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OK so I know that I cant upgrade my Laptop's Graphics card, Desktop upgrade?

post #1 of 9
8/24/05 at 1:35pm
Thread Starter 
Hi Everybody (Me again!)

So iv've found that I can't upgrade a laptop graphics card easily, but I have a desktop, can I upgrade that?


Thanks,
Thanks in advance!
Suddste223
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post #2 of 9
8/24/05 at 1:44pm
Well, yes, you can, but it depends on what you have it in. If your laptop is 2 or so years old, it'll probably be stuck with AGP; unfortunately, mine is stuck with AGP4x, the slower of the two common AGP speeds--4x and 8x. Fortunately, nVidia and ATI both have done a good job with releasing several AGP compatible cards that don't suck, but if you have 4x, you'll be missing out on half the bandwidth.

If you have PCIe, you're really all set--just pick a card! If you provide more info on your desktop, we can help you...
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post #3 of 9
8/24/05 at 2:57pm
Thread Starter 
Laptop?
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post #4 of 9
8/24/05 at 3:34pm
You can more than likely upgrade your desktop's graphics card. Odds are high that even if your motherboard has integrated graphics, it still has an AGP slot that you can put a new card in. If you bought a prebuilt desktop, what model is it? That information would be helpful in determining wether or not the machine is capable of graphics upgrades.
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post #5 of 9
8/24/05 at 3:43pm
Thread Starter 
the machine is a Dell Diemension 2300
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post #6 of 9
8/24/05 at 3:46pm
I have the 4550, and that comes with AGP4x, so your desktop probably has the same. While you CAN upgrade, it'll be nowhere near 8X or even further, PCIe. However, since its the Dimension 2300, I think the real limiter is going to be both your CPU and your RAM. You're probably better off just buying a cheap PC from Dell...
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post #7 of 9
8/24/05 at 3:57pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Redmumba
I have the 4550, and that comes with AGP4x, so your desktop probably has the same. While you CAN upgrade, it'll be nowhere near 8X or even further, PCIe. However, since its the Dimension 2300, I think the real limiter is going to be both your CPU and your RAM. You're probably better off just buying a cheap PC from Dell...

But I have a pentium 4! and, whats AGP?
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post #8 of 9
8/24/05 at 3:58pm
Agreed, the 2300 is a very low-end machine. My grandparents own one and it has a Celeron 1.0GHz with 128MB of RAM and non-upgradeable graphics. I would advise picking up a cheap computer from Dell or HP. A client of mine bought an eMachines for $600 recently that has a fast Athlon 64, a gig of RAM, 200GB hard drive, DVD burner, and PCI Express with an ATI Radeon card. A hell of a deal if you ask me. Hard to justify building your own system these days. Here's the link to the specs if you're interested: http://emachines.com/products/produc...Machines_T6520

If you buy from Best Buy be sure to get their Reward Zone plan as I got about $150 back from them when I bought my laptop by using it.
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post #9 of 9
8/24/05 at 6:53pm
the 2300 does not have upgradable graphics.
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