Help with a graphic card selection?

Question

I have just bought a Dell Inspiron 530s PC with a 19" widescreen monitor, I am slighlty dissapointed with the way the screen looks, clarity, sharpness etc (bearing in mind I upgraded the monitor), would this be because I did not upgrade the graphics card and kept the bog standard one? If so which graphics card would you recommend thats not too expensive but improves the display?

Cheers.

Answer 1

any of the lower end Nvidia Geforce 9600 or lower 9 series cards; 8600 or lower 8 series cards will get you great performance, while costing under $200.

Answer 2

hi mate

           when most people upgrade their graphics cards it normally for improvement on games and other 3d applications ,however for general image and display a budget card such as the Asus ATi Radeon HD 3450 256MB PCI-E(http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Component...

a excellent example

           for around £22 you get a card with a 600mhz core clock speed and 256mb of ddr2 memory running at 1000mhz(1ghz),however this card only has a 64bit memory bus so dont expect any speed demon but for image and display improvement this is a ideal card

             this is mainly due to its support for avivo which takes

the load of the cpu and the excellent de-coding properties

           another low cost card with similar specs is the Sapphire ATi Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB PCI-E(http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Component...

               this has a excellent 800mhz core clock and 256mb of gddr3(graphic double data rate 3) memory running at 1400mhz

           apart from the overall display improvement this also can actually play games pretty well,and supports ati,s hydravision and Smoothvision HD + Adaptive AA

              any problems let me know

                          good luck mate !

Answer 3

Well there are 2 major companies that make good quality graphic cards...ATI and nVidia, but I prefer nVidia personally. But the choice is up to you...There are many good cards from the range of $150-$300

Research on google which best suits you, but anyway here are a new names of the graphic cards

Geforce 8800 GT

nVidia 9800 Gtx

nvidia 260 and 280 Gtx (Top Quality)

Ati Radeon HD 4850

Ati Radeon HD 4870

Ati Radeon Xpress 1800

Answer 4

Your Dell has a slimline case - normal sized graphics cards are not an option.

Your choice is restricted to "half-height" or "low-profile" graphics cards.

The reviews of the Chaintech GSV86GT 512Mb 8600GT are mostly favourable, but:

- NewEgg don't ship to the UK, so you'll have to source it elsewhere

- you'll have to buy a low profile bracket seperately

- and fit it yourself

- it apparently runs hot (not good in a slim case)

Avoid the Galaxy KFA2 9600GT - your power supply won't cope.

UK availability:

Aria have an 8500GT for under £40...

Microdirect list only a 2400Pro and a 7300GS both out of stock and neither worth the effort...

Dabs have only an 8400GS in stock - the MSI at £24 - god knows why the the HP is £65.  There's also an HD3450 at £25

Scan appear to have only brackets...

You don't say what your existing graphics is...

If it's integrated, then you probably have only analogue (D-sub) connection available.

If you do have a DVI connection available, on both the 530S and your monitor, invest in a DVI cable - it definitely makes a difference.

Also (just in case) have you made sure the Windows resolution is set to match the natural resolution of the monitor (probably 1280x1024).  If not, the screen will definitely not be seen at its best.

1. check the Windows settings

2. Try a DVI cable (if it's an option)

3. The 8500GT - but ATI cards may be better at HD playback (I don't know I have only a 9550).

Hope it's an inexpensive solution!