Need lots of help with hardware upgrades.

theDewMonger

I have a super-crappy Dimension 2400. I currently play Ultima Online and some other non-community games. By most standards I'm a casual gamer. I got this comp when the family workhorse blew up and I was desperate and broke. I'm currently working on RAM upgrades, I figure I can't go wrong there. I also want to upgrade the video card. These are my current system specs.

Celeron 2.4GHz CPU
256 Meg RAM (I just bought another gig)
Integrated Intel 82845G Graphics Controller

Its looking like UO is going to go down the drain for good by the time a year passes. (The new client release looks like ass and people are closing accounts right and left.) I'm a member of a very big guild on UO, and I really have only played for the past couple of years because of my guild. Several members are already playing WOW, and I'm rather interested in LOTR Online.

Is it even feasible that I could play either of these games on my system?

I would like to get a graphics card for less than $100 that would let me play both these games (I think LOTR has higher system reqs.)

Someone I talked to recommended this:
http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4905511

I really have no clue about graphics cards. RAM I can figure out.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as right now I'm just frustrated to the point of trading in gaming for needlepoint.

devoir

Check to find out whether the motherboard has an AGP slot. A lot of low end Dells do not.

You can play WoW and LOTR Online with that integrated graphics controller, with more than just the lowest settings if you're smart with how you twiddle the detail levels, etc.

theDewMonger

How would I find that out?

devoir

The manuals that came with your Dell.

Open the case up and see whether it has an AGP slot. It will be near the PCI slots (where you put sound cards, network cards, etc) but be a different length and iirc 10%/90% segmented in two.

theDewMonger

The slots do look to be segmented that way, but they ALL look like that. The person I had talked to before seemed to think that I would have PCI.

theDewMonger

I have PCI bridge and a PCI bus, and nothing to indicate AGP in the device manager. I don't know if that is definitive evidence.

theDewMonger

Okay, I googled up some pics to help me. Don't see any APG.

devoir

Then that card you linked is about the only appropriate one.

It should help you play those games better, but be aware they won't be fantastic by any stretch of the imagination.

MoSiAc

Also AGP's are usually a different color then PCI slots, with no AGP slots you can get PCI video cards, but they really are a dated technology and aren't worth the money considering that down the line its not worth putting it into a new machine.

If you think you'll just play WoW or LOTR then you may be ok with PCI, but if you end up really getting more into gaming because of those games, then your current machine will not cut it down the road and you'll need to upgrade.

Looking at pics, if your motherboard is the one with 3 slots, then they are just PCI.

If you are looking into a card anyway check out this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814145087

Not the best obviously and its only 75 bucks, but it has a DVI output if you want to get a nice LCD for later down the line, and its got 256mb of onboard vid memory which will give you a great boost over anything you would see with your onboard chip.

For the money it seems like a pretty good investment at the time, but if you end up really getting more into gaming, the system isn't going to do much for you.


EDIT: My bad didn't see you link the 128 version of the card.

theDewMonger

Yeah, I know they wont be fantastic. But right now my social circle is moving on and I just want to be able to keep up. I would be very interested in more hardcore gaming if it wasnt for the fact that I simply can't afford another system. Only last year did I even move to broadband. I don't have the financial resources to stay on top of technology.

When I started UO, I was playing on a 8-year old system on dial-up, and I enjoyed it well enough. It will be the same situation here. Even this crappy setup will be better than what I had before.

Thanks for all the advice.