Upgrading a dell 4400

[infiltrator7]

My friend has a dell 4400 that has integrated graphics, and a 20gb hd. He wants to be able to play the sims 2 which requires a geforce 2 or higher. He has a budget of $170, and wants to get an optical drive, an hd, and a video card. Is it possible to upgrade his video card though since he has integrated? will his motherboard even have an AGP slot? thanks

 

[bonehelm]

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4400/specs.htm

the 4400 has an agp slot but it is 4X, tho you can still buy 4x/8x cards and use it on it. be sure to go into the system bios and then turn off the intergrated graphics though. 170 is barely enough for all thouse stuff he wants, as for the video card, i recommend a Geforce FX 5500, its cheap and it runs pretty good games.

if not you can even consider the 6200 for pci, its even higher end than the 5500. go to newegg.com to find more stuff he wants. its cheap and the deliver they offer is usually super fast. note that newegg.com only ships to the US.

For the FX 5500 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814190008

For the 6200 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814190010

good luck with your friend's upgrade.

 

[infiltrator7]

k thanks for the help i'll look into it. i think he'll barely have enough money if he gets the 5500, but i'll have to price it out.

 

[talldude123]

the hard drive and optical drive should be OK.

New games have DVD and CD versions.

 

[infiltrator7]

looks like the 6200 will be in his budget if he gets the optical drive and 80gb hd. that should be decent for gaming right?