You must know what graphics port your motherboard has first before deciding what you can buy, is it agp or pci-e? If you are not sure it will say in the motherboard manual. And not to make things overly complicated but it is important to know what power supply you have also.
ATI Radeon HD4770 . I know, nVidia are the best in Il-2, hands down. But that card is cheap, has low power consumption and runs relatively cold. And it's a beast - it thrashes the 9600GSO/GT , beats the 9800GT and is nearly on par (~2-3% slower) than the more expensive HD4850. And at least in my country it was cheaper than all of those above, except the 9600GSO.
1280x1024 4xAA Edge Detect (12x effective), 16xHQ AF , Perfect Settings + mods and Il-2 runs smooth, can even use FRAPS and it's playable. Only downside is that I get stuttering when a/c spawn... :?
Not wanting to be the bearer of bad news, but the power supply isn't going to be powerful enough and that is a micro case so there is not chance of fitting one of the newer cards with a large cooler on it (and I'm dubious about any modern card to be quite honest) On the plus side that does appear to be a pci-e port, but you will have to be very careful about which card buy in terms of dimensions.
Well, your system's motherboard is PCIe, so that's covered. You should be able to figure out the size of the card's PCB you're interested in. Your PSU will need an upgrade, as age degrades a PSU and it will not reach it's rated wattage.
Hold on - I looked up the dimensions of the 9800GT and it says it is 9" X 4". I took a look and it looks like it'll fit.
I am far from an expert, that being said......Heat issues could be a problem with some of the new graphics cards...you may have to "mod" your case with some extra fans and cooling slots....I hope you are succesful in your endeavors...and best of luck in this adventure.....It should be a positive experience....
Sancho.......
Sorry :oops: , one more thing.
I have a Dell Dimension 5150, which I recently found out has a BTX case. According to Wikipedia normal ATX power supply will fit the case but it's Wikipedia. Will a normal ATX power supply fit the case?
Any answers will be really appreciated!
I know this from painful experience that FSX is nearly impossible to run even with a super system(it needs to be uber). A 9600 won't cut it on FSX but IL2 will be fine. I'm not sure about SoW...after seeing a lot about it i would expect that it would be rather performance hitting...I can only ponder how it will run...
Here are my specs:
Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz
NVIDIA 9800GTX+
4GB DDR2 RAM
Foxconn P45A-S Motherboard
And 7 case fans
As you can see from this if I can't play FSX with a 9800GTX+ then a 9600 won't...But just as a suggestion I would look into some of the 200 series graphics cardslike the 260 which can be had at a modestly expensive price of $200 on EVGA.