcdrom
generic cdrw
30Gb Seagate 7200rpm HD
WinME (all updates)

BP98 · Answer

Dale,

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm not going to build my own system and take everything I can out of the 4100. I've done a lot of upgrades within the past couple of years and I'm happy with it the way it is, aside from today's "newer" games. The past couple of games I played on it (Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2, Need For Speed Underground Demo) did not work all that well. Both games were quite jerky when I set the graphics to the maximum and had the display set to 1280 X 1024 resolution. Even when I lowered the graphics some, I hardly noticed a difference. Things were still a little jerky. Why would that problem not be the video card? I would think that if it's jerky in any way, I don't have enough video memory. Don't get me wrong, 64MB is a lot, but in five years from now, people will be looking at a 64MB card the same way we look at a 1MB or 2MB card today. For all I know, the problem I'm having with the performance of these games could be the lack of processor speed in my 4100. If that's the case, then I'll have to think about what I'm going to do. I do know that I'm set for ram (512 PC133). So if these two newer games aren't working as well as they should, then any game made from this day forward won't work all that well either. In my opinion, my 4100 can still be upgraded in many ways. That means I'd like to try to rule out buying a new computer or building my own, if possible. I've got enough outdated computers around here as it is!!

BP

Dale Nihiser · Answer

There are a lot of factors that affect fps. Apps running in the background that consume cpu cycles, anti virus software, outdated video/sound drivers, unpatched games, and beta versions, but those are things you already know.

A Geforce 4 Ti 4200 as I have read on this forum is a good match for your machine and a Geforce 4 Ti 4600 is faster than Nvdia's newer FX5200. I think any of the Radeon 9000pro, 9100pro with 128mb of ram or a Radeon 8500LE w/128mb of ram are good cards for your system from ATi and are $100.00 or less online. Finally I'm not sure your AGP slot will support a 9800pro card let alone your powersupply unit. More research would need to be done to confirm that.

As for cpus, if you're willing to accept risk to attain greater reward, you can buy a cheap $8 ~ $12.00 370 pin socket adapter along with a cheap ($42.00) 1.2GHz Tualatin Celeron and upclock that Celeron to 1.6GHz w/ a 133MHz fsb that will provide you a speed gain equivalent to a 1.8 ~ 2.0GHz P4. To read up on the subject you can visit www.kilowattalley.com/easy.htm that will provide some background. Next visit the upgrade forum and run a search using upclock as the keyword. There you'll find a plethora of information, and you'll also discover the trail is littered with successes, frustration, and some failures. I said there was risk involved! But my own Dimension 4100 has been cruising along @ 1.6GHz ever since last spring. Nothing else in the case is overclocked or being run out of spec.

So there are some ideas to try and sqeeze a little more life out of the ol 4100.

Good Luck

Dale

Dimension 4100 (Old Paint)
866MHz Pentium III----->1.2GHz Tualatin Cele--->1.6GHz
LinLin 370 socket adapter (geekverter)
Intel A10 Bios
256Mb Sdram 133Mhz fsb
Ati Radeon 7500 64Mb DDR Ram
Sound Blaster Live Value!
Ctx 19" monitor
genericcdrom
generic cdrw
30Gb Seagate 7200rpm HD
WinME (all updates)

Dimension 4550
P4 2.53GHz------>3.06Ghz w/HT (Dec 03)
512Mb DDR 333MHz Ram
533Mhz fsb
Sapphire Oem Radeon 9800Pro 128Mb w/Catalyst 3.7drivers
Sound Blaster 5.1
LITEON Dvd-Rom LTD163
HL-DT-ST Cdrw Rom 848-1b
Logitech Optical Mouse MX310
Viewsonic G90fb-2 19"
Windows XP Home Sp1 (all updates)
A05 bios
60Gb 7200rpm HD

BP98 · Answer

Dale,

Thanks for that advice. I do appreciate it. I'll do some research and go from there. I suppose basically what I was looking for from the beginning was simply better performance out of my newer games, whether there's things that I could do with my existing 7500 for better fps, or go to the next video card up if I have to.

BP

sbring44 · Answer

BP98,

Yes Dale has great info on the 4100. One could say he is a Jedi Knight of the 4100. I'll bet his lovely wife is proud of him. What an I saying?? His wife probably feels she has been a "Computer Widow" long enough. I know my wife feels that way.

As for the TI 4200. Mine is back in my 4100. It was the best upgrade I could do to my aging system without doing the "fast lane" processor upgrades.

Dimension 4600
2.8 GHZ 800 FSB
1.5 GB PC 3200 DDR Ram
80 GB HD
60 GB External Fire Wire HD
ATI 9800 PRO 128meg
P991 19" Monitor
DVD/CD-RW
CD-RW
Floppy Drive(A must have for a old timer)
5.1 SB Audio
Added Firewire card
A stoopid modem I didn't want

Message Edited by sbring44 on 11-18-2003 06:39 AM

fredha · Answer

BP98, If you want a card that will match your processor and ram, the ti4200 or the radeon 9500 non pro will work great. You can get both in the 64mb version for less than $100. I have a ti4200 64MB in a computer with an overclocked 1.2 celeron(1704). The card still has more to give than the computer can handle. The bandwith of the p3 and celerons only allow so much performance, that is why higher performance cards are wasted moneywith these processors. AGP slots will start being phased out next year so buying a card for the future isn't a good investment.

BP98 · Answer

Fredha,

Thanks for that tip; makes sense. Is there a difference between the Radeon 7500 and the Radeon 9500? With both being 64MB, I'm not sure.

What are the differences between the ti4200 & the Radeon 9500?

BP

Dale Nihiser · Answer

Bp

Biggest difference is the 7500 was a true dx7 card in its day while the 9500 is a true dx9 card. Actually I think the the 7500's gpu has a core clock speed of 290MHz and the 9500's gpu core clock speed is 275MHz. The 9500 however pulls away due to its faster memory operating @ 540MHz vs the 7500's 460MHz. The 9500 has four rendering pipelines. I don't know how many for the 7500.

I can't help you with the gforce to 9500 comparison but here is a link that compares these various cards. Go to

http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20021218/index.html

Good luck

Dale

Message Edited by Dale Nihiser on 11-19-2003 12:37 AM

Message Edited by Dale Nihiser on 11-19-2003 12:39 AM

Message Edited by Dale Nihiser on 11-19-2003 12:42 AM

fredha · Answer

Speedwise the cards are about equal, but the 9500 will support DX9 and will have better picture quality.

pbernhardt · Answer

Question.  The manual for the Dim 4100 says it should use 2x or 4x video cards.  The Radeon 9500 is 8x.  Judging from the other posts, this won't be a problem, right?

Dale Nihiser · Answer

pb

The 9500 will be backward compatible with your agp slot. Remember dell 4100 manuel was published well before the advent of 8x agp vid cards.

Dale

Message Edited by Dale Nihiser on 12-02-2003 08:17 PM

pbernhardt · Answer

Dale,

Thanks, that makes perfect sense. I found another issue in other threads about higher end video cards for the 4100 -- like the ATI 9600 -- require a 300W power supply and will not run properly. I also saw a recommendation for a GeForce4 Ti4200 as a sensible upgrade for this machine. I'll look at that and the lower end ATI cards.

- Peter

Derek Powles · Answer

I also have a 4100 and would like to upgrade the video. I am looking at a Nvidia Geforce 5200 128Mb DDR card. This is rated AGP 2X or AGP 2X/4X/8X universal slot with AGP Bus 2.0 compliant. Is this card compatible with the 4100? When making enquiries I was asked is the the 4100 compatible with the card? Can you confirm?

I want to able to run the URU, ages beyond Myst which requires DX9. The above card has DX9 optimizations and support without being expensive.

Locked Topics – Desktops General

Dimension 4100

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