PCI graphics card

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Guest

Hi- PC: Pavillion, Pentium 4, 1 gig ram, 200 gig hard drive, XP Pro
I have an embedded video card that I've been told is not all that great-I
know nothing about video cards. I play no games but have just become
fascinated with Google Earth. Will a better card improve my viewing? And,
if so, recommendations for a decent one around $100.00 would be appreciated.
Thanks
 
alan said:
Hi- PC: Pavillion, Pentium 4, 1 gig ram, 200 gig hard drive, XP Pro
I have an embedded video card that I've been told is not all that
great-I
know nothing about video cards. I play no games but have just become
fascinated with Google Earth. Will a better card improve my viewing?
And, if so, recommendations for a decent one around $100.00 would be
appreciated.
Thanks
Click to expand...

Are you sure you mean a PCI video card? Some lower-end OEM machines with
onboard video are basically not upgradeable since they are missing an AGP
slot. PCI video will not give you better graphics than what you have now.
PCI video cards are always the last choice. PCI-e is the current standard,
having replaced AGP but it is extremely unlikely that your machine has
PCI-e slots.

Actually, what gives good viewing with Google Earth is a very fast Internet
connection. The video card isn't that important. So if you have dialup or
slower DSL, that's where you would put your money into an upgrade.

Malke
 
Thanks Malke, that's all I needed to know. HP told me that I could upgrade,
that I did have two available slots. Two years ago my PC was not considered
"lower end" although it probably is now. But it's academic-I have a fast
internet connection & if that's primarily what I need for Google Earth then
I'm ok. You really helped-thanks!
 
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