Adapter Upgrade

[musnkatz]

I have a Dell Dimension 4600 with a Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz. My graphics card is Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller. Can anyone advise me as to what kinds of graphics cards I can install to improve my graphics? My greatest use is for FS 2004, and so far my frame rates only freeze occasionally for a couple seconds. I am flying everything under the sun (domestic aircraft)..I appreciate any advice I get, as I am not familiar with upgrades, especially for graphics. I have already increased my memory to 1.5 Gbt, have an 80 G hard drive..thank you...
musnkatz
PS I usually buy at Crucial.com

[wealthysoup]

what type of motherboard do you have? if you can tell us that we can advise whetrher you should get a pci agp or oci express graphics card, by the sounds of the crad its an onboard gfx card so pretty much  any graphics card you buy will improve performance A LOT

[ctjoyce]

Well its an OEM, so we already know that its an AGP board. Look at any nVidia 6800 series card (Pref the XT or the Ultra).

There are better cards for AGP, but its a dieing interface, and all new systems are now useing PCI-Express. So basically if you buy a 6800XT for $180 you get a very good card, and when you upgrade for Vista, you dont loose too much cash with this upgrade.

Cheers
Cameron

[musnkatz]

...thank you both for your assistance. wealthysoup, I haven't a clue as to the type of motherboard I have, other than the computer is a Home Edition version 2002. I am not experiencing any real noticable problem with my frame rate other than an occasional freeze, which lasts only a second or two. But I would like my next upgrade to improve my graphics.
I am disappointed on Dell computers. I expected my CPU to run faster than the 260 Gateway I have, but in fact it runs about the same. Dell packs a bunch of junk software on their computers, and it takes forever to figure out what TSRs to shutdown...

[ctjoyce]

Well what you must understand about OEM's is that you can spend $1000 three years ago, and spend $500 now and get basically the same thing. True for the whole computer world.

Personally if I were you I would hang on to my money, and just build an entirely new rig from scratch.

Cheers
Cameron

[musnkatz]

...I have been tempted to build one from scratch..a friend's son did that..but I had hoped this Dell would be my last computer..hence my expectations that it would be faster...

[ctjoyce]

Lol, your last? Oh my dear sir, how nieve you are.

Cheers
Cameron

[musnkatz]

...yup..you don't know the half..still larnin' about computers..and FS...

[ctjoyce]

Well read through my, congo, or Nick N's posts, and you will learn alot.

Also looking at your first poast, look at www.newegg.com They are by far the best on the market.

Cheers
Cameron

[musnkatz]

...thank you, Cameron..I have picked up considerable on the forums already...