Member Avatar for jeffysno

I'm looking for information on upgrading my current video card. I'm not really a computer person, so will try my best at explaining what I currently have. My system is a Dell Dimension E521. I'm running Windows Vista 32 bit and the system is an AMD Anthlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3600+ 1.90 ghz with 3 gb of ram. I honestly don't know what video card I have. Device manager tells me that I have a Radeon X300/X550 series, but doesn't get much more specific than that. The computer power supply is 305W.

I do not use the computer for gaming, just e-mail, surfing and watching online and dvd movies. The reason I'm even thinking about upgrading the video card is that when I watch movies in full screen, the video has a few intermittent horizontal lines that shoot back and forth about a quarter way down the screen and where those lines are, the video looks choppy and out of sync. If I watch the movie in any size window, it looks perfectly fine. The problem only occurs in full screen.

When I bought the system (in 07) it only had 1 gb of RAM and a geforce 6150 video card. It started to act up when I upgraded to a 20" monitor, so unsure if it was the monitor or Vista or something else, I asked a friend of a friend look at it. He told me the lack of RAM could be causing problems with the monitor and also something meaning the 6150 card didn't have it's own memory, so was using the system RAM. He then put in a different (used) video card he had (the one in the system now) and said that it would be better than the geforce card as it has it's own onboard memory. Since then I get the choppy video lines. After adding the extra RAM, the lines are still there. I've swapped monitors and the choppy lines are there. I no longer have the 6150 card, so can't verify 100% if swapping the card would fix the problem.

Hoping someone out there might be able to point me in the right direction of going either going ahead and swapping out the video card or maybe try something else. If I do swap the video card, I don't want to have to swap power supplies, so it needs to be able to run with the system I am currently running.

Would this card work in my system?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0033WSDNS/ref=asc_df_B0033WSDNS1318110?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=pg-469-34-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395093&creativeASIN=B0033WSDNS

Thanks!!
Jeff

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by saxmaster49

Dani AI

Generated

Brief expert summary and next steps (follow-up to ; echoing ’s PSU caution).

The symptom occurring only in full‑screen playback most often points to a driver/renderer or hardware‑acceleration conflict (not necessarily a failing GPU). Start by switching the video renderer and turning off hardware acceleration in the player/browser (Flash-era sites and modern browsers both use that setting). Testing the same file in a different player (VLC, Windows Media Player, MPC‑HC) or turning hardware acceleration off often removes fullscreen-only artifacts. (docs.videolan.me)

Steps to identify and reset video drivers: run a small GPU identification tool to get the exact adapter name (don’t rely on the generic Device Manager label), then download the correct driver from the vendor. After identifying the adapter, perform a clean driver uninstall and reinstall — many playback artifacts are resolved by a proper driver cleanup. Popular tools for these tasks: TechPowerUp GPU‑Z to identify the GPU, and Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) for a clean driver removal before reinstalling drivers. (techpowerup.com)

If a card replacement is still desired, follow ’s instinct: avoid cards that need external PCIe power unless the PSU is upgraded. A PCIe x16 slot supplies the base power budget (slot-only cards draw only from the slot), while cards with 6/8‑pin connectors pull significant extra watts and usually require a stronger PSU. Prefer “slot‑power only” / low‑profile playback cards (no external power) for an older system with a modest supply. (en.wikipedia.org)

Short checklist: (1) Play the same file in multiple players and browsers with hardware acceleration toggled; (2) identify the exact GPU with GPU‑Z; (3) clean‑uninstall drivers (DDU) and install the vendor driver; (4) test with a different known‑good card or a Linux Live USB to separate OS/driver vs. hardware faults; (5) if replacing the card, choose a slot‑powered model or plan a PSU upgrade. These steps isolate the problem while keeping power and compatibility in view.

Member Avatar for saxmaster49

Unfortunately Jeff, the card you posted will NOT work in your pc. Your powersupply wouldnt be able to handle the load.

In order to better diagnose the video problem, could you tell us what you are using to play the videos and what your using to render, ie. graphics acceleration, openGL. Does the problem happen on all videos, hd videos only, flash videos?

Thanks

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