Graphics cards and compatibility

Lost_with_the_Light

Join Date 07/2008

Graphics cards and compatibility

ive been thinking of buying a new graphics card for a while (had another post about a month ago), but i have just a few questions about it first.

1. I have Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, are there any compatibility issues that might come into play?

2. When im switching out the graphics cards, what are the chances of damaging my pc? And how easy is it to switch them out?

3. besides a nice graphics card, what would i need to run some of the more graphic intesive games smoothly?

btw i never got the specs in, so here they are:

graphics card- NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE

Processor- AMD Athalon 64 X2 Duel Core Processor 4600+

Memory- 2048MB

Hard drive- 250GB

And ill try and get some more specs up once internet explorer is safe again

And thats about all i can think of right now. Any help would be realy great

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Quoting tetleytea,

reply 13

You might check your motherboard manual to see what types of graphic cards it will support before you purchase a new card.
Shouldn't PCI Express support all PCI Express?

I just got burned installing a GeForce 9800. The computer didn't even recognize it was there. I installed a much lower-end card and it worked fine. I think it's cause the card is rated at 400W, and my power supply is only 300W. Good gollee, computers are starting to push on a kilowatt these days. That's nuts.

Oh wow, that's nuts. Mine's 900W and I'm even thinking about investing in a new one because I don't have too much to move around with.

Seriously, get a new PSU. 300W. That's wild.

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Yeah, it's a prebuilt. I've always found those cheaper,

This hasn't been true for at least two or three years. Building it yourself is cheaper even when you consider $100-$150 for the OS.

The 6150 may be integrated, but it kicks the shit out of oldschool integrated.

Please tell me it's not a Dell, at least?

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I have a dell computer dimension 2400 which is a few years old. I recently installed an nvidia geforce 6200 with 256 mb memory. This was my first time changing out a video card. it was fairly simple, mine has pci slots which are easy to plug in. Just be sure to un-install the drivers for your old card first, so there is no conflictt between the 2 cards. needless to say, remove the old card before installing the new one. i originally tried to get a compatible card from dell, but no luck there. I bought the new one from walmart for around $80.00....my old card only had 64mb memory, and the new card works much better. My computer has 2gb installed ram, 2.40 gz celeron processor and 40gb hard drive. nvidia shows the slot comfig on the box it comes in, so it was easy getting the right one. If there is anything i can help you with contact me at rustysam@verizon.net....good luck!

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It's a Gateway. My wife used to work for Dell; she would never let me get a Dell. "Dude, you're NOT getting a Dell!"

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It's a Gateway

oooo I had an atrocious experience once trying to upgrade a Gateway. Ended up tossing it aside and building an entirely new one.

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Building is cheaper compared to a comparable pre-built. But pre-built is still a cheaper way to get a computer. However, the reason they're cheaper isn't just the OEM OS. It's because you either get on-board graphics or a very low-end graphics card, generally a minimal amount of generic memory, and a very weak PSU.

All told, if you're looking at gaming as one of the significant uses for your machine, you should stay away from a cheap pre-built system.

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It's a Gateway. My wife used to work for Dell; she would never let me get a Dell. "Dude, you're NOT getting a Dell!"

lol, so you went to gateway? ouch becuase gateway doesnt even exist anymore. ""Dude, you should have gotten a Dell!" lol... j/k

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if you are wanting to play suprem commander you need to make sure you got a fast cpu. and dont play it online unless your comp is desended from chuck norris.

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I upgraded my PSU to 550W and the Gateway works fine. $10 for SupCom, $170 for the video card, $70 for the power. Lovely. The best part is, now I think SupCom sucks. It plays fine, I just don't like the game. LOL!

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Quoting tetleytea,

reply 9

Well, at least you can play F.E.A.R. on max settings now!

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Quoting The__Goo,

reply 9

ummm... are you sure about this? the only reason you need to ground something is when there is an electrical charge being circulated, unplug it and there is no need to ground... of course you need to relieve the static charge by discharging it and that is as simple as rubbing the case while you are grounded. Leaving it plugged in is not only dangerous to the machine but to you as well if there happens to be a short in the power supply and you get a nice little jolt.

The idea is not to discharge static from the case - I don't think metal things can even hold static can they? - but to use the case to Earth yourself. Obviously any other grounded item would do, it's just handy because it's right there.

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I have only purchased 1 pc, and that was a packard bell 386sx with 1 meg of ram,(1990) and DOS 5, after that i decided to keep on building my own now i am running an Intel DX58SO MB, 3gb ddr3 triple channel ram, ATI 4850 PCIe video card, OCZ XTream gaming power supply, Intel i7 940 processor, the next processor up the extreme the money difference was just too much (500 bucks more)

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electricity can do funny things, the case and all the coponents in the case the close proximity of various materials can hold a small static charge, enough to destroy a small chip, be it the cmos or a memory chip. sometimes there can be electricity stored inside the power supply even when it is unplugged enough to ruin your system. i for got the technical name of this phenomena but it does happen. I have worked on some machines where after disengaging the power with safety lock out and still needing to hit the power switcvh to discharge any residual electricity in the system. I have seen machines nearly turn on even when unplugged. (of course were dealing with heavy machinery like heavy milling machines and various others ) but just the idea if there is enough electricty built up in some machines enough to kill you, the surely in a computer there is enough to kill a chip.

I'm not saying this happens all the time, but it always best to be safe than sorry. I would hate to spend 300 bucks on the top of the line motherboard only for me to ruin the .0003 cent chip and render the MB useless becuause of carelessness.

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