Advice on Graphics Card

[MatLH]

I recently had someone build me a computer, which was just supposed to be a nice stable work computer that might do some light gaming. Once i got it, i picked up The Old Republic and started playing. The game ran well enough, didn't look amazing, but i was enjoying it. However, one of the hardrives he installed kept crashing, and after multiple visits he finally built me an entirely new system. Only catch now is that the game no longer runs smoothly, and is INCREDIBLY laggy. I was planning to upgrade the graphics card anyway, but i just wondering what type of card i should get. I don't need the end all be all, but i would like to be able to run most games smoothly. Doesn't necessarily need to be at max graphics though (i have a console for that)

here are the specs

Model:precision workstation 490
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS version 1.10 A08
Processor: Intel (R) Xeon(tm) CPU 3.00GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.0GHz

From what i can tell my currecnt driver is the NVIDIA QUADRO FX 3450/4000 SDI

As I'm sure you can tell, i know nothing about computers. so if this isn't the info you need, please let me know what you need and where i can find it

[Raptor]

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, right? 1 or 2?

It should work with a card like that. What operating system are you running?
Any question marks or exclamanation marks in the device manager? (Right click my computer -> properties -> hardware -> device manager)

The guy you're talking of sounds pretty incapable, by the way. You don't "build" Dell computers because they come prefabricated.
You also shouldn't let him tell you that the "hard drive kept crashing" because if a hard drive "crashes" once, it's pretty much over...

He also picked a pretty odd machine that isn't really meant for gaming at all, it's meant for... well.. Dell can say it better than I can:

Looking for a high-end workstation that delivers groundbreaking performance and exceptional
processing power to space-constrained environments? Then look no further. Developed in
close collaboration with hardware and software partners, the next-generation Dell Precision
490 workstation combines a flexible, compact chassis and intelligent power management to
deliver an ideal solution for financial trading floors, performance clusters, render farms and
other crowded, power-sensitive environmen

[MatLH]

Basically this is what I've got going. The guy works with my dad in the petrochemical plants outside my city (we're known as chemical valley, lucky us). The plants get an astronomical budget every year for computers and what not, and so every two years they replace their systems even though they are still in great shape. My dads friend is the technician in charge of maintaining them. When they get replaced he buys them super cheap from the plant, sets them up for personal use, and sells them. I misspoke when i said he "builds" them, because its not like he is building them from scratch. he does however set them up to be whatever his customer needs. So he might swap out the graphics card, or install wireless receivers or whatever. The hard drive wasn't crashing repeatedly (my poor use of technical jargon) but it was failing, and the computer was freezing/crashing. So he set me up with an entirely different system.

Anywho, the game in question is the MMORPG The Old Republic, not the RPGs from a few years back. Basically what I'm interested in learning is what this system can handle, and what my options are that won't break the bank.

[Raptor]

Aaaah, that's an entirely different beast.

ATI/AMD Radeon HD 5850 1024MB seems to be a recommended videocard for this game. That means anything from that number and upwards made by ATI/AMD should in theory suffice. The higher your budget, the higher you can go.

The maximum supported wattage for your videocard slot (PCI-E 16x) is 150W according to Dell so that's important to keep in mind.
They also recommend a GeForce GTX 465 but that is a 200W videocard.

You meet the rest of the system specifications by a wide margin although the game might not be optimised for your type of hardware because it's not really meant to be gamed on.

[MatLH]

OK, i just read the outside of the power supply, and the model number is N750p-00 which as i understand means it is a 750 watt power supply. can anyone confirm?

[Raptor]

OK, i just read the outside of the power supply, and the model number is N750p-00 which as i understand means it is a 750 watt power supply. can anyone confirm?

Correct.

[MatLH]

Thanks for all your help! picked up a new card, and its running great! game runs well, and looks awesome.

[batlon13]

You can use Nividia GeForce 9600 GT 512MB vs GeForce GT 240 GDDR5. i think it will better for your pc.