New Video Card

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How would I go about installing a new Graphics Card onto my computer? I am
currently operating on Windows XP Hme Edition eith an
Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller, and I wish to
purchase and install a videocard the equivalent of atleast an ATI Radeon
8500. I have no clue how to install these things, or if my graphics card is
already equivalent to the ATI Radeon 8500.

If someone could please help me it would be most appreciated.

Thanks.

Phil M.
 
In Phil M <Phil (e-mail address removed)> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
How would I go about installing a new Graphics Card onto my computer?
I am currently operating on Windows XP Hme Edition eith an
Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller, and I
wish to purchase and install a videocard the equivalent of atleast an
ATI Radeon 8500. I have no clue how to install these things, or if my
graphics card is already equivalent to the ATI Radeon 8500.

If someone could please help me it would be most appreciated.

Thanks.

Phil M.
Click to expand...

Your current on-board graphics are likely no where near as good as the card
you'd be buying. I'll assume that your mobo supports AGP but it would be
good to know if it supports 8x or if it's less. As for putting it in, open
the case, snap it into the only slot it fits in if it's AGP or if it's PCI
or PCI-Express (best to make sure that your mobo supports that one but
surely it supports PCI) plop it into an empty one. Err... Make sure the
power is off and be sure to touch the metal of the case prior to poking your
fingers about in there. Reboot and install the drivers... (They usually come
with nice handy directions by the way but it's really very simple.)

Galen
--

"But there are always some lunatics about. It would be a dull world
without them."

Sherlock Holmes
 
Understanding the bus configuration of your motherboard (PCI, AGP, or
PCI-Express) is the first thing you need to know before you can look at
graphics cards.

Do you happen to know which bus configuration your system uses? If you
don't know what it is maybe someone on this alias could figure it out for
you if you post the manufacturer and model of computer you are using or the
name of your motherboard.

If you're only looking for a Radeon 8500 level performance, any of the
recent entry level DirectX 9.0 offerings from ATI and NVidia should be
sufficient. Would you provide us with more information about the games
you're playing so the people participating can make some recommendations?
 
Phil M said:
How would I go about installing a new Graphics Card onto my computer? I am
currently operating on Windows XP Hme Edition eith an
Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller, and I wish
to
purchase and install a videocard the equivalent of atleast an ATI Radeon
8500. I have no clue how to install these things, or if my graphics card
is
already equivalent to the ATI Radeon 8500.

If someone could please help me it would be most appreciated.
Click to expand...

Hey Phil.

OK first job is to work out what motherboard is in your system. A very
light weight tool I like is CPU-Z (http://www.cpuid.org/) install that and
run it.

Click on the mainboard and it *should* (this is the land of IT) show the
manufacturer and the model number. Post back with here and we'll work out
what card it can support.

Installing the card itself is pretty simply, it's a matter of taking the
case off, and slotting it into the slot and screwing it in really, then
installing the drivers in Windows.... Possibly disabling the Intel chip in
the BIOS too.

Hope that helps.

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
http://www.windowsresource.net/

*Remove 'nospam.' to reply by e-mail*
 
Don't bother installing the drivers that came with the card. They are
horribly obselete.

Download the latest ones from ATI.

And yes, assuming your motherboard supports it, the 8500 is better than the
built in Intel video chipset. However, for a few more bucks, you an get a
much more powerful card from ATI/Nvidia these days.
 
Thanks alot for all of the great tips. Using that CPU-Z (handy tool), I have
discovered that my computer is of course made by the Dell Computer
Corporation, and the model number is 0F5949. I have no idea what this means,
however, but would I be able to purchase and effectively use a decent
graphics card like the ATI Radeon 8500 or perhaps better?

As for some of the games I play, I have effectively run games like Rome:
Total War, The Battle for Middleearth, Age of Mythology, and other such
games. The game I was thinking of purchasing is called Guild Wars, with
system requirements located here
(http://www.guildwars.com/manual/other/system-requirements.html). I believe I
meet them all, except of course the graphics card.

Thanks for all the help.
 
The games you list would be benefit from a newer 3D accelerator. Some of
the titles like Guild Wars and Battle for Middle Earth would benefit from a
graphics card with DirectX 9.0 features. The Radeon 8500 would be
sufficient, however, avoid lag during your gameplay you'd probably have to
dial down the graphics settings.

If you can afford it I would recommend a graphics card with at least 128
megabytes of memory.

I bet your games would look really nice on one of these cards:

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro OEM ($159)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102515
 
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