ATI RADEON 9250 256MB DDR PCI Graphics Card

Would not recommend it.  Other posters have decribed problems with this card in entry level Dells such as yours.

Run a search.

Most would recommend an nvidia fx5500 or 6200 pci.  6200pci are getting hard to find though.

Good Luck

Dale

Cool Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05 Mid tower case
AMD Athlon 64 3700+--->AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego
MSI K8N Neo4-F Socket 939 ATX motherboard
1GHz Cosair ValueSelect PC 3200 DDR 400 SDRAM
EVGA GeForce 6800GS 256Mb GDDR3 PCI Express
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200Gb 7200rpm SATA 150 HD
Plextor 708A 8x burner
Thermaltake TR W0070 ATX 430W PSU
Logitech Optical Mouse MX310
Logitech Wingman Rumblepad
Altec-Lansing headphones w/mic
Viewsonic G90fb-2 19"
Windows XP Home Sp2(all updates)
D-Link 524 Wireless Ethernet Broadband Router

I would recommend getting a Geforce 5500/6200 card.











DIM2400
P4 2.8Ghz, 533Fsb, 512L2 Cache
1024G DDR RAM
3D Fuzion Geforce 5500 256MB, PCI
80G HDD
Audigy 2ZS w/ Creative Labs Speaker

problem is finding any card that has any memory that is a pci, plenty of pci express but not just pci. Radeon 9250 with 256 is on of the few I've seen, can't find a geforce 6200 pci, any suggestions, wouldn't have bought this dell if I'd have known couldn't put any video card in. that's what I get for assuming!!

Allhailceasar

Found this 6200 @ tiger direct and in stock.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2427231&CatId=697

Don't get too hung up on 256MB of memory.  The difference in performance between one card with 256MB of memory vs 128MB is insignicant.  The following link clearly validates that:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/08/08/graphics_beginners_3/page3.html

Finally here's a article comparing a 6200 to the 9250.  You'll conclude the 6200 is the better deal.

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6155640/index.html?tag=features;title;1

Budget computers are like budget cars, you just can't expect to have all the bells and whistles that the more expensive models have.  I'm sure next time you'll research your purchase a little more thoroughly.

Good Luck

Dale

Cool Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05 Mid tower case
AMD Athlon 64 3700+--->AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego
MSI K8N Neo4-F Socket 939 ATX motherboard
1GHz Cosair ValueSelect PC 3200 DDR 400 SDRAM
EVGA GeForce 6800GS 256Mb GDDR3 PCI Express
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200Gb 7200rpm SATA 150 HD
Plextor 708A 8x burner
Thermaltake TR W0070 ATX 430W PSU
Logitech Optical Mouse MX310
Logitech Wingman Rumblepad
Altec-Lansing headphones w/mic
Viewsonic G90fb-2 19"
Windows XP Home Sp2(all updates)
D-Link 524 Wireless Ethernet Broadband Router

Message Edited by Dale Nihiser on 08-20-200610:29 PM

Thanks for the assistance, ordering the card right now, don't know why I'm hung up on 256, probably cuz I have a nvidia 128 now in my other computer (which won't fit in this one!) thanks again, appreciate it, hope I can play CAESAR IV! Got my preorder special in the mail today!

Thanks, just recieved the 6200.

I know there are some special instructions somewhere in the forum on installing thses cards, but I can't seem to find it, any help would be appreciated.

W.

Installed my 6200 also, excellent service from tigerdirect.com. Game does now start and begin to play but is unplayable because of LAG, serious LAG, and I have all settings to lowest. Newest driver to 6200 (9131) just released in June, newest direct x (don't think card is compatible with 9, just 8) and the instructions are in these forums, back out to tech support and you'll see several forum entries with instructions, just print them off first!

Thanks again Dale! tigerdirect owes you comission!

Message Edited by allhailcaesar on 08-25-200604:07 PM

installed the GE6200

online games seem to work fine(WOW), civilization works fine, but try and start a video and the system slows to a crawl..100% cpu usage....the nvidia control panel/video setting locks up as well

any ideas?

try installing 84.21 drivers instead of the newest ones. my performance jumped way up when I did this. i found this info from other forums on the 6200 . i'm keeping the 84.21 on my system. even helped me to play caesar 4, for 10 minutes this time!