Hardware Hangout

firefreek · 02-05-2009, 09:10 PM

I need like an extremely cheap card. Mostly cause even the adequate ones these days will still be too much. I've got a pretty old computer I use. It's got like 256MB RAM and I think Intel Celeron. It's all I've got for personal use. Lately I've been programing and doing many things at once, and I realized that I needed a second crappy CRT monitor. Looked it up, saw I needed two graphics card, or one good one. Now I'm not sure what card I need, and where I can get it. I'm certainly not going online. I'm not positive, but I think I have PCI slots. I don't know too much about graphics cards, all I know at this point is that there are two kinds(PCI/AGP), and I need a better one. The one I have is horribly out of date.

sbl03 · 02-05-2009, 09:15 PM

Just get a new PC. I posted about a sweet one before...

But try NewEgg or TigerDirect

firefreek · 02-05-2009, 09:18 PM

Can't do that. Don't have enough money. Even if I did my dad wouldn't let me buy it. And I agree with him, I don't need a completely new one. Upgrading my old one would suffice.

As for price range, i'm looking around below $40.

campbell292 · 02-05-2009, 09:22 PM

Do you know what kind of PCI it is? Like x16?

wlindy27 · 02-05-2009, 09:33 PM

If you have the right pci slot I have a decent card I'll sell to you for $40.

adam g · 02-05-2009, 09:36 PM

Check ebay?

firefreek · 02-05-2009, 09:56 PM

Already said I'm not buying online. I just need suggestions on which card to buy to get decent performance out of a super crappy computer, which also allows dual-monitors.

EDIT: Forget about a single card that has dual-monitor capability. I'll just use another one(is it possible) with the current one. I need a OK card that lets me plug in a VGA monitor.

daxer305 · 02-05-2009, 10:22 PM

ughh check ur local bestbuy?????
or electronics store???

firefreek · 02-05-2009, 10:27 PM

>_>
You guys aren't getting the point. I don't know which one to buy, because I'm not too savvy when it comes to graphics card specifications.

..I just thought of something so you can understand what i'm asking for:

What were the really good graphics card in the time of Windows 2000 computers?

daxer305 · 02-05-2009, 10:45 PM

i think u just need to buy a duel monitor compatible it should say right on the box

shadow1768 · 02-07-2009, 12:20 PM

Hard to help without you telling us what computer you own, or the specs. By the sounds of it you have a really old computer so you should really say what computer you have.

firefreek · 02-07-2009, 12:46 PM

Dell Dimension L800CXE

Here's what SystemRequirementsLab says:

CPU
You Have: Intel(R) Celeron(R) processor

CPU Speed
You Have: 797.00 MHz

System RAM
You Have: 254 MB

Operating System
You Have: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional (Build Service Pack 42195)

Video Card

You Have: Intel Corporation 810 Graphics Controller Hub (Intel810)
Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card
Video RAM: Required - You have - 8 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: You have - No
Vertex Shader Ver.: You have - 0.0
Pixel Shader Ver.: You have - 0.0

Video Card Driver Version (DirectX)
Your driver version number is: 5.11.0001.0133

Sound Card
You Have: Creative Sound Blaster PCI

Sound Card Driver Version
Your driver version number is: 5.0

Free Disk Space
You Have: 7.4 GB

culexor · 02-07-2009, 02:04 PM

we need to know what type of slot is on your motherboard, AGP or PCI-Express. I'm aware that you have PCI, but I'm not sure if you have PCI-E or AGP (if either).
Go to:
How do I tell if I have AGP, PCI, or PCI-E?
that thread has some suggestions on how to determine what video interface it has.

edit: im 90% sure its agp since its so damn old. but thats only if it even has a video card slot.
heres a cheap agp card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130207

inixuity · 02-07-2009, 02:54 PM

Guys, guys, guys. Based on the specifications of the machine itself (797mhz, which doesn't make sense to me but okay) all you can recommend to him is a PCI card (yes there are multiple types but...) I understand his board could potentially have an AGP slot on it (just look for a brown slot above all the others) but lets assume his power supply is as old as his CPU, and that just won't be pretty.

As for my recommendation, I'll get back to this in a moment to compare prices. As for 'refusing to buy online' prepared to get raped at retail markup. Newegg is HANDS DOWN the best way to get exactly what you want, but since you're being picky. I'll go check the retail-rapists.

Edit/Update: You're FK'd.. Walmart, Bestbuy, and Target (I'm not including circuit city because they're dying and you would respectively want a place to return just in case) all carry only 1 or 2 if that 'old' PCI gfx cards, let alone dual-display models. You HAVE to get this online otherwise you're price-budget is SOL.

I'mma go check newegg and find ya something decent. I'l update again in a sec

Update/Edit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161011 $29.99 w/ Dual-Display

That's the best anyone will be able to offer you I assure ( feel free to go to and price compare )

Good luck finding any retail with a decent card, you're never going to do it, for that pricetag for sure. OldPCI cards are just like old SDRam, they get more expensive as they become more outdated, don't ask me why.

firefreek · 02-09-2009, 08:47 AM

Edit: NVM I see it. Doesn't have VGA port though.

Nicane · 02-09-2009, 10:39 AM

Firefreek, online is the way to go. Best Buy and Wal-Mart etc. all charge you 2-3x the prices GPU's are worth. I reccomend AGP or PCI-e, but PCI is cheap if all you want is for the PC to work.
PCI - Newegg.com - EVGA 128-P1-N309-LX GeForce FX 5200 128MB 64-bit DDR PCI Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
AGP - Newegg.com - EVGA 128-A8-N303-L2 GeForce FX 5200 128MB 64-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
PCI-e - Newegg.com - ASUS EAH3450/DI/256M Radeon HD 3450 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Low Profile Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Your sound card is PCI, so you can definitely use the PCI one. But PCI is the worst out of the three, but it works.

Find out which one you can use for sure. Go for PCI-e, if not, AGP, if not, go for the PCI. And ORDER ONLINE. So much cheaper/better, seriously.

Good luck

Rlubbers · 02-09-2009, 05:14 PM

Your best bet is to get a completely new computer 256MB RAM sounds very low for programming/multitasking. Upgrade the RAM to at least 1GB and I would buy 1 good graphics card that supports two monitors

firefreek · 02-09-2009, 06:40 PM

Not like super multi-tasking. Like having 2-4 windows at the same time: Flock, Gtalk, programming, and maybe some music. Doesn't require much, I already do that now, I just want it to be a LITTLE faster. And I'm upgrading RAM later to 512MB, cause that's as high as it can go. It was supposed to have 512, but the BIOS wasn't upgraded, so now that i've got that, it's all a matter of convincing my parents(they're not too keen on spending, even if it's my money)

Nicane: The PCI one you linked doesn't have VGA port.

Jason · 02-09-2009, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rlubbers

Your best bet is to get a completely new computer 256MB RAM sounds very low for programming/multitasking. Upgrade the RAM to at least 1GB and I would buy 1 good graphics card that supports two monitors

from my experience dimensions need ram specifically made for the machines, so he can't just throw a random stick of ram in there and most graphics cards probably wouldn't work either so he can't just upgrade, he has to do research for his system.

infested999 · 02-09-2009, 06:51 PM

I could give you a ATI RADEON X1600XT PRO for very cheap.

redforeva · 02-09-2009, 09:18 PM

you'd probably want to get a radeon 7xxx/8xxx (AGP) or a Geforce 2/MX/Ti4 (AGP)

forget about getting an FX(5xxx), let alone radeon HD (yeah right), your memory and cpu are fucking bottlenecks.

your PCI slot is a 4x from what I presume, since back then PCI was basic, and worse than AGP, so get an AGP card.

shadow1768 · 02-09-2009, 09:27 PM

Seriously, go to Dell, desktops and choose their cheapest tower (no monitor but you already own two) and add the cheapest gfx card which is $60. All in all about 330 +tax if applicable. Seriously that is your best bet at this moment with such an old computer.

Spending money on RAM and gfx card on such an old comp is not worth it. Force your parents to understand....

[B] · 02-09-2009, 09:36 PM

I got mine for $2.XX. from a dell.com deal. Just gotta check SD

firefreek · 02-09-2009, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason

from my experience dimensions need ram specifically made for the machines, so he can't just throw a random stick of ram in there and most graphics cards probably wouldn't work either so he can't just upgrade, he has to do research for his system.

...no... I believe that's wrong for my system. We just bought 1 512MB one, didn't work. Then 2 256MB, didn't work. Then 2 128MB ones, and that happened to work.

Hell no to buying a new computer. I'm fcking cheap and po'. Why buy a new system when you can fix the small problems with much less money. Plus it's alot more trouble getting a new system. I like my computer. It's like cars. There are some computers that are just awesome no matter how old they get.

itami · 02-09-2009, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by firefreek

...no... I believe that's wrong for my system. We just bought 1 512MB one, didn't work. Then 2 256MB, didn't work. Then 2 128MB ones, and that happened to work.

Hell no to buying a new computer. I'm fcking cheap and po'. Why buy a new system when you can fix the small problems with much less money. Plus it's alot more trouble getting a new system. I like my computer. It's like cars. There are some computers that are just awesome no matter how old they get.

Computers are not like cars. My first computer I gave up without a second thought.

02-05-2009, 09:10 PM	#1 (permalink)
firefreek Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 363 Reputation: 23 *cBay Rating:*	Super Cheap Graphics Card? I need like an extremely cheap card. Mostly cause even the adequate ones these days will still be too much. I've got a pretty old computer I use. It's got like 256MB RAM and I think Intel Celeron. It's all I've got for personal use. Lately I've been programing and doing many things at once, and I realized that I needed a second crappy CRT monitor. Looked it up, saw I needed two graphics card, or one good one. Now I'm not sure what card I need, and where I can get it. I'm certainly not going online. I'm not positive, but I think I have PCI slots. I don't know too much about graphics cards, all I know at this point is that there are two kinds(PCI/AGP), and I need a better one. The one I have is horribly out of date.

02-05-2009, 09:33 PM	#5 (permalink)
wlindy27 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 1,053 Reputation: 46 *cBay Rating:*	If you have the right pci slot I have a decent card I'll sell to you for $40. __________________ Check out my site!

02-05-2009, 09:56 PM	#7 (permalink)
firefreek Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 363 Reputation: 23 *cBay Rating:*	Already said I'm not buying online. I just need suggestions on which card to buy to get decent performance out of a super crappy computer, which also allows dual-monitors. EDIT: Forget about a single card that has dual-monitor capability. I'll just use another one(is it possible) with the current one. I need a OK card that lets me plug in a VGA monitor. Last edited by firefreek; 02-05-2009 at 10:08 PM..

02-07-2009, 12:46 PM	#12 (permalink)
firefreek Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 363 Reputation: 23 *cBay Rating:*	Dell Dimension L800CXE Here's what SystemRequirementsLab says: CPU You Have: Intel(R) Celeron(R) processor CPU Speed You Have: 797.00 MHz System RAM You Have: 254 MB Operating System You Have: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional (Build Service Pack 42195) Video Card You Have: Intel Corporation 810 Graphics Controller Hub (Intel810) Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card Video RAM: Required - You have - 8 MB Video Card 3D Acceleration: You have - Yes Video HW Transform & Lighting: You have - No Vertex Shader Ver.: You have - 0.0 Pixel Shader Ver.: You have - 0.0 Video Card Driver Version (DirectX) Your driver version number is: 5.11.0001.0133 Sound Card You Have: Creative Sound Blaster PCI Sound Card Driver Version Your driver version number is: 5.0 Free Disk Space You Have: 7.4 GB Last edited by firefreek; 02-07-2009 at 12:52 PM..

02-07-2009, 02:54 PM	#14 (permalink)
inixuity Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 1,587 Reputation: 217 *cBay Rating:*	Guys, guys, guys. Based on the specifications of the machine itself (797mhz, which doesn't make sense to me but okay) all you can recommend to him is a PCI card (yes there are multiple types but...) I understand his board could potentially have an AGP slot on it (just look for a brown slot above all the others) but lets assume his power supply is as old as his CPU, and that just won't be pretty. As for my recommendation, I'll get back to this in a moment to compare prices. As for 'refusing to buy online' prepared to get raped at retail markup. Newegg is HANDS DOWN the best way to get exactly what you want, but since you're being picky. I'll go check the retail-rapists. Edit/Update: You're FK'd.. Walmart, Bestbuy, and Target (I'm not including circuit city because they're dying and you would respectively want a place to return just in case) all carry only 1 or 2 if that 'old' PCI gfx cards, let alone dual-display models. You HAVE to get this online otherwise you're price-budget is SOL. I'mma go check newegg and find ya something decent. I'l update again in a sec Update/Edit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161011 $29.99 w/ Dual-Display That's the best anyone will be able to offer you I assure ( feel free to go to and price compare ) Good luck finding any retail with a decent card, you're never going to do it, for that pricetag for sure. OldPCI cards are just like old SDRam, they get more expensive as they become more outdated, don't ask me why. __________________ I'M PAYING $2 TO $5 PER SURVEY! View Inixuity's Feedback Last edited by inixuity; 02-07-2009 at 03:03 PM..

02-05-2009, 09:15 PM	#2 (permalink)
sbl03 woah, you can edit this? Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 1,449 Reputation: 134 *cBay Rating:*	Just get a new PC. I posted about a sweet one before... But try NewEgg or TigerDirect

02-05-2009, 09:18 PM	#3 (permalink)
firefreek Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 363 Reputation: 23 *cBay Rating:*	Can't do that. Don't have enough money. Even if I did my dad wouldn't let me buy it. And I agree with him, I don't need a completely new one. Upgrading my old one would suffice. As for price range, i'm looking around below $40.

02-05-2009, 09:22 PM	#4 (permalink)
campbell292 Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 306 Reputation: 29 *cBay Rating:*	Do you know what kind of PCI it is? Like x16?

02-05-2009, 09:36 PM	#6 (permalink)
adam g Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 156 Reputation: 32 *cBay Rating:*	Check ebay?

02-05-2009, 10:22 PM	#8 (permalink)
daxer305 Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 183 Reputation: 5 *cBay Rating:*	ughh check ur local bestbuy????? or electronics store???

02-05-2009, 10:27 PM	#9 (permalink)
firefreek Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 363 Reputation: 23 *cBay Rating:*	>_> You guys aren't getting the point. I don't know which one to buy, because I'm not too savvy when it comes to graphics card specifications. ..I just thought of something so you can understand what i'm asking for: What were the really good graphics card in the time of Windows 2000 computers?

02-05-2009, 10:45 PM	#10 (permalink)
daxer305 Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 183 Reputation: 5 *cBay Rating:*	i think u just need to buy a duel monitor compatible it should say right on the box

02-07-2009, 02:04 PM	#13 (permalink)
culexor Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 999 Reputation: 88 *cBay Rating:*	we need to know what type of slot is on your motherboard, AGP or PCI-Express. I'm aware that you have PCI, but I'm not sure if you have PCI-E or AGP (if either). Go to: How do I tell if I have AGP, PCI, or PCI-E? that thread has some suggestions on how to determine what video interface it has. edit: im 90% sure its agp since its so damn old. but thats only if it even has a video card slot. heres a cheap agp card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130207

02-09-2009, 08:47 AM	#15 (permalink)
firefreek Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 363 Reputation: 23 *cBay Rating:*	Edit: NVM I see it. Doesn't have VGA port though. Last edited by firefreek; 02-09-2009 at 06:47 PM..

02-09-2009, 10:39 AM	#16 (permalink)
Nicane Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 23 Reputation: 2 *cBay Rating:*	Firefreek, online is the way to go. Best Buy and Wal-Mart etc. all charge you 2-3x the prices GPU's are worth. I reccomend AGP or PCI-e, but PCI is cheap if all you want is for the PC to work. PCI - Newegg.com - EVGA 128-P1-N309-LX GeForce FX 5200 128MB 64-bit DDR PCI Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards AGP - Newegg.com - EVGA 128-A8-N303-L2 GeForce FX 5200 128MB 64-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards PCI-e - Newegg.com - ASUS EAH3450/DI/256M Radeon HD 3450 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Low Profile Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards Your sound card is PCI, so you can definitely use the PCI one. But PCI is the worst out of the three, but it works. Find out which one you can use for sure. Go for PCI-e, if not, AGP, if not, go for the PCI. And ORDER ONLINE. So much cheaper/better, seriously. Good luck

Sponsored Links

02-09-2009, 05:14 PM	#17 (permalink)
Rlubbers Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 34 Reputation: -2 *cBay Rating:*	Your best bet is to get a completely new computer 256MB RAM sounds very low for programming/multitasking. Upgrade the RAM to at least 1GB and I would buy 1 good graphics card that supports two monitors

02-09-2009, 06:40 PM	#18 (permalink)
firefreek Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 363 Reputation: 23 *cBay Rating:*	Not like super multi-tasking. Like having 2-4 windows at the same time: Flock, Gtalk, programming, and maybe some music. Doesn't require much, I already do that now, I just want it to be a LITTLE faster. And I'm upgrading RAM later to 512MB, cause that's as high as it can go. It was supposed to have 512, but the BIOS wasn't upgraded, so now that i've got that, it's all a matter of convincing my parents(they're not too keen on spending, even if it's my money) Nicane: The PCI one you linked doesn't have VGA port.

02-09-2009, 06:51 PM	#20 (permalink)
infested999 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 264 Reputation: 11 *cBay Rating:*	I could give you a ATI RADEON X1600XT PRO for very cheap. __________________

02-09-2009, 09:18 PM	#21 (permalink)
redforeva Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 66 Reputation: 0 *cBay Rating:*	you'd probably want to get a radeon 7xxx/8xxx (AGP) or a Geforce 2/MX/Ti4 (AGP) forget about getting an FX(5xxx), let alone radeon HD (yeah right), your memory and cpu are fucking bottlenecks. your PCI slot is a 4x from what I presume, since back then PCI was basic, and worse than AGP, so get an AGP card. __________________

02-09-2009, 09:36 PM	#23 (permalink)
[B] Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 4,113 Reputation: 433 *cBay Rating:*	I got mine for $2.XX. from a dell.com deal. Just gotta check SD __________________

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Graphics Card	assault14	Hardware Hangout	18	12-28-2008 03:29 PM
FS Super Cheap Call Of Duty 5 Keys	sapphirenightz	Sell/Trade Forum	0	10-23-2008 01:56 AM
FS CL accounts! Super cheap!! HYPER-PRICES!!	Lebsta	Sell/Trade Forum	30	10-19-2008 04:19 PM
FS selling webrides super cheap 146,950 for 24.00 79,900 for 12,00 and 78,250 for 11.00	cheaterdiddy	Sell/Trade Forum	9	03-10-2008 06:27 PM
looking for cheap Wireless card	Biggz-K24	Hot Deals	35	02-27-2008 05:34 PM

Hardware Hangout

This is a discussion about Super Cheap Graphics Card? within the Hardware Hangout section, where you will Chat or ask for help regarding any hardware.