New graphics card
 

Got my new GeForce 9400 GT video card toady. Not installled yet. My IT guy from work said this is about high as I can go with my Dell P4. It should be much nicer than my current 7300, so Now I can get "NFS shift" and maybe even enjoy some higher settings other than low or off on the graphic settings. My next step will be a new computer. Dam I bought this one 2 years ago and it was the fastest one you could get for less than 1500 bucks. I guess I should just go all out and spend a few grand and get monster processor and all the goodies.. :rolleyes:

go for the Quad Processor( Core 2 vPro ) Intel Chipset, we are running 8gb of ram w/ Win7 on 64bit OS with dual monitor setups. We use Dell here at work, so this would be a Dell OptiPlex 780 desktop

I havent heard of that. But if you wanting a good high end system look for a PC with an Intel Core i5 processor, OR i7 if you can get it for cheap. The P55 for your north bridge chipset. And you can run 8 gigs of memory in it. But if gaming is at all a matter the thing that matters most is your graphics card. An AMD Phenom system would be great. I'm all for AMD. Even though intels i7 line beats out all AMD processors, AMD is much more affordable and very similar in gaming performance. After you get old of that setup, I can send you in the right way for a PC. Just let me know later on and i'll help you in your decision.

BTW 9400 is a modest upgrade from a 7300. You will now have direct X 10 support, which is beyond playstation 3's and xbox 360's graphics capabilities in visual quality. Not performance.

That's not even close to the most you can get out of a p4 board. That IT guy has no clue what on earth he's talking about....

I'm selling my pc ;)

well the p4 is very old, however if you didnt build the system theres a very slim chance that it has a pci express slot. because the p4 is pretty old. SO if you have the know how about your system see if it has a PCIe x16, or a AGP slot. If it has a PCIexpress slot then you can put any new graphics card u want in it, but the graphics cards now are wayyyy faster than the p4 is so any lag u experience with a new HD5870 or a GTX 280 is all processor and be a great futureproof upgrade for ur pc, and when u get a new one u can just add that graphics card. Another thing to note, when u get into the higher end graphics cards, you have to add a higher wattage powersupply. I recommend 700 watts for a mainstream system.

Intel is for quitters.

that i7 you mention is killer, I watched some demos IBM was doing with it as a test client and man it was unreal for the server side!

I'm running a quad core amd processor with 8 gb of ram and a 9800gtx graphics card. I love it, games are so sexy

Yeah mine has a PCI express slot.
My processor is 3.40 GHZ
And ram is 2 ghz :o

Well in that case, Put any card u want in it. Just remember if you go so high, you need to upgrade powersupplies.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161319

Thats my reccomendation. Newest Direct X 11 technology, Will run windows aero perfect, and be a good future proof card for a more powerful system. It's inexpensive for what it is as well. 100 dollars, and newegg always gets their stuff out quick. The card also doesnt require extra power connectors. My 4870 requires a separate voltage rail with two 6 pin connectors. Jump on this, and the difference between ATI and Nvidia is worlds different.

New card is in, so I loaded my NFS MW, and I used to have to set most graphic stuff to low. Turned everything to high and it runs even better than before, no framerate issue's, no lag at all, Like a brand new game.. Getting NFS shift tomorrow, I don't think it will have any problems running it. I'm satisfied for now.. :D

I WAS going to say the same thing. I am IT by trade/living as well. However I am pretty sure that guy was talking about the CPU bottleneck when using a more powerful card. That card is a good match for such an old CPU. Not to mention the memory bottleneck.

I dont know how shift will run on your card.. I had problems out of it with my laptop. And my laptop has an 8800GTX 512mb card. Its the HP dragon laptop. The game still has its fair share of bugs on consoles and PC alike. It will run smooth but u will be driving and when u get faster the game will slow down and try to catch up. Its very annoying. My laptop has 4 gigs of ram and a 2.1ghz core 2 duo t8100 processor. Its an awful game to run.

I read a lot of reviews for this game for PC and, yes there are a ton of issues. Even after the patch EA put out. It seems the patch causes more problems than without it. I'll still try it and see. Plus I've got other games that ran slow that should now run faster. I'll just load them, and see how much difference it makes with the new card.

This card has a bunch more memory than my old card, So it will keep me occupied just reload my other games, and turning the graphics to high.. :)