Video Card help? =[

[AdamHuw]

Hey
I am trying to buy myself a new graphics card for my Dell Inspiron 530 because I burnt out the last one I had.
I have no idea what a PCI or PCI Express slot is, I can't tell the difference between them.
I have linked an photo of my motherboard in case anyone can recognise what one I have?
Since my computer is a few years old maybe only certain graphics cards will work on it?
I honestly have no idea, that's why I am posting here!

I bought the computer of a friend and they don't have the manual or anything like that.
Can anyone recommend a good video card for me?.. Nothing too expensive, I only want to be able to record some Minecraft videos hehe
Thanks!

 

[Painbringer71]

The black one is PCI E they have a trigger piece on them (they can be differant colors) the white is the older pci.

 

[frontier204]

May I ask what your old GPU was, and what OS you are running?

From the manual on your computer:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/inspd530/en/OM/PDF/om_en.pdf
You have a PCI-E x16 slot. You can pick any PCI-E graphics card you want, although anything more than the most basic ones would be pointless on that computer. (You'll get a CPU bottleneck in any games before the GPU for anything midrange.)

If you are running Windows XP, you cannot find drivers for the newest cards. In any case, those cards are overpowered for your needs.

If you're buying new, I recommend a Radeon 5450:
ASUS Radeon HD 5450 650MHZ 512MB 900MHZ DDR3 Low Profile DVI HDMI PCI-E DirectX 11 Video Card - ASUS - EAH5450 SL/DI/512MD3/MG(LP)

If you can buy used, then you have plenty more options - a lot of people (e.g. on our BST threads) are selling older cards. Since I don't know what power supply you run, I'd recommend a PCI-E interface graphics card that doesn't require supplemental power. Examples:

AMD/ATI Radeon 4650 or lower, 3650 or lower, 5500 or lower
nVidia Geforce GT 440 or lower, GT 240 or lower, 9500 or lower, 8600 or lower

 

[AdamHuw]

frontier204, You are one truly amazing person.
Honestly, I can't thank you enough; I've spent so long looking for a graphics card for my computer and haven't managed to find one !
Your going to have to help me out on what GPU & OS mean? :\
I'm going to order that on the 18th once I get paid!
Seriously thanks a fu***** bunch you absolute legend !

 

[AdamHuw]

Although!
I've just done some research on that graphics card you recommended & it says it's not too good with 3D gaming & that is what I really want it for..
However, I've found the Radeon HD 5470, what are your comments on that?

 

[frontier204]

GPU technically means "Graphics processing unit", although I'm just using it as a short form for "video card".
OS is Operating System. E.g. Windows XP, Android, Mac OSX, and the base of most Linux distributions are examples of operating system.

To recommend a GPU for gaming, we'll need the FULL specs of your computer - since it's a Dell that means the model number isn't enough because each model can be configured in different ways.

What we need at a bare minimum are the following:
CPU - Model number (e.g. Core2Duo E6500)
RAM - Speed and capabity of RAM (e.g 4GB PC2-6400)
Hard drive
Power supply Wattage and Model number
Operating System (e.g. Windows XP? Vista? 7?)
EDIT: Also forgot the most important one - what games do you want to play, and at what resolution / settings?

- If you want examples of what should be said for each, see the "My System Specs" for a couple of the members of these forums, me included.

If what you give is too old, then what'll happen is we'll suggest you buy / build another computer because the rest of the computer would slow down the game.