Graphics Card Q...

[timsgameonline]

Over christmas I have had to take a break from BF2 (aaaagggghhhhh!!!!) as I was playing on our homes other PC which was taken over for business purposes. Nuff said.

I am now transferring over gaming duties to my own older PC and need to upgrade the graphics card whilst not overloading the power supply etc. So first of all here's the current PC spec:

Dell Dimension 4550
2.66 P4 processor (533)
768Mb RAM (already got 512 added to handle BF2)
Useless Geforce MX420 graphics card (64MB lol)
250Watt power supply

Now the Q is I am looking to swap the grahics card and have an ATI RADEON 9600XT on order from Amazon. Will this be OK on this PC? I have done most of my research and get the feeling it will do OK. I am limited to AGP not PCIe for now too. I am trying to balance the old spec of my PC to extend its gaming life for BF2 capability. Say another year...

What say you? Do you agree the 9600Xt will work Ok on my 4550 with 250W power?

Thanks for bearing with this long query!! Cheers all.

Oh, and one last thing I missed the 1.12 patch coming out just before Christmas and have the BF2:SF exp pack. I am guessing that I only need to download and reinstall 1.03 and 1.12 patches on my own PC after installing the main BF2 and BF2:SF programs yes to be up to date and ready for 1.2 patch!!?!!

Ok here comes the flaming for going on too long!!!! I know I deserve it for this!! The things I do for clarification...tsk!!

[kaheiyeh]

Re: Graphics Card Q...

1. You only need to install Patch 1.12 on top of BF2:SF, no need for 1.03, just puts useless files in.

2. Your 250 watt PSU might be insufficent with your video card. You might have to consider a new PSU.

[imported_Roman]

Re: Graphics Card Q...

Correct. Your 250watt PSU will definately be insufficient unfortunately
Even if it does run, during graphicaly intense gaming your comptuer will just shut down because there isnt enough power to it. Trust me on this, sell off your 250watt PSU and your old video card for as much as you can and try to find a new power supply. Preferably something 420watt or above. I would HIGHLY recommend this.

Battlefield 2 patches so far have been inclusive. So that if you have 1.12 patch you no longer need to install 1.03 before it. In effect, follow this:
Install Battlefield 2, Install Special Forces, Install 1.12 patch OR 1.2 patch if it's out by the time you're doing this.

Best of luck with the rig transfer.

[Sir. MatDef]

Re: Graphics Card Q...

Get this one:

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=S41D2

[sackynut]

Re: Graphics Card Q...

no need for a 420W. I would say anywhere from 350watts (pushing it) to 400W. I mean, a 6600gt requires 350W, so a 9600xt wont need anymore than that. But play it safe. BTw: that is the same exact old computer I used to hagve, except my CPU was 2.53 ghz. I upgraded it to 1gb of ram, nvidia 5700LE gfx card and it worked like a charm.

[Sir. MatDef]

Re: Graphics Card Q...

No need, but that psu is guaranteed to work with his computer, so it's the safest option, considering it's a dell.