ATI vs. NVIDIA

[Rookie420]

hey guys, I have a dell dimension 3000 and it came with old school PCI slots. I have an Nvidia GeForce 6200 the highest performing card Nvidia makes for PCI slot. Being that I would have to change out my motherboard in order to upgrade any further I have my 16 month old twin daughters and really can't be going crazy at this moment to spend on a motherboard then just to spend mor eon a high end vid card. I am open and axiously awaiting some input from you guys as to what you reccommend I do. I wish there was an adaptor or something to convert to PCI but I have been told there is no such thing. I also was wondering about ATI..I know nothing about ATI and would like to know if anyoe knows what the best card ATI makes for PCI slot and being that I know nothing really about cards, how would that particular ATI card go to bat against the Nvidia 6200 I have. PLease any input would be appreciated..Thanks guys and gals

[=Sarc=]

I think it would be a complete waste of money to get another video card. It's not going to improve your performance that much. The rest of your system is going to pull you down.

Judging by reviews I've found on the Dimension 3000, it's a 2.5 year old computer that was a budget PC for its time. I think it's time to start saving for a new computer.

[Drizzid]

Yup Sarc said it all Rookie. You'd be waisting time and money. Save your pennies and upgrade in the future.

[Greflin]

What are your full system specs rookie? As Sarc and Drizzid said, it would be wiser to upgrade, but that isn't always an option. I ran on an 1.2ghz thunderbird for far longer than I should have because I couldn't afford more, but I could keep it working well enough for my means by small upgrades. Knowing the full breakdown of your current card is the only way to see if ATI has something better for you. If you have the 256mb ddr2 Nvida 6200 then there isn't going to be any improvement in upgrading, but without knowing your proc, ram and such there is way to give you an answer other than save for an upgrade.

[Kittamaru]

If you give me a price range, I'll give you a list for a do-it-yourself PC.

[Rincewind]

Kittamaru has it right. You can make a great PC for ~600.

http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/...ide-200612.ars

That link is the 2006 Ars system guide. The best information about a budget PC isn't really in that guide but in the comments about the story. There are some really great ideas for putting together a modern computer for <700.

[Rookie420]

Thanks guys for yalls input!