anybody know anything about upgrading video cards for a pc?

[ZiggysFryBoy]

need some info/help.  please pm me.  ZFB greatly appreciates it. 

[jficke13]

i would need more information about what you have right now. processor speed, ram, current video card. I would also need to know what you are willing to spend and what you want your video card to do.

[mu_hilltopper]

Yup, need the complete picture, ZFB.  What you have now, what you're trying to accomplish.

[4everwarriors]

What's the problem, bro? video card not working on porn sites?

[ZiggysFryBoy]

What's the problem, bro? video card not working on porn sites?

I couldn't get that donkey porn that you sent me to work.  At least I assumed it was donkey porn, coming from you.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I just upgraded mine.  I'm a bit of a gamer and needed some more "juice" to run some of today's games.  Depends what you want to spend, what you plan on using it for, etc.

I tend to buy in the middle or a good value deal if I can on this stuff.  I don't want to pay for the top of the line because this stuff changes so damn fast.  You also might have the option to use two graphics cards via SLI technology.


I prefer Nvidia over ATI based cards, but everyone has their preference.   Are you planning on doing some HD work with this thing?  That should also be considered.  I love my Nvidia 8800....I'd love a 9 series even more, but I'll wait a generation so those prices drop down.

[Skatastrophy]

#1- We need to know is what type of slot you have for your Graphics Card



#2- What sort of outputs are you looking for?  Do you just want to hook up a crappy old VGA monitor?  Do you have a newer monitor with a DVI-D input?  Are you using your PC as a media center so you'd require S-Video/Component Video/HDMI and/or Optical Audio?

#3- How much are you looking to spend?

With regards to technical difficulty, replacing a vid card is as easy as it gets.  The only tough part (for the uninitiated) is figuring out what sort of slot you have in your PC.  That's really the only thing that you need to know before going and picking up a new GFX card and plugging it in.

[rocky_warrior]

Do you have a newer monitor with a DVI-D input?  Are you using your PC as a media center so you'd require S-Video/Component Video/HDMI and/or Optical Audio?

All good points - however if you have a DVI output on the card, you can buy a DVI->HDMI cable for about $25 - and it all stays pure digital.  Just hooked my media center up to a 40" LCD via that route - and it looks AWESOME!  Even makes me question whether I even need to look at a blue-ray player (though eventually, when prices drop, I'm sure I'll get one).

[ChicosBailBonds]

All good points - however if you have a DVI output on the card, you can buy a DVI->HDMI cable for about $25 - and it all stays pure digital.  Just hooked my media center up to a 40" LCD via that route - and it looks AWESOME!  Even makes me question whether I even need to look at a blue-ray player (though eventually, when prices drop, I'm sure I'll get one).

PS3 my friend....Blu Ray built in.  It's fantastic on our 46" LCD.  Beautiful, plus the kids play the games and we use it at a media center because the PS3 has that ability for video, pictures, music, etc.

[rocky_warrior]

PS3 my friend....Blu Ray built in.  It's fantastic on our 46" LCD.  Beautiful, plus the kids play the games and we use it at a media center because the PS3 has that ability for video, pictures, music, etc.

Yes, if I bought anything at the current prices, it would be a PS3 (cuz - the standalone players are the same price).  But, I'm willing to wait a bit for prices to fall (similar to your video card selection .  I've already got a full media center PC, and a Wii, so I'd rather buy a standalone drive for the media center rather than drop $400 on a PS3 I wouldn't use much other than for DVDs.

Not to mention, the PS3s are power hogs.  Yikes.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Yes, it is a power hog, no question about that.  Though the latest I saw says not quite as drastic as your charts


http://www.intowit.com/bloggd/2008/02/02/xbox-360-vs-ps3-power-usage/

[jficke13]

dude a PC running an 8800 with a Core 2 duo/quad will draw well in excess of 200 watts under load. you need 600+ in your psu to SLI 8800s

[ZiggysFryBoy]

#1- We need to know is what type of slot you have for your Graphics Card



#2- What sort of outputs are you looking for?  Do you just want to hook up a crappy old VGA monitor?  Do you have a newer monitor with a DVI-D input?  Are you using your PC as a media center so you'd require S-Video/Component Video/HDMI and/or Optical Audio?

#3- How much are you looking to spend?

With regards to technical difficulty, replacing a vid card is as easy as it gets.  The only tough part (for the uninitiated) is figuring out what sort of slot you have in your PC.  That's really the only thing that you need to know before going and picking up a new GFX card and plugging it in.

skat

thanks for the photo.  My video card is in the PCI box 1.  I have a pentium 4, 2.0 ghz. 768 mb of ram. 

I'm not doing any HD things, just my old crappy monitor (it's funny, when I bought this thing, I got a Vega monitor, cuz I always wanted a tv that was a Vega.  6 months later, all you could by was flat screens and I have this thing the size of my, well, it's big.)  I basically use the PC for marquette boards, email and games, but I'm by not means a big gamer.

I'm looking to go as cheap as possible for the new card.  I was looking at nvidia's legacy stuff or at most will get a 7000 card, if it works with the pc.  Is it true that it doesn't matter what I buy, the motherboard will automatically downgrade the performance to what it can handle?

[Skatastrophy]

As long as you get a vid card that fits into a slot in your PC, you'll be alright.

I tend to do most of my hardware research and shopping at http://www.newegg.com

Here is a search for all video cards that will work for your computer, sorted from lowest to highest price:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048%201069609642&bop=And&Order=PRICE

Here is the same search from another decent hardware site, http://www.tigerdirect.com

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Recs=10&Nav=|c:319|&Sort=4

As you may imagine, the cheaper cards have limited functionality when compared to higher-end cards.  If all your doing is reading the forums, it really doesn't matter which one you get as long as it has a VGA output (the blue trapezoid-looking jack).  I usually recommend going with a well known brand for video cards because the cards are made by 3rd party manufacturers that purchase the graphics chipsets from either NVIDIA or ATI... the hitch with that recommendation is that I usually buy gaming hardware and the well known manufacturers don't make cheap PCI vid cards

If you don't mind me asking; Why are you replacing your video card?  If you don't need additional functionality and you're just using your PC to cruise the Internet I'd think that your current card would suffice...

Let us know any additional requirements if you have them, and be warned (once again) that going with the cheapest piece of hardware isn't without risk of it being a crappy device or having poor driver support from the vendor