Graphics card upgrade for Dell Dimension 5150

Hi

Apologies if this question has already been asked but I searched and couldn't find it.

I have a Dell Dimension 5150 which runs XP Home and is 3 years old. I pre-ordered Windows 7 but the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor says my onboard graphics adapter won't support the Windows Aero User Interface. I don't play games on my PC but I would like all the fancy visual features of Windows 7. How do I go about choosing a graphics card that will do the job for me?

Thanks in advance...

Marty welcome to the forums.

Before buying a new card, wait until you get Windows 7 and install it. There is a good possibility that it will work (the upgrade advisor for the most part is a piece of junk, I have seen it flag components as unsupported when I know full well that it is).

Once you get 7 installed this,

ATI Catalyst? Legacy Display Driver

will be about it for a driver. If it doesn't work and you still want to get a card let us know and we can recommend something. If nothing else according to the specs for your Dell,

Dimension 5150 Desktop Product Details

you have a PCI-E 16x slot, which is good. It only has a 305W power supply which isn't so good, but there are still lots of cards that will be OK on it.

Hi Stormy

Thanks for your speedy reply! I will give it a go next week and report back.

Marty.

Hi Stormy
Just to say I installed Windows 7 and, as you suspected, there is no problem with the graphics on my PC at all! And I am very impressed with the new O/S, especially how fast it is to fire up. Thanks again for your help.

You're welcome and thanks for posting back.

I am new to these forums and this is my first post :)

I am about to build a brand new dell dimension 5150 with 4gb ram and a 3.6ghz pentium 4 and a nvidia 7300 le 256mb with every thing else for under £100. so i am curious about how fast the computer is running windows 7? bare in mind it is maxed out on ram?

many thanks on your help.

StormShockz

The gpu is the graphics card right, im not sure? i was thinking about a nvidia 7300 256mb or a nvidia 7300 gt 512mb? my comp has a pci-e slot.

what card would be better im guessing the gt?
or should i get a different cheap express graphics card?

many thanks

StormShockz