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Upgrading video card!

T

the_Ultimate

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Messages
125
how hard is it to upgrade a video card??

do i just take the one i have in out then put the other in and then start my comp or do i have to do something else?? :confused:

i am noob plz help :(
 
Its best to uninstall the last cards drivers before shutting it down to put the new card in. Also a driver removal program (like Detonator Destroyer for Nvidia Detonators) will make sure nothing is lingering to mess things up.
 
LOL, welcome to hard forum. my first upgrade was a videocard from some crappy i dont know what nvidia card to a ati radeon 7000. its not hard at all, first of all make sure you have an AGP slot (open up your case, there should be 2-5 white slots ~4 inches long and there will be a brown (mostly brown) slot ~5 inches long. if theres already a card on it unscrew the screw near the rear of the comp and pull the card out, sometimes there might be a lock locking the card down on the agp slot, unlock that if you have. put in new card and reverse the steps. now if you have the same brand of card (ATI or NVIDIA) then your all good. if you have a different brand your going to have to uninstall the previous driver (program that runs the videocard), i do that by just search up Nvida if you have a nvidia card and ati if you have an ati. or you can just reformat and wash everything out. next is to install the driver (program) that came in a cd that came with your new videocard. restart and you should be all set.

edit:whoop your supposed to unstall old driver first and then install new card.
 
hmmm... my first upgrade was from a riva tnt to a voodoo3. i still remember the purchase at best buy. lol :D
 
hmm id recommend keep that computer as it is ..and get a new one / build one/ ask someone to build it ETC
 
My take on your dilemna:

You won't be gaining much, if anything, by "upgrading" to a PCI (not PCIe) graphics card. In fact, picking the wrong PCI graphics card will make that system's graphics run even slower than the integrated Intel Xtreme AGP video which is part of that i845GV chipset.
 
Not going to get stellar performance out of that thing but...

128MB is the most memory you're ever going to want on a PCI card.

If you still only have 256MB of memory in the machine, upgrade to at least 512.

If you think you can swing a few more $$$, think about maybe replacing your mobo with something that has AGP & work from there.
 
ameoba said:
Not going to get stellar performance out of that thing but...

128MB is the most memory you're ever going to want on a PCI card.

If you still only have 256MB of memory in the machine, upgrade to at least 512.

If you think you can swing a few more $$$, think about maybe replacing your mobo with something that has AGP & work from there.
Click to expand...
yes. i must agree. i remember i did that to one of my first upgrades. added 256mb sdr ram to the already slow P3 system with 256mb sdr. that improved a lot of things. then came the crappy integrated vidceo. ditched the mobo and brought a new mobo with 4x agp and put my P3 cpu in it and got a crappy nvidia card. i would just upgrade to 512mb ram if you only have 256 right now and if thats still too slow for you than save up and get a new mobo and agp videocard.
 
i am upgrading to 512 RAM so which card should i get??

i cant get a new mobo cuz i never build my own pc and i heard its pretty hard.

also i just got this comp in November (just picked it up from Wal-Mart cuz i didnt know crap about comps and video card and all the other stuff).
 
i am upgrading to 512 RAM so which card should i get??
i cant get a new mobo cuz i never build my own pc and i heard its pretty hard.
Click to expand...
Your best choice really is to replace the motherboard and get an AGP card instead. Your CPU is actually pretty quick since it's a CeleronD rather than the older Celeron. Replacing a motherboard is not really that hard. There are some web sites out there which can walk you through it step by step. You might just google them up and take a look at them before you give up on the idea. The only thing which is really wrong with that machine is the motherboard.

But if you absolutely must get a PCI video card, the best thing at newegg is this 9250. The 256MB on the video board is really a waste of money but it's the only way to get a video card with 128 bit memory. You must avoid cards with 64 bit RAM. If you don't know about memory width then this page gives you the gory details. Newegg lists a few other cheaper cards with 128 bit memory but none of them are really 128 bits.
 
is the motherboard the only thing i have to change to make my comp much better (and get a good video card and 512 RAM)???
 
If you changed your motherboard, your CPU, your ram, and your video card, you could have yourself a nice computer. You'd also have a new computer... and since you've got an HP, you'll probably need a new case and power supply since they have proprietary parts.
 
is the motherboard the only thing i have to change to make my comp much better (and get a good video card and 512 RAM)???
Click to expand...
From the looks of the specs, yea. If you're trying not to spend too much money, you can get a serviceable socket 478 motherboard for about $50. If you're looking at low-budget video cards which don't suck you can get a 128 bit Radeon 9550 for about $70 which isn't too bad or you can get a Radeon 9600 Pro for about $100. The specs on your computer don't say what power supply it comes with but if you got a big-time video board, you might have to replace the power supply (about another $50 if you're trying to avoid junk supplies).

The other problem you might have with popping the motherboard is that Windows XP often won't reboot on a new motherboard so sometimes you end up having to reinstall Windows. That's no big deal but you have to make sure that the version of Windows which came with your computer (it probably uses a recovery CD) will work on any kind of motherboard and not just on the one which came with your computer. I've never had to deal with recovery CDs so I have no experience with them.
 
thers nothing really hard about changing the mobo and cpu otehr than stabbing yourself with the screwdriver while your getting the stupidheatsink off (that happened to me when i first upgraded my P3...it bled like crazy), i find the hardest part is to wait for the stupid drivers to finish installing...
 
first of all what cad are you getting again? the ATI 9250? go to omegadrivers.net or something liek that ill check it out later or go to ati.com and then go to support or something like that (ill check it out again) and download the new catalyst.
edit : www.omegadrivers.net
and ww.ati.com
 
ati_azn said:
LOL, welcome to hard forum. my first upgrade was a videocard from some crappy i dont know what nvidia card to a ati radeon 7000. its not hard at all, first of all make sure you have an AGP slot (open up your case, there should be 2-5 white slots ~4 inches long and there will be a brown (mostly brown) slot ~5 inches long. if theres already a card on it unscrew the screw near the rear of the comp and pull the card out, sometimes there might be a lock locking the card down on the agp slot, unlock that if you have. put in new card and reverse the steps. now if you have the same brand of card (ATI or NVIDIA) then your all good. if you have a different brand your going to have to uninstall the previous driver (program that runs the videocard), i do that by just search up Nvida if you have a nvidia card and ati if you have an ati. or you can just reformat and wash everything out. next is to install the driver (program) that came in a cd that came with your new videocard. restart and you should be all set.

edit:whoop your supposed to unstall old driver first and then install new card.
Click to expand...


Let him know he should power off and unplug the computer before doing so.
 
Don't forget to wear an ESD band.

If you don't want to buy one than at least keep you elbow rested on the unpainted metal rim of your case at all times; that should have the same result as wearing a band (as long as you're indirectly touching your computer the potential difference between your hand and the computer's components should be 0V).

Remember, as mentioned on this thread the neurons in your hand will not fire a nerve conduction until about a 2000V potential difference exists between your hand and the material you're touching; it only takes 100V difference to permanently damage sensitive components such as RAM,etc...
 
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