EOn another day my friend Fernando asked me What graphics card could I install to play with some games that don't work properly with the graphics card you currently have installed.
LThe answer is simple, you have to buy a graphics card that has been on the market for a few months, at least four or five months, that way you won't have to pay for the novelty and you can get a good card at a good price. The only problem is knowing what type of card can you install in the computer Since depending on the connection slots ("slots") that the computer has, a graphic card or another will have to be installed.
Acurrently exist three types of connections for graphics cards, although one of them is quite out of date and you will only find it on older computers. These are the three connections from slower to higher transfer speed:
- PCI. They are in disuse, only older computers use it, but there are still a large number of computers older than 5 years that only have PCI connectors. If you have trouble finding them you can try Alternate.
- AGP 4x and AGP 8x. They offer better performance than PCI. If your computer has more than two years you have many options of having a motherboard with this connector.
- PCI Express, Also known as PCI-E o PCIe. It is the one that offers the highest transfer speed. Almost all computers with less than two years old have this connector installed.
QI want to clarify that although a priori, the higher the transfer speed, the better results, it may turn out that a very cheap PCI-E is outperformed by a somewhat more expensive AGP.
EIn any case and as a quick guide, keep the following in mind. If your board has PCI and AGP ports, use the AGP. If you have PCI and PCI-E, use PCI-E. And if you have AGP and PCI-E, there are few motherboards including the two connectorsyou must use Google to compare graphics cards of the two technologies and decide on one. Typically, PCI-E offers more features but during the transition between the two technologies some AGP improved to PCI-e, so you should take this into account if you are going to buy a fairly old card model.
EIn this article I am going to focus on showing you how to know which connection slots (slots) your computer has so you know what kind of graphics card can you buy. In another article I will make some recommendations on which cards currently offer a good result at a good price for each of the technologies.
PTo know what connections our computer has without having to open it, we have to use an analysis program. If you have not done it yet, you should read "Analyze your PC with WinAudit". If you follow all the steps indicated in that article you will have in front of you a full report on your computer that we will use to know what connections you have and which ones are available.
SIf you already have the report from your computer on the screen, we can start.
1º) Note that on the report screen you can clearly differentiate two areas, the left one called «Categories» and the right that we will call "Report area". If the "categories" area is very narrow, you can enlarge it by clicking between the division of both areas and without releasing the button, drag to your right until the left column is clearly visible.
2º) In the «Categories» area, click on the cross that appears next to "Devices" to expand that category. Now you will see on the first line "Display adapters" and if you click on the cross that appears just to the left you will see the graphics card you have installed.
3º) In my case it is an NVIDIA model card "GeForce 6600". If you look at the «report area» you will see the card model on the line "Description", you will also see the manufacturer "Manufacturer" and the connector that the card uses «location».
As you can see in the image, WinAudit reports that the card is connected to a PCI port but does not clarify if it is a normal PCI or PCI Express port. To find out which of the two connectors the card uses, we can search in Google taking as reference the information given in «Description». In case you have an AGP card installed, it will appear «AGP bus» in the line «Location» (see image).
ANow we are going to see what type of connectors you have on your computer and which ones are free to know what options you have when choosing a new graphics card.
Well, at this moment I am running with an 8600gts and among everything the games are going well, now next year I update again heh, the article is very interesting, greetings
You can also see what card it has if you are going to execute and put "dxdiag" and from there you go to Screen.
Em…. I think your information is not correct. There are currently only two types of slots for graphics cards. The PCI died with the predecessors of the PIII or somewhere else. Today there is only AGP and PCIE. Your card is an Nvidia 6600 as you say it is PCIE connected through the PCIE port of your motherboard. I don't know if I explain myself. The AGP were used in the AMD Athlon (XP and to a lesser extent the XP 64, specifically those that used a 754 processor, almost all the 939 and later if not all were PCIE) and in the PIV. I do not know of any computer with a valid board for Intel Core Duo or Core 2 Duo with AGP. If anything very specific models.
With all this I want to say…. That if you have a computer older than 2 years it is likely that you can have an AGP card, if your computer is later than 2 years almost certainly is PCIE, in fact the new models of graphics cards (Series 8 in Nvidia and Series 3000 in ATI) come out in PCIE.
The PCI ports on your motherboard are where the television card is connected, the sound card if it is not integrated, usb port expansions etc ...
Ah, most motherboards only have one port for the graphics card, PCIE or to a lesser extent currently AGP. Some higher quality motherboards contain two PCIE ports to fit two graphics cards. But that is another story. These ports normally (at least when I buy my computer) work at a speed of 16X. There are other PCIE ports that work at a slower speed but are not usually used. At least I have not yet seen things for PCI 1x apart from some weird sound card out there.
Well onita parrafada. A greeting.
Hi PenTxO, I screwed up and I have to give you absolutely right. I am about to rectify the article so that everything you expose is clear. Thank you very much for the information and I hope you continue visiting the blog in case more corrections need to be made 😉
Last powder is good to know which cards work well.
Francesc remembered the ones from the direct X diagnosis but I didn't think of that utility. 😉
Vinegary greetings to all.
I need the steps to install a video card gforce 5200 nvidia
Friend all cards are installed the same. First you turn off the computer and unplug it, then you remove the old card and put in the new one, turn on the computer and then install the drivers. Ready.
Hello,
I have an AMD Athlon 1,04 GHz and 384MB of RAM. My graphics card is ATI's Radeon 9600 series.
I would like to have 2,4GHz increase the memory to 512MB and improve my putting a new graphics card. What would you recommend me?
Murderer Vinegar you are a crack, I am finding out many things.
pau right now I'm not aware of what is available at a good price and quality. The only thing I can recommend is that you buy a card that is at least 6 or 8 months old since it was released (to find it cheaper). Anyway, if you want to play games like the new Call of Duty, it gives me that you are going to run out of RAM (it would need 1 giga) and the processor if it is a single core should have 3 GHz.
A greeting.
Could you fit a 512MB memory card? if I have a clear place. Like increase from 1,04 to 3 GHz.
I am realizing that I have a pc a bit simple, right?
Thank you for answering me. Greetings to all
Pau I see that you don't have much idea about Hardware. To increase the speed of the processor you have to buy a new processor and seeing the difference you will have to buy a new motherboard and the memory cards you have may not serve you and in the end you have to buy everything new. You will have to go to a store to have it looked at.
It's what I was afraid of. Thanks dude. Enorabuena for your blog and for the work you take.
the best graphics card is the nvidia GEFORCE8800GTultra DDR3 726MB
I have probem with my computer, it shows me a msg on the screen. resolution not optimal ...
I have a SyncMaster 2032Mw monitor, SyncMaster Magic and an ati Radeon hd 2400Pro graphics card.
Monitor cb x a smaller one, and I can work, what can be the problem? thanks
I have a windows xp, 960 mb of ram and 2.80 ghz, I have problems playing the virtua tennis 3 and the world conflict, I don't know where I can see what type of graphics card I have.
A help please
German L.
VERY USEFUL I HAVE SOLVED MY QUESTION ABOUT WHICH GRAPHIC CARD I HAVE THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
I don't even know if he has a card, where can I see him? I would appreciate if you could give me a cable, thanks
In my case, I don't get the display adapters, I only get the network adapters. I don't know what to do. ? Because it does not look?
Hello, I bought a computer and I had to format it, I do not know what driver of the nvidia card I have to install because I do not know the series of the graphics card, how can I see the type of series that I have to install.
I have Windows 7 and I can't install it.
I comment that my PC is ticked all the time, it's already driving me crazy! I would ask you please if you help me ..
I found out on the internet, and one of the options is that the video card has dust so the heat builds up, but I need advice and help if possible.
My MSN is santi_pinchacampeon06@hotmail.com
HELLO I HAVE A M985G BOARD MY PC IS A PENTIUM 4 3GHZ IT HAS 1GB OF RAM KISIERA TO KNOW IF I CAN INCREASE A GRAPHIC CARD OF MORE CAPACITY MORE OR LESS THAN A 512MB
XF ANSWER ME I WILL BE THANKFUL
Hello, I need you to tell me what video card my pc can use ..? These are the characteristics of my PC!
Operating system: Microsoft Windows XP professional
CPU: Intel Pentium II processor
RAM: MB 958
Video Card: VIA Chrome9 HC IGP FAMILY
Thank you for your help please
Ah! I forgot to tell you that I have to put this: 512 GB of NVIDIA GEFORCE of 7200 GS ..
Can it be used on my pc?
Operating system: Microsoft Windows XP professional
899 MHZ
1.8 GHZ
Intel (R) Celeron (R) CPU
CPU: Intel Pentium II processor
RAM: MB 958
Video Card: VIA Chrome9 HC IGP FAMILY
Hello everyone I have a quite serious problem, I have to send video to 6 tv from my pc, but when I make the connection 2 of them give me video but with high interference and no color, I handle xp with memory 1,50, and the card of video I have tried 3 geforce 6200 of 128, 256 and 512, the only one that gave me an image in all was the 128, but obviously it hangs me when sending video by virtual dj. Anyone could tell me what to do, or if they know a different way to send video, or some additional hardware to increase the transfer speed or something, the truth is that I am already desperate and I need to square that for my bar thanks.
this video card is good geforce 210 pci express 2.0 1gb ddr2 that they recommended it to me for my computer I don't know much about this but the model of my motherboard is intel g41d3 with window 7 ram of 3gb or processor of 2.0
Hello I have this pc but I want to put this video card well I already have it but I am missing a real source of 6oow real with connection PC-I EXPRES 6 PINS
I have this pc
CORE I3 550 3.20GHZ PROCESSOR
INTEL DH55HC BOARD
RAM MEMORY 4GB DDR3 1333MHZ
VIDEO CARD xfx ATI RADEON HD 5770 1GB DDR5
good if it runs my pc but this card if they told me q! It is the best and I want to try it to play pes 2011 in high quality but I will lack a power source I will have q! buy me
Hello people, well, this is simple ... to be able to see the data of your PC. no need to download anything, (i think!).
There is a simple way to check what your PC has.
You just have to hold down the «Start» key on your keyboard and then press «R» (or else go to «start» and then «run».
Then a small window will appear: there you put "dxdiag". and there the information comes out of the PC
ram, video card, sound card, etc ...
If I am wrong, I apologize ...
I'm just trying to help ...
Pringaooos! So much work for what ???? Being able to do it like this !! Clowns !!