Where is there a good source for PC Memory? I think I'll just get 1gig more for now. I believe I need PC3200. I know I have to add two sticks at a time and it's 184 pin. Anything else I need to know?
Is this video card good enough for using CorelDraw and Paint? I don't play games: ATI RADEON 9550 256MB DDR AGP Graphics Card
Thanks.
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
I have always had good luck with Tiger Direct Amy.
Edited to add..be sure to stick them in in alternate sockets.
[ December 27, 2006, 07:19 PM: Message edited by: Dave Grundy ]
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
Tigerdirect.com is great if you can wait a couple of weeks. They put the stuff on sale for next to nothing every few weeks. Of course there's the obligatory "mail in rebate" but Tiger let's you apply online then mail in the receipts. They'll post the money to your account in a couple of days. I think I had my last rebate two weeks after placing the order.
Your video card is about 6 generations newer than the one I'm running and mine does the job so yours should be more than enough.
Posted by William DeBekker (Member # 3848) on :
Very Competitive Pricing.. No Shipping Games and they usally have eveything in stock.. AND a Biggy.. I have never had a problem returning something if its messed up or even if I had screwed up.
Posted by J.T. Gazaway (Member # 2001) on :
Thats a pretty good middle-of-the-road video card (depending on what you're doing with it) http://ati.amd.com/products/radeon9550/index.html Geeks.com is also a good place to look for computer parts along with all sorts of electronic gadgetry.
Posted by Amy Brown (Member # 1963) on :
Thanks guys for the info. and links.
As for the video card, will I notice a difference adding the above mentioned 256K card since I currently have a 64K card? I just want to speed this thing up a bit. Just added a 200G hard drive as my 60G was full. Moved a bunch of that junk over to the new one. I know that will boost performance a bit.
Thanks again!
Posted by Paul McDowell (Member # 5092) on :
A better video card will not likely increase your performance unless you are experiencing issues with your current card. You could get a side benefit of being able to run two monitors or at a higher resolution though.
If you dont want these features it would be better to invest in more or faster Ram.
Posted by Amy Brown (Member # 1963) on :
Hi Paul,
I just got a 22" LCD for Christmas. Will it help with that any? Thanks for the reply.
Posted by Dusty Campbell (Member # 4601) on :
If your monitor has DVI input and you use a card with DVI output, it will give you a bit better performance than using the VGA connection. Hardly noticeable.
Having memory on the card will help out a little with the speed.
More RAM will give you the most noticeable gain, but you'll get used to it fast.
One of my computers has a 9550 in it, and it's buggy, but I had a different ATI card in it and I'm not so sure the drivers all got sorted out properly and I haven't had time to investigate it completely. It's actually the second one I put in it as the first 9550 was bad out of the box. Now the 9800 I have is great, but they don't make it anymore.
Your new hard drive will probably speed you up some since it's probably faster than your old one and also since you'll be starting fresh, so keep it defragmented to keep that better performance.
Posted by Steve Eisenreich (Member # 1444) on :
In my opinion you are looking into buying an agp video card that is about 10-11 steps back and not what I would concider a sweet spot for purchasing(best bang for your buck). Now I am sure it would work for you but it may not be your best spent money. I just bought the ati X1600 agp with 512mb and from what I can see this card would be a better choice if the rest of your hardware is tops and current. I do question this how old is your system and what motherboard and cpu do you have and what wattage power supply do you have. If these things are not good then save your coin and buy a new system.
Posted by Amy Brown (Member # 1963) on :
Well I bought and installed the 9550 and I'm taking it back today. Looked really bad and blurry with limited resolutions available. My other one is much better and I did not notice any speed change. I'm gonna order the RAM.
My computer is a little over 3 years old. Dell Precision 360; Pentium 4 2.4GHz/800 FSB; 512K FullSpeed Cache; 1 Gig Ram (333MHz, Double Data Rate); 64M Nvidia Quadro NVS 280 Video Card.
I don't know what the power supply is. It's so closed in I can't tell.
Is 333Mhz and PC3200 RAM the same?
Thanks again everyone. It's been years since I've worked on computers and frankly I don't miss it at all!!!
Happy New Year!
Posted by Paul McDowell (Member # 5092) on :
I dont think there is anything else cost effective to speed up your computer. The only thing I see is possibly replacing the processor and I dont know what your motherboard is prepared to recognize.
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
