is this video card good enough?

Question

i really wanted a gaming computer , but since i work at a univeersity they give me a special deal on a dell. It is a dell optiplex gx 745 with a 2.4 ghz processor, 2 gb of ram, 250gb hard drive, but only a 256mb ati radeon x1300 pro video card. i dont know if this will run games solidly, even if i am only a moderate gamer...i play warcraft, counter strike, americas army, btelfield vietnam, and stuff like that. will this video card run smoothly and will the processor make up for it. i was planning befor to get a 7900 or an 8600 gts nvidia or an ati x1950 pro, but this great deal came up and the video card cant be switched

Answer 1

The Radeon X1300 can handle non-demanding games like the Sims, Warcraft 2/3 & (surprisingly) World of Warcraft quite well, but isn't fast enough for cutting edge 1st-person shooters- you won't get good framerates in those games- these days, the MINIMUM recommended card for titles like is a GeForce 7900 or Radeon X1950 Pro (and preferably an 8600 or 8800 for DX10 support)

Your fast processor (I assume is either a Core 2 Duo or AMD X2) can't make up for that, it's just capable of pumping out data faster than the video card can render it, so you'll have a performance bottleneck until you get a better graphics card.

Unfortunately the deal could prove costly to upgrade later down the line- some Dell models ship with weak power supplies that can't handle the power requirements of high-end PCI-E video cards, and must be replaced if you opt for a midrange to high-end video card. This happened with my Dell Dimension 4700, which came standard with a measly 305W power supply that couldn't support a GeForce 7900GT.

It gets better- the screw mountings on Dell PSUs aren't standard, so off-the shelf ATX power supplies don't fit. Fortunately, you can purchase Dell-specific replacement PSUs from PC Power& Cooling, but that's more expensive than a regular 400-500w power supply NewEgg, CompUSA or a local computer store.

I'm not sure how large of a psu ships standard with the GX745, but I expect it's beefier than the Dimension. I've heard there are two versions of that model, a full-size tower and a smaller mini version. The smaller one can't even accept full-height PCI-E cards without purchasing a riser card from Dell.

So you while you can certainly buy a gaming video card later on, you *might* be stuck having to purchase other upgrades as well.

Answer 2

Nope, not good enough. If you have an AGP slot get the ATi x1600 (or better) or nVidia 7800 GT. Keep in mind the minimum requirements will let you play the game but at the lowest settings and then again you might not have enough fps to enjoy the game so always go above the minimum specs...unless you don't mind choppy gameplay or in the case of shooting games, die before you even show up on the screen.

Answer 3

DONT get a video card in the 8 series unless it is 8800, because under it, the cards are only 128-bit, not good for games, so i would say get in the 7900 series or in the 8800 series.

Did you get the computer yet? i custom build computers and i can most likely get you a better deal then they can.
Message me if you are interested.

Answer 4

the video card you have is ok for playing games but if your a hardcore gamer and what smooth crisp displays in high resoultions then i would recommened getting a 8800 gts or a 8600 gts and these both support direct x10 which will start overtaking direct x9 games in the very near future!

Answer 5

X1300 is not too good - See:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_sli2007.html