New video card, which to buy?

[BnZ]

I have an Emachines W3503 with an Intel Celeron processor of 3.33GhZs, the computer has PCI-E slot for a video card, and I am running WindowsXP. I am planning to also install 2GBs of memory. What video card would be best for the money for playing Aces High without being overkill in relation to the other components?

Also, I am running DirectX9. I have heard this can be problematic, though I've had no problems except really slow frame rates. Is it worthwhile to find and install another version of Dx9?

[Krusty]

There is no other version of DX9, it's just DX9 (hopefully up to date!!)

You've got a very low end machine (emachines), are you sure it's PCIe and not just plain old "PCI"?

[RedGiant]

Huh?  No "other" version of DX9?  How about DX9, DX9a, DX9b, or even DX9c?
Forgot those, huh?

I'll have to agree about the Emachine though.  Every Emachine I've ever worked on was throw away PC.  Sounds like your processor is actually a Celeron D 3.33mhz.  If that's the case, yeah, you most likely have PCI/e.  However, Emachines are extremely sensitive when it comes to replacing or upgrading ANYTHING.  For one, most have proprietary powersupplies of the lowest possible quality and adding anything to them, even memory, will blow the powersupply.  If you add a better videocard, you will most definitely fry the PSU (powersupply).  Most good video cards require alteast 350 watts of CONTINUOUS output, not an occasional surge to 350 watts.  PSU stats are VERY misleading.  I find the advertisements that sell 650watt PSUs for $29.99 quite amusing, but feel sorry for the poor guy who falls for it.  
Also, if I may ask.......Why on earth would you EVER buy an eMachine???

[Max]

Originally posted by RedGiant
Also, if I may ask.......Why on earth would you EVER buy an eMachine???

Most likely, cause you can carry one out of WalMart for $450. Trouble is, Cereron + onboard video doesn't make for a good gaming rig. To what extent a faster 3.33 CPU will offset...I simply don't know.

Add a new PSU, 2 gigs of RAM and a new PCI-E card and he's gonna spend $300. Would BnZ have been better off buying a $750 rig? No doubt, yes but he's got what he's got. Red, what's your take on improviong his fram rate? That seems to be his issue at hand.

[humble]

Looking at the specs you've got an integrated ATI Xpress 200 onboard. The drivers for the chipset will cause serious issues with any Nvidia VC so only buy an ATI card. Since your CPU bottlenecked with any card you buy here are a couple of options...

$20

This is probably all you really need and it might do OK on your current PS...

$30

This has more pop but is loud and might cause power issues....

$40

Anything above these is going to be direct X 10 and have certain power issues as well. You can probably get by with your current PS with all 3 but thats not certain.

[BnZ]

Actually, I have an emachines because the price was right (someone gave it to me.) Did not think I needed a computer until I found out you could use it to pretend to be a WWII pile-it. Now I'm obsessed of course.

I'll be getting one of those hot gaming systems that costs more than the car I'm driving when they put an oil well in my back yard, or maybe sooner.

[RedGiant]

Originally posted by Max
Most likely, cause you can carry one out of WalMart for $450. Trouble is, Cereron + onboard video doesn't make for a good gaming rig. To what extent a faster 3.33 CPU will offset...I simply don't know.

Add a new PSU, 2 gigs of RAM and a new PCI-E card and he's gonna spend $300. Would BnZ have been better off buying a $750 rig? No doubt, yes but he's got what he's got. Red, what's your take on improviong his fram rate? That seems to be his issue at hand.

That's just it.  In order to bring that system up to speed, he's going to have to spend that much, at least.  
But, eMachines are VERY VERY finicky.  Almost to the point of fragile.  Changing ANYTHING on them is just dangerous.  I have had eMachines in the shop where all I did was unplug the PSU to test it, and when I plugged it back it, the system didn't work anymore.  I have added memory, turn the system on, and fried the PSU.  Most eMachines take proprietary power supplies.  You can't just install an off the shelf unit because it will not fit and the connections are not standard.  So, you have to order one from them, which takes horribly long.  I still have a eMachine in the shop that I ordered a PSU for right around Christmas, and it is "backordered" and they have no idea when they will get them in.  eMachine is inherently bad in every way.  From their systems down to their almost non existent customer service.  To actually talk to a person (which is in India, no less), takes over an hour on the phone while going through several tiers of automated "assistance", even if you just want to order parts.  For the $450 you mentioned, you could order your own parts and put it together.  In BnZ's case, he could utilize some of the components from the eMachine such as CD/DVD rom, hard drive, memory, processor, or any other pieces of hardware and just build a new machine.  He could get a decent mother board for around 100bucks as well as a decent PSU for around 50 or 60 bucks, and a case.  He may also have to get his own copy of windows if one wasn't included with the system.  eMachines usually have a recovery partition on the hard drive and never include a copy of the OS or  CD/DVD's of any of the software that came on the hard drive when the system was bought.  I can tell you that eMachine motherboards and powersupplies are extremely poor quality and that is basically what ruins them.  They are usually severely underpowered for the hardware that is on them and that is why they fry so easily.  I think their motherboards are made by PC Chips, which is located in China and is  known as the paria of motherboard manufacturers.

[RedGiant]

Originally posted by BnZ
Actually, I have an emachines because the price was right (someone gave it to me.) Did not think I needed a computer until I found out you could use it to pretend to be a WWII pile-it. Now I'm obsessed of course.

I'll be getting one of those hot gaming systems that costs more than the car I'm driving when they put an oil well in my back yard, or maybe sooner.

Listen man, you don't have to really spend that much.  As I said in the post before this one, you can utilize the processor, memory, hard drive, CD/DVD rom, etc. from that eMachine and build a new system using those parts.  The only things you'd need to acquire would be a videocard, motherboard, powersupply, and case.  You're already more than halfway there, bro!

I bet you could do it for less than $250.00.  When I get to the shop tomorrow, I look up some prices for you.  I may be able to cut you a super deal, depending on what prices I get from my suppliers.  I wouldn't even mark anything up, just to hook you up.  I'm all about getting people into REAL machines.  

I don't understand why people think this stuff costs so much money.  It doesn't have to.  There are ways to get great performance without spending loads of money.  As it stands, I can build decent gaming systems for around $650, sometimes less, and I still make money on them.  I don't know why people are spending much more than that.

[WxMan]

If he got a new motherboard, he would likely also have to spring for a new OS.

I had a Emachine at work whose motherboard was fried by a bad power supply.  No sweat I thought, just pick up a cheap motherboard and another power supply. It seams that the OS is somehow proprietary .
You don't get a copy of XP, just a restore CD and if it doesn't recognize the motherboard it will not install.

[humble]

As long as you have the license key any appropriate copy of XP media will do...

[Fulmar]

And a lot of the front panel On/Off, Reset switches have proprietary plugs so you can't just grab another motherboard and the wires for the switches and LEDs won't match up.  I can vouch for this in the older Dells, but I can't say I've taken apart a current Dell or emachine alike that had this, but I wouldn't be surprised.

You may have to take a look at your current PSU as well, RedGiant may be right since some brands make their own unique plugs or dimensions for PSU's.

[Fulmar]

THE DISCUSSION OF ILLEGALLY OBTAINING SOFTWARE IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN!

[Tigger29]

I bought a Systemax 2200XP system several years ago for about $500.

About this time last year, after the MB finally gave out, I did the following:

-Replaced the Motherboard with an ASROCK DUAL-VSTA
-Installed a E6300 Conroe Core-Duo processor
-Replaced the GeForce 5200 AGP with a 6200 AGP
-Installed 2GB of DDR2 Ram (Forget the exact speed)
-Installed a 160GB SATA Hard Drive
-Installed a DVDROM/CDRW combo drive

Total investment UNDER $350.

Last month, I upgraded just a bit more:

-Replaced the 350Watt Power Supply with a 600Watt
-Replaced the 6200 AGP Video with a 7900GS PCI-e

This cost me another $225

I did have to send back the hard drive once for warranty, but that cost less than $10.

So basically, I've spent less than $1100 in the last five years for my computing needs, and I still have a system that runs AH with at FULL SETTINGS at 75FPS 95% of the time.  I know there are systems better than mine, but my point is you don't have to buy these super expensive gaming systems to do what you need them to do.

Heck, I'd bet even the vast majority of gamers have more computer than they really need!

[Skuzzy]

Originally posted by humble
As long as you have the license key any appropriate copy of XP media will do...

That is no longer true anymore humble.  Microsoft has changed its license key in the later copies of XP (after Vista started bombing in sales,...go figure) so that the new copy cannot be used with earlier license keys.

We used to make use of that.  Take a newer XP installation disk and use the old license key.  Cannot do that anymore with the current copies of XP being shipped.

[Fulmar]

Whoops!  I should have thought about that more.