Choosing a PCIe graphic card for my Dimension E520 / 5150

When I ordered my E520 about half a year ago, I selected the cheapest possible
configuration., -which prooved to be OK for my needs.
I do not play games.
But now I wish to extend WindowsXP 's desktop accross 2 monitors. Getting a total
resolution of 2x1280x1024.
So I need to buy a PCIe card with such a dual-display feature.

A quick look tells me that all cards down to $100 have this feature. But I do not want
to buy a card with lower performance than the onboard Intel graphic that I am used to.
Would Nvidia 7600GS be a good idea? Any other suggestions?

"Preben Q" <> wrote in message
news:45be7aaf$...
> When I ordered my E520 about half a year ago, I selected the cheapest
> possible configuration., -which prooved to be OK for my needs.
> I do not play games.
> But now I wish to extend WindowsXP 's desktop accross 2 monitors. Getting
> a total resolution of 2x1280x1024.
> So I need to buy a PCIe card with such a dual-display feature.
>
> A quick look tells me that all cards down to $100 have this feature. But I
> do not want to buy a card with lower performance than the onboard Intel
> graphic that I am used to.
> Would Nvidia 7600GS be a good idea? Any other suggestions?
>
>

If you machine has integrated Intel GMA950 graphics (which I suspect it
does), then this cable SHOULD work (note the should -- no guarantees -- it
does work on my GX620 with GMA950 graphics).

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=170075197947

Tom

I'm in the same boat, I was looking for something with 128 or 256 MB and
Vista ready for the future.. like you like to keep it around $100 GeForce
6600 or 7600 perhaps?



"Preben Q" <> wrote in message
news:45be7aaf$...
> When I ordered my E520 about half a year ago, I selected the cheapest
> possible configuration., -which prooved to be OK for my needs.
> I do not play games.
> But now I wish to extend WindowsXP 's desktop accross 2 monitors. Getting
> a total resolution of 2x1280x1024.
> So I need to buy a PCIe card with such a dual-display feature.
>
> A quick look tells me that all cards down to $100 have this feature. But I
> do not want to buy a card with lower performance than the onboard Intel
> graphic that I am used to.
> Would Nvidia 7600GS be a good idea? Any other suggestions?
>
>

I like the 7600GS.

"PaulT" <> wrote in message
news:Ht-dnVwjRp5p-...
> I'm in the same boat, I was looking for something with 128 or 256 MB and
> Vista ready for the future.. like you like to keep it around $100 GeForce
> 6600 or 7600 perhaps?
>
>
>
> "Preben Q" <> wrote in message
> news:45be7aaf$...
>> When I ordered my E520 about half a year ago, I selected the cheapest
>> possible configuration., -which prooved to be OK for my needs.
>> I do not play games.
>> But now I wish to extend WindowsXP 's desktop accross 2 monitors. Getting
>> a total resolution of 2x1280x1024.
>> So I need to buy a PCIe card with such a dual-display feature.
>>
>> A quick look tells me that all cards down to $100 have this feature. But
>> I do not want to buy a card with lower performance than the onboard Intel
>> graphic that I am used to.
>> Would Nvidia 7600GS be a good idea? Any other suggestions?
>>
>>
>
>

I would suggest you keep in mind that many lower cost video cards by both
ATI and nVidia 'share' ram with your system ram to achive thier advertised
amount of video ram. Especially if you have plans on running Vista.

Vista wants at least 1gig of system ram to run decently and to be able to
enable all the eye-candy.

If your system has 1gig of ram on the MB, and you have a video card that
uses 'shared' memory, then you are left with less than the original 1gig of
ram for the system to use.

Whichever video card you choose, if you can, look for a video card that has
it's own ram and does not share it with the rest of the system. Or, better
yet, if you can afford it, bump your system ram to 2gig and let the video
card share some of that.

Vista loves ram.

Also watch out for video cards that require a 6-pin power connection to the
video card. Depending on your system, your power supply may or may not have
a 6-pin power supply cable for the video card.

My E510 did not have a 6-pin power cable.

also, my E510 came with just the integrated video, and Vista ran just fine
with just that.


"PaulT" <> wrote in message
news:Ht-dnVwjRp5p-...
> I'm in the same boat, I was looking for something with 128 or 256 MB and
> Vista ready for the future.. like you like to keep it around $100 GeForce
> 6600 or 7600 perhaps?
>
>
>
> "Preben Q" <> wrote in message
> news:45be7aaf$...
>> When I ordered my E520 about half a year ago, I selected the cheapest
>> possible configuration., -which prooved to be OK for my needs.
>> I do not play games.
>> But now I wish to extend WindowsXP 's desktop accross 2 monitors. Getting
>> a total resolution of 2x1280x1024.
>> So I need to buy a PCIe card with such a dual-display feature.
>>
>> A quick look tells me that all cards down to $100 have this feature. But
>> I do not want to buy a card with lower performance than the onboard Intel
>> graphic that I am used to.
>> Would Nvidia 7600GS be a good idea? Any other suggestions?
>>
>>
>
>

7600GS (at least the one I have) doesn't share memory and doesn't require
power and doesn't have a fan (so is quiet).

Tom
"hdrdtd" <> wrote in message
news: ...
>I would suggest you keep in mind that many lower cost video cards by both
>ATI and nVidia 'share' ram with your system ram to achive thier advertised
>amount of video ram. Especially if you have plans on running Vista.
>
> Vista wants at least 1gig of system ram to run decently and to be able to
> enable all the eye-candy.
>
> If your system has 1gig of ram on the MB, and you have a video card that
> uses 'shared' memory, then you are left with less than the original 1gig
> of ram for the system to use.
>
> Whichever video card you choose, if you can, look for a video card that
> has it's own ram and does not share it with the rest of the system. Or,
> better yet, if you can afford it, bump your system ram to 2gig and let the
> video card share some of that.
>
> Vista loves ram.
>
> Also watch out for video cards that require a 6-pin power connection to
> the video card. Depending on your system, your power supply may or may not
> have a 6-pin power supply cable for the video card.
>
> My E510 did not have a 6-pin power cable.
>
> also, my E510 came with just the integrated video, and Vista ran just fine
> with just that.
>
>
> "PaulT" <> wrote in message
> news:Ht-dnVwjRp5p-...
>> I'm in the same boat, I was looking for something with 128 or 256 MB and
>> Vista ready for the future.. like you like to keep it around $100 GeForce
>> 6600 or 7600 perhaps?
>>
>>
>>
>> "Preben Q" <> wrote in message
>> news:45be7aaf$...
>>> When I ordered my E520 about half a year ago, I selected the cheapest
>>> possible configuration., -which prooved to be OK for my needs.
>>> I do not play games.
>>> But now I wish to extend WindowsXP 's desktop accross 2 monitors.
>>> Getting a total resolution of 2x1280x1024.
>>> So I need to buy a PCIe card with such a dual-display feature.
>>>
>>> A quick look tells me that all cards down to $100 have this feature. But
>>> I do not want to buy a card with lower performance than the onboard
>>> Intel graphic that I am used to.
>>> Would Nvidia 7600GS be a good idea? Any other suggestions?
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

"Tom Scales" <> skrev i en meddelelse
news:45be8fb0$0$7371$...
> 7600GS (at least the one I have) doesn't share memory and doesn't require power and
> doesn't have a fan (so is quiet).
>
> Tom
>
Thanks for the help.
I have ordered a 7600GS-silent.
As driver, I intend to use v.91.47 -whql

"Preben Q" <> wrote in message
news:45bf3eb2$...
>
> "Tom Scales" <> skrev i en meddelelse
> news:45be8fb0$0$7371$...
>> 7600GS (at least the one I have) doesn't share memory and doesn't require
>> power and doesn't have a fan (so is quiet).
>>
>> Tom
>>
> Thanks for the help.
> I have ordered a 7600GS-silent.
> As driver, I intend to use v.91.47 -whql
>


If the 7600 supports it, 84.21 is a lot more stable