Solved Video Card For Dell Vostro 200 Mini Tower

[capnblinski]

Hi out there to Vistax64. I am a recent XP to Vista user. I have a Vostro 200 mini tower (specs below) that has been running XP pro for the last few years - couldn't stand the GUI anymore lol - so I installed Vista HP and am very happy with the new interface and features. After tweaking some, the desktop appears from cold start in 30 seconds or so and almost everthing runs as snappy as it did before with XP. But the task manager is showing an average use in physical memory of 1.17 gigs, CPU usage is higher, and some, not all, internet pages scroll slowly e.g. Yahoo news pages, Hearts of Space etc. where as they were fine before. Everthing else on the internet, including this site, works well - though a few installs like Starry Night Enthusiast and a John Deere farm game are slower.

My question is this: Would installing a seperate video card give me better all-around performance or would another gig of ram do the trick? And what brand/type of video card do you folks recommend?

Intel Core2 Duo E4500 @ 2.3ghz
2 Gig of Kingston RAM
Intell G33 Express Chipset (on motherboard)
80 Gig WD SATA Hard Drive
Seasonic 350w PSU


Thanks for the opportunity to have my questions answered and I'm looking forward to cruising the site here!

 

[Patonb]

Windows will allot 50% of your ram by default, for when you need them programs. Remember, rams fastr than hard drive, and why have all that ram and not use it.

For your power supply, a nvidia 430/440 or an ati/amd 6450, maybe get away with a 6550... Seasonics are quality.

The slowdown is probably because Vista is a bit more of a beast than xp, and graphics can be a bit more hefty.

 

[capnblinski]

So installing a video card rather than adding physical ram would be the recommendation?

 

[Patonb]

While 2Gigs is low, youre not maxing it out. Most likely the gpu is dating itself. I assume its the 6150.

Have you turned Aero off?

 

[capnblinski]

Turned off the Aero and made very little difference in performance. Not sure exactly what the gpu designation is - just know it says Intel G33.. I looked at the nvidia 430
on amazon and read the reviews and my thoughts are to go in that direction as opposed to adding more physical ram - especially as it seems to have done the trick for many of the reviewers on that card on amazon.