[Tfug] Graphics card opinion

[Bexley Hall]

Hi Steve,

--- On Fri, 10/12/12, Steve B <steveb7 at gmail.com> wrote:

> An opportunity pickup a 256M ATI card for
> cheap was what prompted the question.

Are you married to the ATI idea?  Or, the "cheap"?  (I think I
have a spare PCI-E card you could have -- full slot, half slot??)

> Ideally I'd rather
> yank the Core Duo and upgrade to a Core 2 but I can't
> get a definitive answer from Dell. Apparently the 760 will
> take a quad core, but it's dependent on the mainboard.
> Dell had two versions of the board for the 760. One will
> take dual and quad core CPU's, but the other will only
> take dual core.

Where did you find this information?  Does it include any
numerically identifying information (part numbers, etc.)?
Photos?

I.e., can you even identify *what* board you have (not *which*
of those two boards) in any meaningful way (part number, legend
in the silk screen, etc.)?  And, from that, search to see what
it ties to (in a FRU list, etc.)?

> However, I can't find the relevant info
> on how to decipher which board I have now.

Before you go too far down that road, *really* examine the
electrolytics on the motherboard, carefully (i.e., not a
casual examination but a CAREFUL INSPECTION).  I've encountered
a large number of Dell machines (including three -- different
models! -- of my own) that I've had to re-cap to varying degrees.
Pay particular attention to those proximate to the CPU.  These
see much higher ripple currents *and* operating temperatures
and are likely to fail quickest.  I suspect you'd be mighty
pissed to upgrade a CPU and discover the machine is now *past*
the tipping point for reliability!  :<

If the video card alternative sounds appealing, I'll go see
what I've got in the "spares" pile.

(World Care might also have something but I htink they tend
to cherry-pick the better cards for their own purposes and
not just sell them "as is")

HTH,
--don