DELL dimension 3000 video card help

badgerino

Hello

I have been struggling to play DVDs on my Dell Dimension 3000 for a while and I think it might have something to do with the video card setup.

It runs Win XP Pro (which I installed myself) and has 1024 RAM and a Pentium 4 2.8 GHz speed.

When I look at the properties for the display adaptor it says I have an Intel (R) 82865G Graphics Controller.

Does anyone know if this sounds correct? It sounds a little basic and I think I might have an inferior driver for the video card that is actually inside the computer, but I am not sure.

When I attempt to update the driver whilst using the CDs that came with the PC, it says it cannot find a more suitable driver. Is there anything else I Can do, or am I barking up the wrong tree!?

Thanks in advance

Badger

Seamus

The bog standard Dell 3000 ships with a motherboard graphics card. i.e. it doesn't have a seperate graphics card as such. So unless you upgraded the machine it will be using this. Go to the Dell support site and type in your machine ID (it's on the side of the case) and you should be able to download the latest drivers for your motherboard.

Also, be careful if you do decide to purchase a dedicated graphic card as the 3000 does not have an AGP slot. That means you have to buy a PCI Graphics Card (Not PCI Express though as this is the new whizzy bang interface which it definately doesn't have!!).

badgerino

ah right. Thanks Seamus!

Do you know if there are any similar precautions with buying a Sound Card, as I guess I only have motherboard sound?

For example, I have an old AWE 64 in another old Dell PC...will that be any better than what I've got and do you think it will fit?

Mark_LJ

I fitted out a Dell 3000 with a Radeon 9250 PCI card - gave me the option of DVI out and improved the performance substantially, although still not a proper gaming machine.

In relation to the soundcard it depends how much you want to spend as you're not limited in the same way you are with graphics. If you're on a budget I'd go with this direct from Creative. I've bought from their refurbed section before and it was spot on.

I wouldn't use the AWE64.