Graphics Card

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dwayne
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Dwayne

Where do I find the graphics/video card in the PC & are they different
things? Also, what is: Video RAM: 128MB (256MB or above for
Premium/Ultimate)??
 
It sounds like you're trying to figure out if your computer can run Vista or
not maybe? There is a program called the Vista upgrade advisor that will
automatically scan your computer and see if you can upgrade to Vista or not.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx

If you're actually trying to find the video card on your computer, like the
other person said, it'll be the thing connected to your monitor cable.
Unless your using your motherboard's built in onboard video, which isn't
likely because almost all computers will have a video card.

The video ram is just the amount of memory the video card has on it.

If you don't want to run the Vista upgrade advisor, you can find how much
video ram your video card has in the control panel of XP. Just do a search
for "device manager" and under the video card section you should have the
information about your video card. That's from memory so I might be wrong.
:)
 
Dwayne said:
Where do I find the graphics/video card in the PC & are they different
things? Also, what is: Video RAM: 128MB (256MB or above for
Premium/Ultimate)??
Click to expand...


You would do best to check out the computer/motherboard manufacturer for
specifications. You most likely have integrated graphics which in itself
can't be upgraded.

It is possible to fit a 3rd party graphics card, BUT not all motherboards
have an AGP or PCI-e slot, especially budget computers. You need to check
with the manufacturer..
 
Thanks for the info all. For the record though, I am running Vista
(Ultimate) but some of the features are not available (flip & flip 3D), & as
a consequence, live thumbnails & DreamScene. Based on my reading I assume
thats because my Vid Card aint up to scratch. I got a base score of (dont
laugh) 1.0 because of the Video Card. (I had my machine built & it cost me
about US$800). Got it Nov 06, upgraded to Vista Jan 07 as soon as was
released.
Thanks anyhow, I'll sort it out, somehow.
 
Answers to the following should narrow down why you do not have Aero:

What make and model of video card do you have? how much memory does it
have? You need 128MB on it
What driver release are you using for the video card?
How much main memory do you have? You should have 1 GB.
Is your system BIOS up to date.
 
Looking at the statistics provided by the Windows Experience Index will show
you the weakest link in your system. You say you currently have a WEI of
1.0; does the 1.0 reference to the video card? If so change the video card
for one with more memory (128MB is adequate)

My system is around 3 weeks old:

Intel Core2 duo E4500 (2.20Ghz)
2GB Memory
Nvidia GeForce 8300GS with 128MB memory
250GB SATA drive

All this gives me a WEI of 3.4 (the 3.4 relates to the video card, so if I
upgraded to another video card with more memory the WEI would more than
likely increase.) But these are all 'just numbers' who cares what the WEI
is, I certainly don't, so long as it runs the software and operating system
as I want it to, I couldn't care less if my WEI was 0. WEI is simply another
'gimmick'.

Incidentally I'm running Vista Ultimate and everything runs just fine on
this machine.

--
--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
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reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
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mail/post..
 
Did that $800 including a LCD monitor? If not, then I'd say that you were
probably ripped off. :)

You don't happen to know your computer's specifications do you?

If you have a relatively modern motherboard, you can just get a new video
card to replace the crappy one the person who built your computer put in the
computer.

I mean it depends on what you need Vista to do. You can get a cheap video
card on ebay for $50 or you can get the nVidia E-VGA 8800GT for $250 and
that'll run every single game that's on the market very well. You should
wait until after February when the nVidia releases the 9 series of video
cards so the 8 series cards' prices will drop I hope. You'll want to make
sure that your motherboard can actually use the 8800GT though. You'll need a
PCI express X16 port with at least PCI express version 1.1 support because
the 8800GT isn't really compatible with PCI express version 1.0. Or so I've
heard.

Aero doesn't really take a lot to run. I've turned Aero off before and I
find that it doesn't really add to subtract from the overall aesthetics of
Vista. It's really the whole graphics experiences that's pretty good. It
doesn't really matter if you can see through the windows like it's glass.
Although it's kind of neat. :)

By the way, if you get a cheap video card, make sure that it's at least like
the 7 series of nVidia or something. I forget just what shader model you'll
need for Vista Aero. I can't imagine it's very high. They're up to shader
model 4.1 now so the higher shader model the better. :)
 
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