MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Right, I need a new desktop PC (sadly don't have the funds for a Mac Pro for the forseeable future, and as I need a Windows Machine as well as my Mac Laptop am going to just buy a cheap PC) and have spotted this...
[url] http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168998 [/url]
From what I can tell, this will be ideal for me (I have a spare copy of XP Pro that I can install, have no desire to go to Vista or Windows 7 just yet), but it has no Graphics Card installed. I won't be playing any games on it really, but I do have a 23" 1920x1080 HD Samsung Monitor, and will want to watch films, and maybe some HD video content on it without any performance compromises.
Ideally don't really want to spend any more than £40 on the GFX card, but would do if it was really worth it. Also, my screen has VGA, DVI and HDMI inputs... Which is best if you have a choice from your GFX card?
Cheers
Have you checked that you can actually fit a graphics card? Many of the uber cheap prebuilt machines skimp on stuff like PCI-E slot specifically to save money so I highly recommend that you contact Ebuyer and check you can definately fit one. A casual glance at the link makes no mention of it.
If it does have a PCI-E 2.0 slot then I would recommend:
That will do you for watching HD content and casual gaming, although it'll run like a dog gaming at 1920x1080.
Hope that helps,
Ricky
This is the motherboard that's fitted to that PC...
[url] http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/Motherboards/detail_overview.aspx?id=en-us0000345 [/url]
Says it has:
1 PCI x16
1 PCI x1
2 PCI
Being uninitiated, can I use the card you suggest above or not?
No.
Actually you should be fine with that card in that bored. The link for the motherboard says that it has a pci-e x16 slot. It's not pci e 2.0 but the two standards are forwards compatible. Theoretically it would underclock the card but it's unlikely to happen in practice.
Cheers.
Ricky