Memory or Video Card?

15 years ago

Hi Everyone!

I may be too late but I do hope that there will be someone here tonight that will read this post and .. maybe give me a 'Clue' before I go shopping tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I am going to Bestbuy, (an everything electronics chain store)

Here are my questions and I apologize if I have over-stepped the bounds in asking .. so many. (questions)

I Do want to replace my video card but my last experience has made me gun-shy as far as a video card upgrade goes!

(Two Months of Trying to get the new card to work)

Never Did get it to work.

That leads to the first question.

What Nvidia card can I purchase for around $100.00 that would be a big improvment over my old one? (nvidia GeForce 6200)

Second: I have a gigabit? of RAM on this pc, Would I be better off purchasing another gigabit of ram for around $80.00 .. Before I purchase a new card?

Would the increased memory improve my system more than the card would? (I don't do games)

I ask these things because, the more I research upgrading my video card, the more I find out that I know Less than what I thought I did!

For instance, Which card do I get and .. will I have to replace my internal power supply, (300 watts) with the new card?

I'm OLD but .. I'm doing my best to learn.

Thank You,

MCWindows XP Media Center Edition Service Pack 3 (build 2600)

My pc stats are as follows:

Gateway GM5045E

2.00 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core

256 kilobyte primary memory cache

1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: C51MCP51

Bus Clock: 200 megahertz

300 watts

BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 11/23/2005

896 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'A0' has 512 MB

Slot 'A1' has 512 MB

NVIDIA GeForce 6100[Display adapter]

ATI Unified AVStream Driver

NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller

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Comments (6)

bpgreen
15 years ago
You'll probably get more bang for the buck from a RAM upgrade, but $80 for 1 gig seems pretty steep to me. You could add another 2 gig for around $45.

Here is a link that might be useful: Crucial memory for Gateway GM5045E
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
15 years ago
ok I can answer some of them.
so you have a gig in your pc as 2x512 so to go up another gig you would have to change to 2x1gig sticks unless you happen to have 4 slots with 2 still empty. you can do a 1 gig stick and a 512 stick but it is better to have them matched. Now to know what your pc can take I would run belarc advisor, it will tell you exactly how many slots you have how much it can take and what type of memory you need. I will give you the link for that.

I always say the best thing to upgrade first is the RAM often times once you have upped the ram you will find a lot of things that were giving you problems work better and video can be one of those. That is no guarantee though. But it sure can not hurt anything. I usually get my Ram from newegg.com they have very good prices, I just paid $18 for a 1 gig stick for one of my pcs. I got Kingston.

For the video cards I will let some one else that knows more about those answer you. But why did the one you got not work what was the problem?

Here is a link that might be useful: free belarc
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I agree right now if you can keep your old pc working for you and wait till windows 7 comes out you will be avoiding having to purchase any upgrades. It will be out in about a year. If you have any friends that have pc knowledge likely they could easily help you install a new hard drive and some RAM, these are things I do myself but my first time I was pretty anxious. I also agree that the desktop is generally the best option unless you travel a lot and would need a laptop for that. My sister just asked me the same question and I talked her into a desktop pretty quickly, if you have not used a laptop try asking a friend with one to let you try it out for an hour or so, feel how the keyboard feels, see how you like the touch pad instead of a mouse, etc. If you have any problems seeing also consider the smaller screen of a laptop. I have pretty severe hand problems so using a smaller keyboard would be very difficult. Sitting in a chair with the laptop on your lap would require some type of laptop desk so you do not block the air flow. As stated updating and replacing parts in a laptop is much more difficult. One thing you could definitely do also rather than install a new hard drive in your pc is buy a stand alone usb backup hard drive and move all your thousands of pictures and music and other files and data to that hard drive and free up your hard drive in the pc, if you did that and got rid of any old programs you no longer need, clean out any junk files and folders, empty the recycle bin, defrag the hard drive you may find you have plenty of room on that 80Gig hard drive. I have been seeing some incredible prices lately on usb hard drives so you could easily find a nice size one for around $50, and you could use that stand alone hard drive with any new computer you buy in the future. Plus no one would have to install it for you, you just plug it into your usb port and then you can access it from your pc just like your other hard drive. Add some RAM to what ever belarc says is your limit for that pc or at least 2 gig and I bet you would be surprised. RAM is cheap. I just bought a 1gig stick for one of my computers and it was less than $20 shipped. If your current pc is a desktop I would also highly suggest turning it off unplug it and open the side panel up and clean out all the dust bunnies, that can really affect the performance of a pc. Cleaning the computer and its components ecost has some very good prices right now this search is for under $50 units but it gives you some ideas. well now you have lots of options and ways to go and up to you to make that big decision. Here is a link that might be useful: usb hard drives
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there are a few things that can contribute to that, one a slow internet connection or one that is not very good, how are you connected?, low memory in the pc Ram memory, low memory in the video card or application. spyware and viruses can always cause strange problems. Heat on your video card, have you opened up your case recently and cleaned out all the dust in side there? IF not that is a MUST do. IF your fans get clogged up with dust they will not be able to get the heat off your components and it will cause failures and likely death to the computer. so open the pc and clean it out real good with some canned air, be sure it is not turned on or plugged in, also be sure to ground yourself by grabbing onto the metal frame of the pc before doing anything inside. IF any fans are not working they need to be replaced. IF you do not know how to clean inside ask here or do a google search. If you have not added memory and the pc has 512 or less it needs more Ram added, to find out what is on your pc you can get the free belarc advisor which will scan your pc and give you all the info on it you can print that out to have handy. Belarc' Then get the free version of superantispyware and install it update it select for it to scan your C drive and choose full scan, let it clean any thing it finds. the blue one is the free one. SUPERAntiSpyware let us know if that helps
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bpgreen
15 years ago
The Crucial site I linked shows that PC has 4 slots, so you should be able to go to 3 gig by adding two 1 gig modules.

I checked Crucial because it has specs for many PCs, but it looks like you can save even more by going to Newegg for the actual memory. If they have 1 gig modules for $18, you could upgrade to 4 gig of ram for less than what you were expecting to pay to upgrade to 1.5 gig of ram.

I agree with Ravencajun on this. Go for the RAM. You'll see performance boosts across the board.
mrclose
Original Author
15 years ago
You Guys/Gals are the Best!
Thank You .. So Much for your answers.
Going tomorrow to Bestbuy for the memory.
No, No, No!
I am Not ignoring your advice as far as buying from Crucial or Newegg?
It's just that my better half is still in the 20th century and wont allow me to purchase anything online.
Bren, My significant other, is Scared to death, (and I don't blame her) that Everyone online is out to steal your bank account. LOL

(Hey, there IS some truth to that!) 8-)
Again .. Thank You for your help and .. I'll be back, I'm sure for more!

Mc
owbist
15 years ago
If you have not yet gone shopping you might check the Sunday saver linked below. Staples, Circuit City, Offic Max are all listed there and you should find a better price than you are quoting.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sunday Saver
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
15 years ago
Reading on the crucial link for the specs on your pc be sure you do not get ECC it says your pc does not support ECC. Go to that crucial link and then click on all the blue links that provide info about your pc one of them is about ECC.

and it does say yours needs to be in matched pairs.
If you do not do the belarc and get all the info on your pc to take with you to get the proper memory then be sure you go to that crucial link and at least copy that info to take with you. I just like to do the belarc then I know exactly what I have in my pc, not just what is "supposed" to be in my pc.

Memory or Video Card?

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bpgreen

ravencajun Zone 8b TX

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owbist

ravencajun Zone 8b TX

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Memory or Video Card?

Comments (6)

bpgreen

ravencajun Zone 8b TX

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bpgreen

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owbist

ravencajun Zone 8b TX

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