Can I game on this machine?

[Budeez]

My computer was stolen and someone is going to give me their old dell 4700. It has a P4 3gig. It has integrated graphics and 512megs of memory. I'm going to put in 4 sticks of 1gig DDR2 ram. As far as graphics I really like the ATI 4870. I want to get a bigger monitor soon at 1900x1200.

Is their any problems with upgrading this old Dell this way? I'm asking because I've read online that Dells totally suck to tinker with and upgrade. The games I like the most atm are Team Fortress 2 and Fallout 3.

 

[Barfo]

The 4870 is overkill for a P4, I had a Geforce 7900 GT in my old P4 3.2 GHZ rig and saw a large performance gain when I dropped it into my new E8400 build (while I wait for my 4850 RMA), bottom line is, 4870 is a waste of money to pair with that proc, get a 9600 GT or maybe something with less power.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Yeah, not a good Idea, as barfo says the 4870 is total overkill for that system and the power supply in the Dell would choke to death trying to power it, and upgrading PS's on a dell is difficult. I wouldn't put anything more than an 8400GS in there personally.

And look up the specs on the mobo chipset before you spend money on ram to make sure it's supported. You may have to get some older DDR2-667 or 533

 

[dguy6789]

Sounds like a good candidate for a Radeon 4670 or 4650.

 

[Budeez]

But will any of these cards you guys suggest run at 1900x1200. By the way, I eventually plan on replacing my stolen computer with an E8400 that I will try to overclock to 4gig.

 

[bamacre]

IIRC, the 4700 has a PSU with the 6pin connector, so that's good.

But yeah, a Pent 3Ghz is going to be a huge bottleneck for high-end cards. I second the 9600GT idea.

Originally posted by: Budeez
But will any of these cards you guys suggest run at 1900x1200.

Not likely, but you don't have other options here.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Honestly I wouldn't put any money in that Dell, I'd set it up and use it the best I could while I saved the money to build something recent. You could go ahead and get a Monitor the onboard on the Dell should run it fine for basics and web surfing, obvioulsy most gaming would be a no go

Like I said above, any decent Graphics card that will play modern games well @1900x1200, will overload the power supply and Dells don't use standard ATX ps, so getting a cheap $50 upgrade ain't gonna happen. So your forced to either stick an underpowered graphics card in it that you will want to replace when you upgrade, or tackle the costly and/or difficult PS replacement. In either case the money is more wizely spent towards a replacement. And most games even thought GPU dependant at high resolution, require a comparably strong CPU to feed the GPU and that old P4 is pure junk compared to todays processors

 

[imported_wired247]

if you want to use that rig for 1900x1200 gaming, prepare for epic disappointment

 

[F1shF4t]

How long are you planning to keep it before getting a new comp?
The only parts I would upgrade in that comp are the ones I would be happy to move into the new comp after.

 

[Budeez]

I'm going to keep it for 3-6 months. I work at home, so I absolutely have to have a basic computer. Five year old tech will do for my job as long as I have enough ram to have multiple apps open at once. But when I can afford to build a new rig, I will. I'm basically gonna rebuild the computer that I had before. E8400 with 4 gigs ram. I had a 4850 before, but this time I thought I'd go for 4870. I didn't overclock the E8400 before, cuz I didn't get a good mobo for that. But this time I will. I'm figuring the whole setup will cost $900 bucks, so not too expensive, but money is tight for me right now.

And to all who answered, thanks for your replies. I guess I will have to waste money for a board I won't use later on, or just wait to play games. My current monitor is only 12x10 so maybe a cheapo GFX card from Ebay is in my future.

 

[postmortemIA]

your current monitor is perfect match for P4, and like said don't spend too much on graphics, P4 is sloww.

just out of curiosity, how did your computer get stolen?>somebody broke into your place?

 

[Budeez]

Soon to be ex-wife. But stolen is easier to explain.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I'd just wait to buy a new graphics card when you buy all those new parts. It won't help much in the Dell (the P4 will hold you back) and by waiting 3-6 months, you'll be able to get the graphics card for cheaper. I remember kicking myself (only slightly) when I bought a Radeon 3850 a year ago only to see the price drop from ~$170 to ~$130 a couple months later. I was okay with it because I still got enjoyment from my card. But if you have a 4870 in that Dell, you won't be able to really use it for much.

 

[tonyfreak215]

Also, weren't P4s AGP? If that's the case, a HD 3850 is the best you can get.

 

[xSauronx]

you can so play half life 2 on that...and you only need 1 gig of ram and a ti4400. go for broke

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: tonyfreak215
Also, weren't P4s AGP? If that's the case, a HD 3850 is the best you can get.

No this is a Pentium 500/600 series system, using DDR2 memory and PCIe x16.

All Dell consumer-based systems that used DDR2 had PCIe x16 slots (or integrated with neither AGP/PCIex16).

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: Budeez
Soon to be ex-wife. But stolen is easier to explain.

LOL. Tell that to the claims adjustor.

 

[us3rnotfound]

I'd recommend getting a midrange graphics card and more RAM, and basically play through all the classics again, starting with maybe Half Life through Doom III or so days. Oh and BF2 is a must.

Otherwise, you're looking at a complete system overhaul, and the only part that would carry over would probably be the ODD/HDD.

 

[Ichigo]

TF2 would work @ 1920x1200 with a 4670 or something no problem. I don't get you guys.

 

[Slowlearner]

I buy 4-5 Dells every year at work, and while they are very reliable, trouble free and Dell gives generous credit terms, the Dimension line is dated and usually not worth upgrading, certainly not meant for gaming<< The XPS line is. For the last 4 years or so, Dell has been using standard ps, however it usually has a combo cpu/case hood type cooling arrangement making it difficult to upgrade cpu, add a more powerful cooling fan etc. The motherboards and front panel connections are still, as far as I can make out, are still proprietary.

ATers are not great fans/users of Dell machines, so you may find it more worthwhile to browse Dell's forums at http://en.community.dell.com/, and it is very likely that someone like you has posed similar questions before. The Dimension 4700 documentation is at http://support.dell.com/suppor...m/techov.htm#wp1052362. It does have a PCIe16 slot.

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Sounds like a good candidate for a Radeon 4670 or 4650.

:thumbsup:

 

[octopus41092]

Yeah... the HD4870 is way overkill. I would probably get something like an 8600GT or an HD4670. You might not be able to run everything super high graphics but it'll run.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Budeez
But will any of these cards you guys suggest run at 1900x1200. By the way, I eventually plan on replacing my stolen computer with an E8400 that I will try to overclock to 4gig.

any card will do that in 2d.

any card really

3d gaming? lol the cpu is mismatched regardless of video card for that resolution. so just dont even think about it.

 

[JMapleton]

I would just wait to play games. It's not worth it to throw a few hundred dollars out the windows just to play games.