Upgrading Your Video Card
I’ll first talk some about what a graphics card is and what it does for you. And then help you find the right one for you and your computer.
First, just what is all the talk about. A Graphics card or video card is the same thing, they are two terms used to describe the same computer component. It is an interface and processing card for the video portion of your computer between the computer and the monitor.
Whether you have an LCD or a CRT you need a graphics card, this may not be a separate card though. Many computer manufacturers have a portion of the motherboard or an all purpose card that has the graphics components on it. This is called on-board graphics.
You can tell if you have a separate card by going to your computer information section of the control panel. Click on the start button in the lower corner of your desktop. Then click on control panel. Click on system, then hardware, then device manager, you should have a pull down menu of the things on your computer.
Go to display adapters and double click on it. This will show what is hooked up as your display adapter or graphics card. If it says chip set or something with chipset in it, it is an on-board graphics card. If it has some thing else such as ATI or Nvidia and then a bunch of numbers and letters, that is a plug in card that runs your display.
There is a few things you need to find out before buying a new video card. Two different connectors are used to hook up two different kinds of cards and if your computer does not have the certain type of connector you need to know this before running off to the store.
The connectors are called AGP or PCI, this is just the type of connector that is used for the card. One is better than the other in the way it handles the information when it is used but if you do not have that one you have to use what you have.
All computers have the PCI connectors. These are common connectors that many different cards are connected to such as the audio, modem and video cards. An AGP connector is larger and is colored brown so it is easy to tell them apart. And now it’s time to dig out the screw driver and open her up.
This is the best way to tell if you can get an AGP card or if you need a PCI one. This way you will be able to rule out cards that are the AGP interface. You should easily see the PCI connectors, they are white or off white and all in a row. You might have an extension card in one of these that some cards are plugged into. The brown connector, if you have one, is larger than the white ones. This is the AGP connector.
So now you know if you can have an AGP or not. If you only have the white connectors you can only get a PCI graphics card. Now we go into the windows help to find out what is compatible with your computer. In the help section you should have a compatible hardware and software section.
This will hook you up to the internet and a site called Microsoft Marketplace. They will list all hardware that is compatible with you computer. If you do not have this function you should be able to go to the website of your computer manufacturer and find a similar feature.
You need to decide what kind of upgrade you are doing if you are getting a better card. How much you want to spend is a major factor. Also if you want the TV and video capture functions of a card you need to get one with those functions.
There are three major types of video cards on the market. One is for just regular video, no extras but from there you can get better quality and more memory on the video card. The more memory you have the better quality you will see on your monitor.
Memory is a feature that is important when talking about gaming or video editing quality. The memory that the card has is just memory that your computer does not have to use of it’s own, the card will use it’s own memory when handling the video information. The more memory the card has, the better the quality for games and video editing.
Today there are cards that go up to 256 MB memory but that is the top of the line. Most games do not require that much. Only a couple of games today have a requirement of 128 MB and that is only a couple, most need 64MB or less.
If you plan on doing a lot of gaming or video editing I would consider the higher ones around 128 MB. If you are seriously into gaming then you may want the highest memory, but it is not really needed.
The next kind is for the extras like video editing and capture. This has special hookups to connect your camera or Video player device to the card and will capture the video and you can edit it using a program on your computer.
The other feature of video cards is TV viewing. You can hook up either cable or an antenna and watch TV on your computer. This is a nice feature for video enthusiasts that want to record at the touch of a button and replay later. You can record a lot of video on your computer and edit the shows later.
There are cards that have all of these features or two of them. You can decide what you want and compare that to the list for compatible hardware. I would also recommend you go to CNET.com and look up there opinions about which cards are good and which ones have what feature.
If you want one that is a simple replacement for the graphics such as a gaming card, I would suggest a Nvidia compatible card. They are very good and have very little setup as far as drivers.
If you want one that is for editing movies and such you can get a pretty good one from Nvidia but the ATI cards are usually better at this sort of thing. Also for the TV viewing ATI has cornered the market. The one drawback with the ATI is they are a little touchier for the driver loading.
You may need to play around with the drivers as far as getting the old ones removed and the new ones on your system. ATI is aware of this problem and is continuing to work on it with better drivers and updates.
You should compare the cards and see which one has better features that you want. But the main thing you need to look at is the connector, whether it is PCI or AGP and the compatibility. If you have a computer that is a year old and you just have to have that brand new card that X company has come out with, make sure it can go into your computer.
Some video cards draw too much power from the power supply and won’t work in previous computer setups. They design some to work only in newer models of computers.
If you are totally stumped you can always ask. Go to the computer store where you got your computer or a place that sells components and tell them what kind of computer you have and ask them to tell you what will work in yours.
They should be able to help, tell them what price range you are looking at and what you want it to do. If they can’t help you, go elsewhere. Find out before you buy so you won’t have to take it back.
When you have the new card, you need to prepare your computer to replace the old one. This usually means removing the old drivers and then shutting down the computer. Then installing the card and installing the drivers.
Follow the directions for the card and if you have problems consult the help or support for the card. Here are a few places you can also go for help on specific cards:
ATI:
ATI web site:http://www.ati.com/
Web site for help with installing ATI cards: http://rage3d.com/board/index.php?s=81c39822c0d563ba3cc592e3c5b3e6f2
NVIDIA:
http://www.nvidia.com/page/home
CNET Video card reviews:
http://reviews.cnet.com/Video_card/4502-3025_7-0.html?tag=dir.vc
If you have a LCD monitor, most video cards are compatible, they usually have an analog connector on the LCD monitor that will connect the monitor to the card. If they do not have an analog connector on the LCD monitor you can get an adapter that will work.
When purchasing your card, be sure it is compatible, and that you get what you want.
