Thief 3 on a Dell 3100?

dorito on 10/9/2006 at 20:37

Hey guys,

I'm not the most computer-literate person out there, so I hope you guys can give me some insight.

I currently own a Dell 3100 Dimension desktop computer. I purchased it just about 1 year ago. I'm not too sure if it can support Thief 3 Deadly Shadows.

Does anyone know for sure if it will work on a Dell 3100? Here is a link to my computer's details: (http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/dimen_3100?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd)

Also, I have tried to reinstall Thief 1 on my computer (I followed the instructions on this forum) but I was unsuccessful. The setup simply took way too long to load. Is this normal, or is it not possible to install Thief 1 Gold on certain models?

Thank you very much in advance.

David on 10/9/2006 at 21:01

You won't be able to run Thief 3 using your computer at the moment as it has an Intel Extreme 2 video card which does not provide the required features despite its EXTREME moniker!

With regards to the Thief Gold setup it has been known for the installer to take upwards of one hour from the moment the Installshield bar reaches 100% (and disappears) until the installer actually appears.

dorito on 10/9/2006 at 21:42

Thanks for the response. So I guess I would have to purchase a new video card to play T3? How expensive are these cards and do you have any recommendations?

Thanks again.

KingAl on 11/9/2006 at 07:23

A couple of things to keep in mind:
1. By opening your computer, you may be voiding your warranty.

2. If you don't have much experience with computers, you might want to get a professional to help with installation etc.

3. The Dell 3100 doesn't have AGP or PCI-E 16x slots. This may not mean much to you, but it basically means you can't use standard video cards. However, it is possible to get plain old PCI-slot video cards, which will work.
When shopping around, make sure you make the distinction between PCI and PCI-E cards: your computer only supports the first type.

4. What is your budget, and were you hoping for it to be able to play more recent games that TDS? If you give us this info people might be able to have a look on the 'net for a good option.

Vigil on 11/9/2006 at 07:54

Quote:

3. The Dell 3100 doesn't have AGP or PCI-E 16x slots. This may not mean much to you, but it basically means you can't use standard video cards. However, it is possible to get plain old PCI-slot video cards, which will work.
When shopping around, make sure you make the distinction between PCI and PCI-E cards: your computer only supports the first type.

Actually I don't think that's accurate KingAl; the product page for the 3100 says it has 2 PCI slots and 1 PCIe slot. Which makes sense since it's fairly new-spec in every other respect.

KingAl on 11/9/2006 at 08:32

Doesn't the site say PCIe x1? I'm fairly sure that's a short slot type that doesn't support video cards. (Now I think of it, I'm not entirely sure what they do support...)
EDIT: I stand corrected, It looks like there are x1 cards. I just assumed from their tiny size that they weren't for video cards. It looks like they're not as common, which might mean a price hike, but it provides another possibility.

Vigil on 11/9/2006 at 08:40

Ahh, I see what you mean. I wasn't familiar enough with the PCIe spec to understand the difference between the different multiples. Yet another thing to make hardware purchases fraught with peril...

R34V3R on 11/9/2006 at 16:14

Alright yes your computer supports PCI-e which means you can use any card that is pci-e(pci express) compatible..... my video card is a Geforce 6600 256 mb and runs thief 3 very well..i ran a search for pci-e video cards on tigerdirect.com and this is what they have.there are many different prices for some different reasons... to run thief 3 I would want a card with 256mb preferably, which it tells you on the video card specs on each..post back if you have any more questions about it dorito..check here for those pci-e video card results-> (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=1558&) edit: ALSO, make sure you get a video card that your monitor cable can connect to.... most peoples monitors connect to a VGA port on a video card which is BLUE, so on the card u want's specs, make sure it says it has "VGA" in the blue description u click on or look on a pic of the card for it...

KingAl on 12/9/2006 at 01:48

Further investigation into PCIe x1 reveals that its almost solely being used for multi-monitor support* at the moment, as far as I can tell. This means a PCI card looks like our only option.
I had a look on the tigernet.ca site and the best NVIDIA card I can see which will support it is the 3DFuzion GeForce FX 5500, which has 256 video RAM, shader 2.0 and Direct X9 support: (http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1520540&CatId=0) here for $108, presumably canadian. All the ATI Radeon 9250s and PNY Verto GeForce FX 5200 also look reasonable ($96-$70 and $70 respectively), but you won't be playing new games on any for very long. All of them seem to have support for VGA monitors.

*edit: i.e. allowing an existing card to run 4 monitors at once etc.

R34V3R on 12/9/2006 at 04:10

Not entirely true, KingAl, check my link from my post here before this and look at some of those pci-e cards, alot of them have vga for single monitors..