Desktop Graphic Card for Pentium D.

[Anish Mathew]

Dear Friends,

I need to upgrade my PC so as to play latest games,but for that kindly suggest me an Nvidia graphic card for my Desktop PC. Please find the configuration of the Compaq Q Series desktop PC mentioned below:-

1.Intel Pentium (R) D CPU 3.00GHz.
2.3GB DDR2 RAM.
3.System Model GF998AA-ACJSG3043IL.
4.Processor:X86 Family 15model 6 stepping 5 Genuine Intel 2992Mhz.
5.Bios Version : V5.05.
6.SMBIOS Version : 2.5.

Looking for hearing from u soon.

[GroundZero3]

Does your computer have a PCI-X slot?

[Anish Mathew]

Yes, friend i have three 5-volt 32-bit PCI expansion slots

[stroyal]

If this is it, you don't.
Well at least not the right one.

Motherboard Specifications, 945GZ7MC (Lucknow) Compaq Presario SG3043IL Desktop PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

You have 1 PCI-e X1, and 2 PCI.
PCI graphic is over 10 years old, and not high performance.
It is basically not used for video cards any more, but low performance cards, can still be had.

The 1x PCI-e is actually a faster buss, but I'm not sure on the availability of cards, although, I'm pretty sure they exist.

Serious video cards run on a slot you don't have, PCI-e 16X.

Why Nvidia ?
Limiting your self to one brand, is needless.
You should be choosing on Price/performance, and guarantee/service.

Nvidia isn't better, than AMD, and AMD isn't better than Nvidia, as a general statement.
Both can shine at a certain price points.

We need to know what games you expect to play, at what setting, and your budget.

I personally would not waste money on that rig, unless you expectations, are very low.

Is this a core 2, I can't tell from that info.
Edit
Never mind, I see it is a D, in your title..

Welcome to TechIMO!

[dubl07]

Hello Anish, although 'stroyal' is correct on the fact that you don't have an available
pci express x16 slot currently on your board there are other options that will work for your current build right now as your cpu is at least fast enough to play most of the current games with lower settings and plenty of ram also. So instead of saying just upgrade ur mobo to a newer one with the slot available or buy a new desktop, you could always get an adapter for your pci x1 slot to pci x16 and slap a vid card in there and you will be better off then your current state.


link..Amazon.com: StarTech.com PCI Express X1 to X16 Low Profile Slot Extension Adapter (PEX1TO162): Electronics

and its cheaper than buying a whole new rig, hope this helps

[dubl07]

Sorry about the previous photo kinda new to linking, The adapter looks like this and is quite cheap. Remember to read the specs your going to be using a low profile pci-e x16 card there are many available the one i would suggest checking out newegg.com and just type in low profile video cards there are plenty on the market, just have to decide on how much you want to spend, here is an example of some cards and there tested performance on certain games.

Benchmark Results: Metro 2033 : AMD Radeon HD 6670 And 6570: Turkeys Or Turkish Delights?

once again hope this helps and GL

[dubl07]

ok photos are not showing up hmm.. oh well you can use the link to see the pic' of what the adapter looks like then you just need to choose a card

[Anish Mathew]

Friends thank you very much for your valuable time u gave in for my help.Stroyal u r right i don't have a PCI-e 16X slot (lock type). Nvidia graphic cards r best in gaming.Hey
Dubl07 u should be 007 man.Thanks that was an awesome & cheap hybrid u suggested me,but u don't think the height will also increase by using this extender and the extender is also low performance?



Someone told me Nvidia 9500GT,1GB,DDR2 overclocked edition will be compatible card.
Suggest me any gaming Graphic card of Nvidia,ATI etc
My budget for graphic card is Rs.5000-Rs.8000/-.

I was upgrading so as to cut cost in buying branded games but if that is not possible i'll go for PS3.
Looking for hearing from u soon.

[dubl07]

Friends thank you very much for your valuable time u gave in for my help.Stroyal u r right i don't have a PCI-e 16X slot (lock type). Nvidia graphic cards r best in gaming.Hey
Dubl07 u should be 007 man.Thanks that was an awesome & cheap hybrid u suggested me,but u don't think the height will also increase by using this extender and the extender is also low performance?



Someone told me Nvidia 9500GT,1GB,DDR2 overclocked edition will be compatible card.
Suggest me any gaming Graphic card of Nvidia,ATI etc
My budget for graphic card is Rs.5000-Rs.8000/-.

I was upgrading so as to cut cost in buying branded games but if that is not possible i'll go for PS3.
Looking for hearing from u soon.

Yes if you have a slim line or smaller case the 9500gt might be too tall, if that is the case you will need to get a low profile video card there are plenty out there that support ddr2 tech ex-http://www.asus.com/websites/global/products/o7FrMH9W00nDL1Ml/P_500.jpg is a good card on the cheap. either way you will need the adapter so then you figure out how much room you have after you get an adapter 'you can get em on the cheap from newegg or ebay along with either the 9500 or a low profile.

hope this helps bud and gl, will check back later

[ShyguyXPC]

Dub... you linked the wrong low profile adapter...

I know, I have it as well as the proper one, that one you linked will actually raise a low profile card a good inch or so PAST the screw mounting point requiring a longer screw, and may not be possible with the Monitor connect being so close to the edge of the slot.

the proper height for a low profile card is this one

PCI Express X1 to X16 Low Profile Slot Extension Adapter | StarTech.com




also the one thing failing to mention in this upgrade route is a NORMAL x16 card may seriously be hampered by the x1 to x16 adapter.

anything in the lower spectrum of $50 range cards might be fine, but anything more than that, would be seriously reduced in performance.

making it pointless to get one, with the cost of a x1 adapter, and the card, you might as well buy a dedicated x1 slot GPU anyways.


for situations where your processing data like Folding@Home and other CUDA apps on the x1 slot, its not a big issue, as its not pumping through massive amounts of data as fast as possible and being displayed on screen for gaming. But for gaming uses, the x1 slot adapter route will significantly reduce gameplay and graphics frame rates.

Dub, no offence, but you don't even know what your talking about when you linked the benchmarks.

Those benchmarks were using FULL x16 slots with full size cards, and NOT reduced x1 slot bandwidth.

PCI Express x1 slots with a 1.0 an 1.1 spec only pump through a max of 250MB/s which is about as fast as some of the fastest regular consumer PCI Slots, with a 64-bit bus.

PCIe 2.0 bumps that to 500MB/s, but this is still well below AGP 8x which was the last of AGP slots.

PCIe x16 is SIXTEEN times more data bandwidth than x1. even at a reduced x8 bandwidth as in most SLI or Crossfire Setups, its 8 times more.

granted those cards listed won't max out even x4 bandwidth on 2.0 spec slots, it will be severely choked on an x1 slot.






one thing that has NOT been asked or mentioned is what is the Power supply in the existing System?

Not just the Wattage rating, but the Brand of PSU, and the Amp Rating for the +12V Rail.


Found on a sticker or label on the PSU in the case.



if they have enough power to run the system, with the stock PSU in it.

something like one of these would be sufficient.

Newegg.com - ZOTAC ZT-50608-10L GeForce GT 520 (Fermi) 512MB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express x1 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card

Newegg.com - ZOTAC GT218IONGPU-A-E GeForce GT 218 (NVIDIA ION graphics processor) 512MB DDR3 PCI Express x1 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card


either one of those will suffice on the x1 slot, for the price its worth it.


but Stroyal was right in recommending something with a better newer Motherboard with an Actual x16 slot on the board.

[stroyal]

Sorry, I did see the 1X card was not the answer, but was busy for the last couple of days. (setting up a used computer)

I was hoping Shyguy would see it, and he did.

He can explain it better anyway.

[ShyguyXPC]

To add to this, I also learned something new last night looking up x1 slot cards for myself.


Seems, all these years I was misinformed on x1 slots power, seems with the original PCI Express 1.0/1.1 spec, that the x1 slot, along with x4 and even x8 can only supply a MAX of 25W to the card. 10W minimum.

This means that if a card, that doesn't need a Power connector from the PSU, runs at say 30W or 40W, on an x1 slot, if it does run, it will run at reduced performance even further than it is being choked by the x1 slots bandwidth.

now I'm not sure if this is for the Electrical signal or for actual physical length slots

But I found the info here, on page 20: http://www.pcisig.com/developers/mai...d08b469f57e5f1

so depending on the x16 length card, it may not even run or if it does, it may not even be worth it going with the x16 slot riser adapter.

seems that GT 520 above, is finicky about which boards and systems it will work in, and the GT 218 one, is really only meant to work in Intel Atom Based systems.

so either one is about as likely to work as it is to go with an x1 to x16 riser, and hope the card isn't underpowered to run. let alone significantly reduced in performance.

[ShyguyXPC]

its got me convinced to forget about my Mini ITX build and using a dedicated card, just use on the crappy onboard, and forget about it.

Now I am looking for a decent MicroATX motherboard to use with my Celeron Dual Core sitting around, and already have a decent case picked out to use for a HTPC instead of this Mini ITX system.

Though considering how much all that will cost me in Case, Mobo, and whatever else, since I already have a Mini ITX case that cost me twice what the MicroATX case cost, I could also just as easily pick up a Mini ITX motherboard, with an Intel Socket 1155 H61 or H67 chipset, a cheap $50 Celeron Dual core for socket 1155, as I already have a stick of 4GB DDR3, its all I would need, I have a spare x16 slot video card I can use, and I'm good to go.


In any case, its got me to abandon the idea of using an x1 slot for any video cards from now on, unless I can tap those cards into the Power supply to provide the power they need. (for uses such as Folding@Home)

[stroyal]

I don't think I have ever seen a spec sheet so clear, and understandable.

I feel like I could build a graphics card if I had a billion dollars worth of equipment.

[ShyguyXPC]

yeah, they have a TON of these PDF files on their site for the PCI standards and interfaces they come up with, many of these are used for Conventions/conferences, and for Developers and what not, so I would imagine they would have to be pretty clear, concise and understandable, though much of it is over my head LOL.

[stroyal]

Me too. I did know that circuit length and placement is important.

I guess, I'd need a few engineers, to go with the billion $s worth of equipment.

[stroyal]

Sorry, wrong post.