Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming?

Posted by: tfabris

Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 01/07/2005 21:33

My wife's company is populated with these Dimension 2400s. I'd like to take one, add a gig of RAM and a midprice video card, so that it can play a bit of Half Life 2 or Counter-Strike-Source at decent resolutions in the evenings after 5:00.

Does anyone have any experience adding RAM and video cards to these units? Do they handle it well, any known issues?
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 01/07/2005 21:36

Okay, that's looking pretty sad... Looks like it doesn't have an AGP slot, and can only go to 512k main memory.

Ouch.

Can't do much with PCI for graphics cards, huh?

SIGH.
Posted by: andym

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 01/07/2005 21:38

Quote:
512k main memory.


Takes me back to the Acorn days....
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 01/07/2005 21:45

Gah, 512mB I meant.
Posted by: msaeger

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 01/07/2005 22:11

I wonder who makes the MB I can't believe it only goes up to 512MB.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 01/07/2005 22:23

You know, I could handle 512mb.

But without an AGP slot... I might be up a creek...
Posted by: tman

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 01/07/2005 22:36

I've got one as a server and it's got two DIMM slots. I put two 256MB DIMMs into it and it works fine. It's a 845 chipset with integrated graphics and no AGP slot as you've found out. If your games are particularly old or basic then it should be fine but otherwise you've got no chance. It does have some PCI slots so I guess if you really want then you can try to find a decent PCI video card.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 01/07/2005 22:44

Quote:
It does have some PCI slots so I guess if you really want then you can try to find a decent PCI video card.

Is there a such thing? That'll run Source engine?
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 01/07/2005 23:29

Hm. I wonder if this one would do. 128 meg RAM, PCI slot... DirectX 9 compatible:

http://www.pny.com/products/verto/mainstream/5500pci.asp
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 01/07/2005 23:43

Hm, or maybe this one, 256 megs ram:

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=319178

Not bad for a PCI card.
Posted by: mcomb

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 02/07/2005 02:28

Quote:
Hm, or maybe this one, 256 megs ram:


I'm not a gamer, but don't forget that PCI is significantly slower than AGP. It doesn't matter how much RAM they throw on the card if the bus isn't fast enough for it to push stuff back and forth to the rest of the system.

Personally I wouldn't spend $200+ adding parts to a computer that isn't worth $200 in the first place.

Edit: Particularly not something like a PCI video card that you likely wouldn't pull out and use in another system down the road.

-Mike
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 02/07/2005 13:35

Yes, I'm aware of the reason AGP exists. I see what you mean, though, about adding $200 in parts to a $500 computer.

The computer would also be used for image editing and desktop publishing, so a snappier video card and more RAM is needed for the box anyway, so it's not like it's a complete waste.
Posted by: DeadFire

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 03/07/2005 20:30

Quote:
You know, I could handle 512mb.

But you don't have to.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim2400/en/sm_en/specs.htm

Although they don't offer the configuration (you can't even customize this one on the website), the motherboard is capable of handling a pair of 512MB DDR stick, for a total of 1GB.

But as was discussed... without an AGP slot, do you really want to bother?
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 04/07/2005 15:13

Yup, discovered that the thing could actually take a gig in two 512-meg sticks. Works, too.

I got the gig of RAM and the PCI video card and it *does* work. As expected, the games play, albeit at a reduced frame rate, enough to keep me happy. The gig of RAM makes the overall system performance for desktop applications quite snappy, so I'm very happy with it.

Outstanding issue: Supposedly the thing is supposed to work the RAM at 400mhz, but it's not happening, the RAM is running at 266mhz. I wonder why.
Posted by: tman

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 04/07/2005 15:32

Quote:
Outstanding issue: Supposedly the thing is supposed to work the RAM at 400mhz, but it's not happening, the RAM is running at 266mhz. I wonder why.

Depends on what processor is in it.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 04/07/2005 15:52

It's the 2.4ghz celeron I think.
Posted by: tman

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 04/07/2005 16:28

You need a P4 if you want the faster speed. A Celeron runs at a lower FSB.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Upgrading a Dell Dimension 2400 for gaming? - 04/07/2005 17:38

Gotcha.