Don't make fun of me, but trying to make this best I can...

[PharmD]

Okay so my brother in law gave him a brand new Dell from his business that he didn't need. I was just about to build my own system but why would I turn down a brand new FREE computer. I just need it to be a little more powerful with a dedicated graphics system, I don't need a powerhouse. I have a few questions though.

1) Is it really worth it to get a card that is pcie 16x 1.0. Most of the cards only had 32 stream processors with the newer ones having around 112. Will it help quite a bit or is it a waste of money? They are only about $60.

2) It currently has pc2-5300u ddr2 667mhz memory sticks, but not enough. If I want to add more does it have to be the same speed or can they be two different memory sticks at different speeds? How do I know if my mobo can handle a particular speed. I have a intel dual core @ 2.0ghz.

3. It says vista all over the **** thing and when I start it up it even has the sidebar like vista, but it says windows xp SP2 on the desktop. When I right click on things it looks like I can run things as a vista executable but I have never seen this before. I am a bit confused here.

4. Lastly, how do I know if this is 32 or 64 bit?

I know all newb questions but since starting my doctorate I am definitely out of the technological realm anymore!

Thanks in advance.

 

[wafflehammer]

1. you can still get a pci-e 2.0 card....

2. you can keep more RAM but it'll downclock it to 667mhz, you won't notice much of a difference between it and higher speeds anyway

3. i'm not to sure...that is confusing

4. I dunno of any ways to really tell

 

[PharmD]

1. you can still get a pci-e 2.0 card....

2. you can keep more RAM but it'll downclock it to 667mhz, you won't notice much of a difference between it and higher speeds anyway

3. i'm not to sure...that is confusing

4. I dunno of any ways to really tell

So you can put a 2.0 card into a 1.0 slot? Does it decrease the speed or something? I thought the slot had to say 2.0? I am not sure if I will even fit these things in here, it is barely a mid tower.

So in other words with the ram I should probably just get the slower ram anyways. Fine with me its cheap as ****.

Yeah the vista thing is really confusing me. I have no idea why the service tags all over it say vista but when you click properties on "my computer" it says Windows XP SP2. What is the point of having the thing that says "run as vista executable"? Is this some sort of hybrid OS or something?

Thanks again.

 

[Drizzt]

Atm, any, if there is any, decrease in performance due to putting a pci-e 2.0 card into a 1.0 slot is very very small.

It's possible that your brother in law put XP on it... Don't complain, lol, I would PERSONALLY rather have xp in your situation (no vista fanboy arguments needed kthx).

Any chance you could tell us the specs or model # or something of the dell so we have a better understanding.

And dude, if anyone makes fun of you, tell them to **** off. At least you have the sense to not go out and spend tons of money on a dell, you get them for free

One more thing, what do you plan to do with this dell? Light gaming or something?

 

[PharmD]

Atm, any, if there is any, decrease in performance due to putting a pci-e 2.0 card into a 1.0 slot is very very small.

It's possible that your brother in law put XP on it... Don't complain, lol, I would PERSONALLY rather have xp in your situation (no vista fanboy arguments needed kthx).

Any chance you could tell us the specs or model # or something of the dell so we have a better understanding.

And dude, if anyone makes fun of you, tell them to **** off. At least you have the sense to not go out and spend tons of money on a dell, you get them for free

One more thing, what do you plan to do with this dell? Light gaming or something?

Haha yeah I wouldn't let them make fun of me either way. I am not a complete newb, I actually know quite a bit, I just don't know how well the newer technology goes together. I had a great system put together with a wolfdale 3gig but again FREE haha.

It is a Vostro 200. More of a business type of computer. I will be doing some light gaming on it and doctorate work. The doctorate work requires a lot of video and some of the programs are pretty memory heavy. Thanks again.

I agree with you on XP! I was just confused because I have never seen anything like this.

 

[thirdshiftdj]

is it a pentium dual core? E2180 perhaps

 

[wafflehammer]

he said duel-core 2.0ghz so most likely the e2180....maybe he loaded xp on it or just an accidental sticker placement :| I dunno doesn't matter much

like he said, you won't notice anything between pci-e 1.0 and 2.0.

can you post pics of the inside? that would help us to figure out if the card will fit...most cards are in the 10-12inch range...so just use that as a rough estimate

 

[PharmD]

he said duel-core 2.0ghz so most likely the e2180....maybe he loaded xp on it or just an accidental sticker placement :| I dunno doesn't matter much

like he said, you won't notice anything between pci-e 1.0 and 2.0.

can you post pics of the inside? that would help us to figure out if the card will fit...most cards are in the 10-12inch range...so just use that as a rough estimate

Yeah I will post one soon. It is an E2180 by the way, I just didn't have it booted up last night so I had forgotten (was on the laptop). It is going to be tough to find a card to fit and although I know a lot about what card is the best value for a case that can fit a larger card, I have no idea how well these lower cards perform.

 

[Grievous]

3. It says vista all over the **** thing and when I start it up it even has the sidebar like vista, but it says windows xp SP2 on the desktop. When I right click on things it looks like I can run things as a vista executable but I have never seen this before. I am a bit confused here.

It seems that you have XP and it was installed with a software like "Vista Inspirate" or something to make it look like Vista.

 

[PharmD]

Even better, I don't have to take my machine apart, found these (gotta love google images).

EDIT: Sorry if you guys got that huge image, the **** thing took 30 seconds just to scroll to the bottom of. I had to use image shack to make it smaller.