Question about video card slots in PC

Hi everyone. After Christmas I plan on getting a new video card for my PC, since the on board one sucks to be honest. The problem is, the computer has a PCI slot only. So my question is, is there a way I could change the slot to be something like PCI Express? I'd really like to get a great card to reduce lag as much as possible.


Thanks!
James

I have never heard of anything that can do that? Although running a quick google search I did find some stuff about converters and adapters. I'm not sure if they work.

There is a company that makes external adapters which would (a) look lousy and (b) be about the $500.00 mark.

PCI Adapters

harryb2448 said:

There is a company that makes external adapters which would (a) look lousy and (b) be about the $500.00 mark.

PCI Adapters

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Eww. Might as well get a new Mobo and processor for that amount.

CrimsonRequiem said:

Eww. Might as well get a new Mobo and processor for that amount.

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Agreed. You really don't want to go to the expense of buying a PCI video card. Any card that you do get is going to be fairly weak because of the limited bandwidth of a PCI slot.

PCI Express x16 is an order of magnitude faster than a PCI slot. If that machine has integrated graphics and only offers PCI (not even AGP?), it's either ancient or was a bargain basement system. Definitely not something you'd want to game on.

harryb2448 said:

There is a company that makes external adapters which would (a) look lousy and (b) be about the $500.00 mark.

PCI Adapters

Click to expand...

it'd also really slow down that fancy pcie card.

You should be able to buy a new motherboard, new CPU, AND a new video card for what those adapters would cost. Hardware is so cheap these days it doesn't really make much sense to spend too much on upgrading old hardware. Why, for just a couple hundred more, you could build a whole new computer from the ground up, and specced out just the way you want.

But if I change my motherboard, I would have different slots. Right?

Correct. Can you tell us a little about the machine? It sounds pretty low end, and if you start thinking about replacing the motherboard, chances are you're going to need to swap quite a bit more.

It's a Dell Dimension 3000. We got it in either 2004 or 2005 to replace our old HP Desktop. When we got the iMac last year, we no longer had a use for the Dell. So I used it for my games- in specific Auran Train Simulator and Microsoft Flight Simulator X. I upgraded the computer with a DVD Drive and more RAM (1.5 more gigabytes). It ran well but I knew if I had a better video card, it'd be great. So while it was cheap, it does a great job especially with my upgrades. And time has come for me to upgrade the video card.

Chances are, you're going to have to replace the board, the CPU, the memory, the power supply and possibly the case (depending on how proprietary it is) in addition to the video card. That leaves your optical drive and possibly a floppy.

In my opinion, I'd look at selling it on Craigslist complete and just build a new system. It's a lot of fun to get into and you can build a decent mid-range box for just a few hundred dollars.

Rather fancy the time has come for a new Dell. Here Down Under TV ads are running hot with new Dell machines, with monitors from $699.99, about US$600.00 which would be the cheaper way to go.

cwa107 said:

Chances are, you're going to have to replace the board, the CPU, the memory, the power supply and possibly the case (depending on how proprietary it is) in addition to the video card. That leaves your optical drive and possibly a floppy.

In my opinion, I'd look at selling it on Craigslist complete and just build a new system. It's a lot of fun to get into and you can build a decent mid-range box for just a few hundred dollars.

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I've considered building my own computer and am very interested in it- I just want to make something GOOD and I'm afraid I can't really afford that.

Building your own is a lot of fun. Can be a big learning experience. My first one was the week Win 95 came out. Kept having it crash during the install process. Took me several hours to figure out I'd gotten some bad RAM.

The other place to look is your local craigslist.

Unlike finding a Mac at a reasonable price, I've seen a lot of pretty decent gaming rigs for sale here at $3-400 and a few really nice ones in the $5-700 range. Bet you can find one in the $250-350 range that would blow away that Dell you have now.

BlueMac said:

I've considered building my own computer and am very interested in it- I just want to make something GOOD and I'm afraid I can't really afford that.

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It all depends on your budget. Come up with a reasonable number and I'd be glad to help you piece something together that will deliver some good bang for the buck.

The best thing about BYO PCs is that you can start small and incrementally upgrade. The important thing is to start off with a solid base.

If you build your own computer, keep it a secret. Otherwise you'll be known by all your friends and family and THE go-to geek and they'll all want you to solve their computer problems for them. I have enough trouble and frustration solving my own (Windows, that is, of course) I really wouldn't care to be the person expected to have the answers for everybody else.

coaster said:

If you build your own computer, keep it a secret. Otherwise you'll be known by all your friends and family and THE go-to geek and they'll all want you to solve their computer problems for them. I have enough trouble and frustration solving my own (Windows, that is, of course) I really wouldn't care to be the person expected to have the answers for everybody else.

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How true it is. As soon as your friends find out, they all start calling you for every little problem they have.

bobtomay said:

How true it is. As soon as your friends find out, they all start calling you for every little problem they have.

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Then you get to charge them for your time. ^-^"

Nowadays, you can train a chimp to build a PC. It's really not all that difficult. The hardest part is researching/selecting the parts and getting the best prices.

cwa107 said:

It all depends on your budget. Come up with a reasonable number and I'd be glad to help you piece something together that will deliver some good bang for the buck.

The best thing about BYO PCs is that you can start small and incrementally upgrade. The important thing is to start off with a solid base.

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Sorry for the late response, I hadn't logged onto MF for a few days.

I'd spend about $350-400. And I think a chunk of that would be the Motherboard, Video Card , Hard Drive and processor (preferably Dual Core).

Money is really the only limitation to me building my own PC. With a little help from my dad I'd have a working home made PC. And I know it's blow the Dell out of the water because I'll be buying a very good graphics card, processor and motherboard. I think I'll be able to take the DVD Drive out of my Dell- I bought a seperate DVD Drive last year, the day after Christmas, to suit my Sims 2 game.

And I'm pretty familiar with the parts of a computer- I've been "under the hood" many times, the first time being taking my old Compaq computer apart (the one that replaced the Dell).

Thanks for the help cwa, I appreciate it.



Oh and by the way, if anyone is curious as to what the game is, it's Auran Trainz Simulator 2006. I know the Z on the end looks dumb but hey, it's an incredible game. I build routes and use tons of high quality custom content and it really takes a toll on the computer-hence the reason I even started considering buying a new video card/ building my own PC.