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Did dell TRIBBLE with me? A graphics card question

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
edited February 2010 in Graphical and Sound Issues
So my son wanted to play STO with me. In order for him to play we needed to upgrade his computer. Way to old to acutally install new hardware so I went shopping. I live in the middle of no where so online is alwasy my best bet. I have an account with Dell so i decdied to buy with them. Having had the computer graphics world far outpace my knowledge I got on online chat with a dell representative. I copied and pasted the specs from the STO site needed to run StO. They came back with a system which is as follows

Dell Stuio XPS
Intel core i5-650 prcoessor with 4mb cache and 3.2 Ghz
Windows 7
nvidea Geforce g310 graphics card
3 GB RAM
500 GB hard drive.

i was assured this exceeded the minimum requirements.

So we got it and set it up. Only to get a message that the graphics were tol old or out of date and it would not run. i checked the drives and we had the lastes one. So he can run the game but with lowered graphics settings. What gives?

The only other point is he is uusing an older monitor the old CRT type and not a flat screen.

Any help or thoughts would be nice.

Thanks!
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I'm not sure you got screwed by Dell maybe Nvidia.

    "The Geforce G 310 is merely a rebranded Geforce G 210, which wasn't much too look at to begin with. The G 310 packs a 16-core GPU clocked at 589MHz and 512MB of DDR2 memory on a 64-bit memory bus. Did we already mention we're not impressed? One good thing about the G 310 is the choice of connectors, as it offers DisplayPort, DVI and VGA, as well as an HDMI adapter."

    I have not done any research as to what STO minimum graphic requirements are. However the card you have is from their mobile line of GPU's.

    I do know that STO runs fine on my 2 year old macbook pro with a Geforce 8600m chip.
    My guess it's so new STO doesn't like it.

    I use a 20" Sony CRT from 2003 so it's not the monitor that is causing the issue.


    Source for quote above: http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/16601/1/
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Yes, dell is TRIBBLE you. G310's the LOWEST end for a graphic card. STO will basically crawl along at unplayable speed.

    I recommend getting them to upgrade to a card that have at least a number 4 in the second digit for a 2xx or 3xx series or a number 6 in a 8xxx or 9xxx series.

    E.g GTS 240(add $130) or HD 5770(add $180) . I checked dell website, they offer this two options to change the graphic card. Since you are using an old CRT screen, GTS 240 should be good enough.

    Important to take note of the 2nd digit of a card's numbering system.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Hmm thanks for the quick replies.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I play STO just fine with the graphics one click from the highest setting on a 5yo Gateway with an Athlon 3200+ 2.2ghz processor, 2gb ram, and an Nvidia Geforce 210 with 512mb onboard ram, running Windows Vista 32bit SP2. Sure it's not the uberest rig and I can't really play it with all settings on the highest but it certainly is playable . :D
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    thanks for the replies. armed with this info I confronted Dell and they saw reason. they will upgrade my vidoe card for free to the appropriate one. They will even send a techie out to do it for me.

    Thanks again.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Glad to see that Dell listened to you, but I suppose they had to or they would risk you returning the whole computer to them. :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    my computer is from dell as well its an ispiron 546 amd processor x2 240 series 2.8 ghz with a ati radion hd 4350 card and 2 gb of ram so i am having no problem
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    might start a new thread for this...

    i've just installed the game, downloaded the 4gig patch only to be told my graphics card driver is to old, so i updated it from nvidia site, now it tells me my card is not supported its a 256 meg Geforce 5500 fx, when i try to run at reduced graphics it crashed with an error saying the 3d cant be rendered so will try in 2d but it just stops...

    is iit my graphics card and if so can some one suggest an affordable replacement

    ta
    pi
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    thanks for the replies. armed with this info I confronted Dell and they saw reason. they will upgrade my vidoe card for free to the appropriate one. They will even send a techie out to do it for me.

    Thanks again.
    It wasn't the card...
    I just built a system this weekend with a GTS 250 and got the same error... Whatever nvidia driver that ships with windows 7 is several revs back. Hit nvidia.com and grab the latest driver.
    Its not a big deal. Even with the error STO still ran (not great).
    You cant rely on windows to get the best drivers.

    I'm surprised Dell didn't ask if you had loaded the latest drivers yet.

    A crt? wow...

    @laup_noals
    its your card... spend the $30 and get you a decent one. I'm not familiar with ATI, but you can get an Nvidia 2x0 for $30 - $100 depending on how much card you wanna buy. I wouldn't recommend 8xxx or 9xxx not because they aren't good (my old card was a 9800 GT) but because its aging tech i.e. if your gonna spend the money get something with a newer chipset.
    I paid $130 for my GTS 250.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    thanks for the tek input

    now my motherboard only has an AGP slot and all the 2*0 cards i can see are pci-e, so can some one suggest a suitable agp graphics card that will run the game :)

    or do i need a new motherboard as well...
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    New computer. Don't think they've made an AGP card in past few years since PCI-E has been the standard.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    laup_noals wrote:
    thanks for the tek input

    now my motherboard only has an AGP slot and all the 2*0 cards i can see are pci-e, so can some one suggest a suitable agp graphics card that will run the game :)

    or do i need a new motherboard as well...
    I'd go with 86xx or 96xx or better... you can still find 9800s in AGP. price is iffy.
    there are a number of websites... I'm not sure what the forum rules are on posting commercial sites.
    Hit your local store and ask the guys in the pc or diy section. They could give you a better information on how you might get an AGP card. I recommend buying locally because 1) its just good policy to support your local store and 2) a local store will probably give better after-sales customer service than on online site.

    Ultimately Id suggest a new system.. you can get into a new system, monitor and everything pretty cheaply now days.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    taishojojo wrote: »
    It wasn't the card...
    I just built a system this weekend with a GTS 250 and got the same error... Whatever nvidia driver that ships with windows 7 is several revs back. Hit nvidia.com and grab the latest driver.
    Its not a big deal. Even with the error STO still ran (not great).
    You cant rely on windows to get the best drivers.

    I'm surprised Dell didn't ask if you had loaded the latest drivers yet.

    A crt? wow...

    @laup_noals
    its your card... spend the $30 and get you a decent one. I'm not familiar with ATI, but you can get an Nvidia 2x0 for $30 - $100 depending on how much card you wanna buy. I wouldn't recommend 8xxx or 9xxx not because they aren't good (my old card was a 9800 GT) but because its aging tech i.e. if your gonna spend the money get something with a newer chipset.
    I paid $130 for my GTS 250.

    That is interesting because I just built a new computer with a NVIDIA GTS 250 I got that error, then updated my drivers and everything was fine.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    sorry for juming in on the op thread.

    i've got an untested am3 mb on the shelf, i'll just swop it round with the yan in my system, it means buying an am3 cpu and sime ddr2 memory and a graphics card....

    but guess i needed to update some of the components, the most expensive part of my self build at the moment is the case :) and i have a water cooled copper heatsink i can put into a new system but i'll have to cut a hole in the case so you can see it :)

    thanks for all the input guys and gals
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