Hi all,
Been a while since I posted on this forum because I've had just an awesome time with my new computer. It may not be the greatest gaming machine on earth but it does the job and I don't really play that many graphics intense games (until now).
See my comp currently has an Nvidia GeForce 8600GT. 256 MB of course and it's a fairly decent card. I can play call of duty 4 and the fps goes anywhere from 25-60 (25 at the foliage-heavy areas). I'm thinking of upgrading to the 8800 GT or even possibly the 9600 or 9800 GT (if I have the money for it). More likely than not it'll be the 8800 GT (as its powerful enough and cheap).
I'm just worried if my motherboard can handle the card and if my power supply will be sufficient. My comp brand and model is a Dell XPS 410. I'm most worried about my mobo having a PCI X16 1.1 (I'm not sure if it has a 1.1 or 2.0, I'm just worried that it has a 1.1 rather than a 2.0) versus the X16 2.0 that the 8800GT and 9-series cards are now using. And again as I stated before, I'm worried if the power in my power supply will suffice.
I'm not sure what tool I can use to figure out what hardware I have. Do I need to crack open the case before I find any answers or is there an easier way of doing this?
Thanks for any and all help you can provide.
-Lurk
Ps. I don't really care about voiding the warranty (which I only got for 1 year anyways) and whatnot. If there's something wrong with my computer, I can fix it and if there's some hardware problems it'll be no problem to just chuck the old piece out and put a new piece in.