[TFerguson]

What exactly would be the pros/cons of purchasing an external graphics card? I was recently given an old Dell Dimension 1100, I helped a friend of mine move and she was throwing it out, so I took it home, figuring I could use it for something. Turns out, it's not that bad for a 6 year old computer. I wiped the drive and loaded Vista on it, it seems to be working fine and fast. I'm actually on it right now! Anyways, the only drawback is that there is no PCI slot, and the integrated graphics are so outdated that i can hardly use any program that deals with graphics. I can't even use Windows Movie Maker! Would I be able to install an external graphics controller on this dinosaur? And if so, would it be beneficial? I know I can upgrade everything else, just no slot to put a graphics card. Plus, everything else in the tower meets or exceeds the minimum requirements for most of the games and apps that I currently use on my other computer. Would an external graphics controller be the remedy, or am I typing on a outdated paperweight?

[peterh40]

According to Dell's documentation you have 3 PCI connectors running at 33 MHz with 132 pins at 32 bits.
You graphics chipset is the slow Intel Extreme (ly slow) Graphics 2.

You can get old PCI cards (not the new PCI-E or PCI-X ones) such as ATI Radeon 9800 or Geforce 4 series.

[TFerguson]

Okay, I searched online for the cards you suggested. I still haven't found anything that looks like it would fit.

This is what I have:


This is what I need:



And these are the only two Graphic cards I am familiar with:



Please forgive my ignorance. If there is something out there that would fit in the existing slots, how exactly would i search for it?

[peterh40]

The brown slot I believe is an AGP slot, which you do not have. More info on AGP here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGP_slot

Some cards do come in different formats but you are a bit restricted to the pre-AGP slot era.
Try a Radeon 7000 - 9000 range. The second hand market show have a few on sale somewhere.

Personally for modern gaming, the Dell is too old. It will play games from 5-6 years ago but thats it.

[Squashman]

A couple of years ago I was looking for a pci video card and was surprised to find a few still being manufactured. I was looking because my mom bought my brother a cheap pc from Best Buy and it didn't have an agp slot to my surprise. It only had pci. You might have to search ebay to find one but that pc still isn't worth the headache to play modern games.

[TFerguson]

I'm not really needing to play newer games on it. I would like to be able to use some basic video editing software and maybe some older games, but the integrated graphics wont even allow me to run Windows Movie Maker. I also have a few apps that allow you to watch and record TV shows on your computer, but again, the integrated graphics wont allow it to run. I would also like to be able to use a television as a monitor.. just ssimple stuff like that. I'm not really big into gaming, so the computer doesn't need a top of the line upgrade. I'm happy with the processor speed, and I might upgrade the RAM to 2 gigs, IF the extra RAM chips I have are compatible with the motherboard, but all I really need is a better graphics controller.

I have a much newer computer that I am happy with, I'm just trying to squeeze as much as I can out of this old Dell.

[Squashman]

I buy alot of things from Newegg. They have plenty of PCI video cards for sale.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...eId=1&name=PCI

[dave0700]

your computer has got just PCI slot (i guess you have already figured that out)
there is no need to loose heart just because you do not have PciX or AGP, go for a PCI 9500GT (nvidia) or 9400GT (nvidia)
there are a few cards listed with PCI on this discounts site, look under video cards in the left menu, there are also memory chips available for this model, the above cards can play many new games (if not all, and who worries if you can play your favorite just fine!) you can choose ATI too, depends on what you like personaly.

in case you need more help, i am ready to answer, i just left my job from Dell (worked with dell on call, and Dell early life support premium Q as manager)