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Dell Dimension 3100 Graphics Card

bensdad1

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Posted June 24, 2011 at 10:30AM

Hi , Im new to this site and no great with computers, so be gentle.

Does anyone know where I can get a decent graphics card that will work with my Dell Dimension 3100.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

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chub_tor

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Posted June 24, 2011 at 10:52AM

Upgrading simply isn't an option when it comes to the system's Intel-integrated graphics. Scoring a woeful 4.5 frames a second in our Doom 3 test, the graphics just can't cope with the latest games - and because the proprietary Dell motherboard has no AGP or PCI-Express 16x slot for a graphics card, you can't replace the graphics card with anything better. For a system designed for home entertainment, this is a serious flaw.

This was extracted from this review

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Fruit Bat /\0/\

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Posted June 24, 2011 at 10:54AM

"Upgrading simply isn't an option when it comes to the system's Intel-integrated graphics. Scoring a woeful 4.5 frames a second in our Doom 3 test, the graphics just can't cope with the latest games - and because the proprietary Dell motherboard has no AGP or PCI-Express 16x slot for a graphics card, you can't replace the graphics card with anything better. For a system designed for home entertainment, this is a serious flaw. In fact, limited upgrade potential is an issue throughout this system. Only one PCI-Express slot is free for internal add-in cards, while outside, only four USB 2 ports are provided to plug in external devices and there's no FireWire."

from here

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Fruit Bat /\0/\

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Posted June 24, 2011 at 10:55AM

Should of refreshed before posting :0(

beaten to the draw again :0)

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bensdad1

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Posted June 24, 2011 at 11:01AM

Thanks for the replies,

Doesn't sound too good. surely there is something I can do, I have a base rate index of 1.0 for graphics.

I have recently upgraded the memory to 2gb and now have upgraded to windows 7 ultimate this week.

I am struggling to install games onto the pc and can't even play solitaire!

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scotty

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Posted June 24, 2011 at 11:40AM

I have added a PCI (not PCI express) graphics card to a Dimension 3000. You will not get the performance of the latest graphics cards but an ATI 9200/9250 card has kept the system going for a few more years.

Ebuyer used to have a few PCI cards but I could only find one today:- ebuyer

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scotty

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Posted June 24, 2011 at 11:45AM

Another option to improving performance is to use a version of linux which is not resource hungry e.g. lubuntu. download from here

I have the Dimension 3000 dual booting so I can select Windows or Linux.

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