3D Cad cards and 3d Gamer cards are NOT the same. Theres no such thing as a cheap card that does both.
Cad cards tend to be the QUADRO Type and can be OVER $1000.

ANY CARD will be better than onboard INTEL JUNK GRAPHICS.


http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?PAGE=PRODUCT&PROD_ID=1431454&cid=25608&fp=F

http://www.pny.com/products/quadro/

http://www.pny.com/products/quadro/fx/3000fx.asp

System Card OS Driver Date SolidWorks Notes
DELL Precision 650, 450, 360 nVidia Quadro FX 3000  Win2K  6.14.10.4529  06/06/2005 2006    
 WinXP  6.14.10.4529  06/06/2005 2006    
 Win2K  6.14.10.4529  07/06/2004 2005    
 WinXP  6.14.10.4529  07/06/2004 2005    
 Win2K  6.14.10.4529  10/22/2003 2004    
 WinXP  6.14.10.4529  10/22/2003 2004    

 

Message Edited by SpeedStep on 11-03-2005 06:59 PM

Hey guys, I am in the same boat except I would like to upgrade my card to one of the high-end ATi or nVidia's just for gaming.

Many of my friends (who are apaprnetly computer-savvy) have told me that it is not possibl to remove my internal Intel 82865G Graphics controller or replace or add another video card. Is this true?

Any reponse is much appreciated. if more specs ar eneeded I am of ocurse happy ti give them.

 

Thanks.

Could someone please hlep me with this. Any dxdiag / other specs needed?

Thanks.

If you have a tower model you can probably use a 6600 and maybe a 6800. The powersupply rating will be on the low side, but may work. If the powersupply cannot meet the powerneeds, you can buy an ATX powersupply, but will have to use a Dremel or so to cut a hole in the chassis where the powercable will need to be plugged in.

If you don't have a tower chassis, you're upgrade path for a gaming card is very limited due to the half-height videocard requirement and the very limited powersupply. If this is the case you may want to look into buying a Dell tower chassis (same chassis as GX150-GX270 and there are several Dimension systems with the same chassis too) with powersupply (on auction sites or so, as Dell won't sell a chassis w/o it being a whole computer).

If you have a tower system it depends on how many arms and legs you are willing to give up to pay for the card.

I recently purchased a BFG 6800GT OC for my Dimension 4300 and my GX240. Works fine.

My Dimension 4300 Specifications
Processor Intel Pentium 4 1994MHz
Display Card NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT
Memory 1024MB
Operating System Microsoft Windows 2000
Free Disk Space 61.62GB
Display Card Memory 256MB
Display Driver Version 8.1.8.5
DirectX Version 9.0c
Optical Drive CD/DVD
Sound Card SoundMAX Digital Audio

Its only a bit under the 6800 Ultra and some overclock it to 400Mhz stable.

http://www.bfgtech.com/6800GTOC.html

IMHO The spectrum is like this

Geforce FX5500 AGP  = $80

Geforce 6600GT = $188

Geforce 6800GT= $330

Geforce 6200 = Junk and worthless

Geforce 4000 = worse than junk a step backwards from onboard INTEL video

 

hello, i think i have simmilar question with you all.
i have a optiplex GX270 small form factor. and i want to upgrade my vga card.
my choice is the 6600GT AGP card. does anybody have some experience installing it on GX270 ssf?

i really dont mind if i had to open the computer case, since the 6600GT is a full size card. my only concern is the powersupply.

so, if anybody have succesfully installing 6600GT on their GX270ssf, please let me know, so that i can make up my mind upon buying the 6600GT agp card.

thanks for your respond :)