[burnoutnotfadeaway]

A friend has a Dell Dimension 2400. Unfortunately it doesn't have any AGP or PCI-E slots so upgrading the graphics is slightly more problematic than usual. At present it has onboard sound and graphics.
With this setup, the game begins, you select your characters etc then once it begins to load the game it cuts out to the desktop and gives a Game.dat error. EA Sports tell me this is a graphic problem and gave me the specifications the system must have to be able to play the game(see bottom of this post). I contacted Dell via the Online Support, and told them the system I was working on and the game requirements, in terms of graphics. The Dell rep then used some website that sells peripherals and had already done a search for me with the required specifications. One of the cards was a PCI ATI Sapphire Radeon 7000 64mb DDR graphic card. After buying then installing the graphic card and downloading the latest drivers I began to start the game up. You guessed it, the same error was given again.
Now, I presume it's because the graphic card the Dell rep said would run the game as it matched the required specs, it didn't meet those specifications. The system only has onboard graphics, although EA Sports said the problem was a graphic-related, would the sound have anything to do with it? I believe the game requires a Direct X 9.0 capable sound card...so I'm not sure if the onboard sound is good enough. Although I did install Direct X 9.0 and it made no difference.
The Dell system meets all other required specs as it has a 2.6ghz processor and 1gb RAM.

What I'm looking for is a PCI graphic card(and/or sound card) which will run the game. I'm not looking for a high-end graphic card that will cost hundreds either. So, can anyone point me in the right direction in terms of a graphic card?

OS: Windows XP
CPU: Pentium/AMD 1.6GHz or better
RAM: 256MB, 512MB for online play with 3 or more players
Video: 64MB GeForce 3 or better (GeForce 4MX not supported), Intel GMA 900 or GMA 950 graphics, DirectX 9.0c or above
Sound card: Sound card with speakers or headphones
Hard drive: 4.0GB
Input device: Keyboard and mouse
Optical drive: 16x CD-ROM
Networking: 56.6Kbps or better for online play

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Hey burnoutnotfadeaway,

If you want a good graphics card used for gaming then im sorry but your most likely to pay around $100 - $500 for an ok graphics card.
The game problem could be because your graphics doesn't fully surpport direct x 9.0. To make it easy can you post your system specs not the game minimum system specs please.

[Jazza]

Hey burnoutnotfadeaway,

If you want a good graphics card used for gaming then im sorry but your most likely to pay around $100 - $500 for an ok graphics card.
The game problem could be because your graphics doesn't fully surpport direct x 9.0. To make it easy can you post your system specs not the game minimum system specs please.

[burnoutnotfadeaway]

The original box has the following specifications written on it:

Intel Celeron 2.6 GHz Processor
Intel 845GV chipset
256 MB PC2100 DDR Memory [Upgraded to 1gb]
80 Gigabyte Hard Drive
48x CD-RW Combo Optical Drive
Integrated AC'97 Audio with Altec Lansing ADA215 Speakers
Intel Extreme 3D Graphics with 64MB Shared Memory [disabled, Radeon 7000 added into PCI slot)
v.92 56 Kbps PCI Modem and 10/100 Ethernet
Six USB 2.0 Ports
Three PCI Expansion Slots (Two Available)
Windows XP Home Operating System


That's the system specifications, I'm hoping to be able to upgrade it by Christmas time. A new graphic card and/or sound card shall do a kid for Christmas

Edited by burnoutnotfadeaway, 14 November 2006 - 07:21 AM.

[Kurenai]

Best PCI card you can get, nVidia side at least, is a 6200. It should blow the radeon 7000 out of the water.

[burnoutnotfadeaway]

Yeah that may be true, but I bet it'd blow my bank balance out of the water too

[Kurenai]

FX5500, they're around $50, you buy em at wal-mart.

[burnoutnotfadeaway]

Not in the UK you don't. You buy them anywhere and they're at least £70..well over $100. It sucks.
I presume the '6200' is the NVidia GeForce 6200 PCI 128mb DDR graphic card? They're going for around 40 across here, maybe that would do?

[starjax]

Its decision time. This is really a business class pc. great for everything but gaming. You are really better off upgrading the pc than going with a limited video card.

[burnoutnotfadeaway]

I guess your wise advise has come too late. I went out and got a NVidia GeForce 6200 PCI 256mb. I've not put the card in yet to see if the game will work, so I'm still not sure if the game.dat error will be solved.
By the way, is this card Vista-capable?

[starjax]

for the cost of vista, you could get a new system with vista included.

yes, I think it is vista capable.