Dell 8300 Upgrades

[Mechzap]

Howdy smart people !

I am attempting to upgrade my system to get me through one more year....

I have a Dell 8300 with a 3 gig P4 800 MHZ FSB with a crappy fx5200 video card and SB live audio.

I am thinking I would like to upgrade the Video card to this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130274

Also I am upgrading the RAM to this : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227210

I have a 305 W PS stock in this dell with 18 amps flow on the 12v+..I have heard that some users have had issue with the 7800GS cards not working with a PS that small...

Any advice you can offer would be great !!

One last thought.. I have 2 sticks of Samsung 512MEG PC3200 (400 MHZ DDR)(samsung k4h560838f-tccc) ram in the system now...can I use it as well when I install the new ram or should I just toss it?

Thanks,

Mech

 

[nVdia]

excellent choices!

 

[turtile]

I would suggest the Fortron 450w PSU to replace your old one.

 

[nVdia]

edit: You should by a bigger PSU.

 

[ablaye]

One last thought.. I have 2 sticks of Samsung 512MEG PC3200 (400 MHZ DDR)(samsung k4h560838f-tccc) ram in the system now...can I use it as well when I install the new ram or should I just toss it?

I believe there are only 2 slots for memory. So no, you won't be able to fit more than 2 sticks of memory on your laptop.
If you put in your 2x1GB RAM Memory Upgrade, that would be it.

 

[Mechzap]

Actually I have 4 slots for memory, it's a desktop with a standard size ATX case.

I just DL PCWIZARD and It says I have AGP and PCI slots..is it possible that they just shipped it with an AGP card instead of a PCI card?

 

[Alex81388]

The easiest way would be open it up and look.

You see all those white slots? Those are your PCI slots (yes, it may look a little different on your motherboard, or you probably have less of them)

If you have that black slot (could be green, yellow, orange, or even f-ing rainbow on your motherboard), that means AGP. It is roughly the same size but set back towards the middle of the board a little more & a different color.

NOTICE: your board will be rotated 90 degrees clockwise of that one, so that all those slots are in the lower left of the motherboard if you look at the computer right-side-up

 

[Mechzap]

So if I have both PCI and AGP slots can I run a PCI video card in one of the PCI slots?..or am I stuck with AGP if it has the black connector?

Sorry I am pretty much a newb when it comes to this kind of upgrade stuff.

I'll pop the case open when I get home tonight.

 

[FlashDude]

I am sure you are confusing pci with pci express, You want AGP not PCI!!!!,,,, Pci express is a completely different connector.

 

[bonehelm]

If you have AGP and PCI, you can choose between one of them.

If you have PCI-E and PCI, you can choose between one of them.

If you have a PCI-E slot, you won't have an AGP slot.

If you have an AGP slot, you won't have a PCI-E slot.