Dell 5150 Dual Core 2.8GHz inc 19" LCD Monitor & Free Printer £429 (merged)

Whirly

I've ordered a new video card for my 5150 (X800GT - couldn't resist at £65 delivered) and, never having owned a Dell or used integrated graphics before I have a quick question of those who have already upgraded:

What, if any, adjustments need to be made to the BIOS when installing a it (before installation & after)?

amancalledchip

depends what the bios is set to.

in there it gives the option to auto detect add in card and use that, if not use onboard.

think thats what setup by default.

TLJester

Whirly wrote:

I've ordered a new video card for my 5150 (X800GT - couldn't resist at £65 delivered) and, never having owned a Dell or used integrated graphics before I have a quick question of those who have already upgraded:

What, if any, adjustments need to be made to the BIOS when installing a it (before installation & after)?

Once you have the new card plugged in you will need to dissable the on-board graphics in the BIOS. your new card will work enough for you to do this and boot to windows. In windows you will need to download (you can do this before you put the new card in if you want too) the new ATI drivers (ati.com) and run them. that should do the trick and everything so work fine for you after that.
Good luck

PhantomPower

I know this is more appropriate in the techie forum (feel free to move) but on the basis that this thread is likely to be viewed by other users with this specification of PC can I ask if anyone else gets a very high pitched sound when they turn the TFT monitor off? The sound seems to emanate from the base unit itself, rather than the TFT. If I turn the TFT on again (the PC is switched off by the way) then the sound goes. It's mildly annoying at best but should this be a cause for concern/return to Dell?

wildeep

PhantomPower wrote:

I know this is more appropriate in the techie forum (feel free to move) but on the basis that this thread is likely to be viewed by other users with this specification of PC can I ask if anyone else gets a very high pitched sound when they turn the TFT monitor off? The sound seems to emanate from the base unit itself, rather than the TFT. If I turn the TFT on again (the PC is switched off by the way) then the sound goes. It's mildly annoying at best but should this be a cause for concern/return to Dell?

i can't hear anything myself but when my five-year old jack russell is in the room he pricks up his ears when i turn the TFT off

Fenboy_Steve

wildeep wrote:

i can't hear anything myself but when my five-year old jack russell is in the room he pricks up his ears when i turn the TFT off

We recently had a similar symptom on one of our machines at work (different model) and eventually the PC's power supply failed.

devilmen

Whirly wrote:

I've ordered a new video card for my 5150 (X800GT - couldn't resist at £65 delivered) and, never having owned a Dell or used integrated graphics before I have a quick question of those who have already upgraded:

What, if any, adjustments need to be made to the BIOS when installing a it (before installation & after)?

i havnt read all the thread , but could you tell me where you got a x800gt graphics card from for 65 quid .. thanks :T

PhantomPower

wildeep wrote:

i can't hear anything myself but when my five-year old jack russell is in the room he pricks up his ears when i turn the TFT off

Thanks, Wildeep. It is a VERY high pitched sound but I don't think my hearing is superhuman - too many heavy metal gigs when I was a teenager!

A bit of research on t'internet suggests possible transformer or capacitor problems - would that make sense if the sound emanates from the base unit? Anyone?

borgs

PhantomPower wrote:

I know this is more appropriate in the techie forum (feel free to move) but on the basis that this thread is likely to be viewed by other users with this specification of PC can I ask if anyone else gets a very high pitched sound when they turn the TFT monitor off? The sound seems to emanate from the base unit itself, rather than the TFT. If I turn the TFT on again (the PC is switched off by the way) then the sound goes. It's mildly annoying at best but should this be a cause for concern/return to Dell?

My ears are quite good at detecting high frequency sounds so I'll see if mine does that tonight when I get home.

Edit: No, can't hear it. Can detect a very faint hiss if I put my ear right up to the PSU but can't hear a high pitched noise. I can hear a slight buzz as well as the noise of the fans, HD etc. when its on but not when off.

Whirly

Thanks to those who replied. I found my nice sealed Powercolor Radeon X800GT retail box waiting for me when I got home this evening. Now all I need to do is find the time and energy to install it (gotta do some backups first just in case!)

I'm sure the BIOS has 2 relevant settings - one auto and one that suggests that it will select the PCE-E card if installed. *sighs* Not exactly helpful labelling by Dell. Stil, I'm sure I'll work it out. On another note I went to download the latest catalyst drivers from ATI tonight and noticed that they have a special version for Windows XP MCE...I wonder what the difference is?

devilmen wrote:

i havnt read all the thread , but could you tell me where you got a x800gt graphics card from for 65 quid .. thanks :T

I'm sorry Devillmen, I should have been clearer in my original post. I bought the card new on ebay. The Buy-it-now price was £80 (P&P £5) but I bid £60 for it and won. I just checked and the seller has another one up for sale so you might want to take a look:

http://computers.search.ebay.co.uk/_Desktop-PC-Components_W0QQcatrefZC12QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQsacatZ3667QQsassZxskit

A bit of research shows that he sold one for £80 last night so £60 seems a pretty good deal (£65 incl. P&P, of course).

Hope that helps.

(BTW I call any purchase on Ebay "ordering" because I never count on an item until I have it in my hands!)