Im looking to add a little more fire power to my computer, so ive been looking at some video cards. My question is, (pardon my computer ignorant vocab), that it appars the video card is just part of the mother board. The monitor connects directly to the motherboard as opposed to a video card you can remove. So can I upgrade? And if so, what are some good cheap (er) cards I could go with?

10/9/2007 1:24:52 PM

open your case and look at your motherboard.


take a picture.



or give us a model number.




and what kind of games do you want to be able to play?



chances are you'll want a 8600GT. You just need to find out if your motherboard has an AGP slot, or a PCI-E slot.

10/9/2007 1:26:31 PM

take a picture and show us, that is the easiest thing to do

10/9/2007 1:37:49 PM

anyone want to trade a 128mb radeon 8x agp for a pci card?

10/9/2007 1:41:58 PM

OK when I get back from work this afternoon I post one up.

Thanks guys.

10/9/2007 1:42:19 PM

basically you need to see if your motherboard has a slot for a graphics card. If its older you may be looking at AGP, if its newer (last few years) you may be looking at PCI express.

If its an OEM (Dell, HP, etc..) you can find a hardware manual for the specific model online that will usually tell you what slots the motherboard has. Or you can open it up and see what it has inside (or show us and we'll figure it out).

If it only has PCI slots you're bwned. PCI graphics cards aren't going to be any better than your onboard stuff.

If it has an AGP slot, you'd be able to get an AGP card that would play old games well, but probably not do so well with newer games.

If its PCI-Express you have a large range of cards to choose from at pretty much any budget.

[Edited on October 9, 2007 at 2:28 PM. Reason : .]

10/9/2007 2:26:45 PM

Quote :

"chances are you'll want a 8600GT"

best budget card available IMO...i picked up a 256mb 8600GTS PCIe (mentioned in another thread) for $105 off newegg

10/9/2007 2:45:47 PM

I agree. $100-$150 is a good budget range.

10/9/2007 2:59:28 PM

Yea I'd like some thing in that range. The PC I have is about a two year old HP, Ill post a picture later.

10/9/2007 3:10:07 PM

Here are the two photos of the innerds of my computer.... With regards to the question that started this thread, what/can I do??

10/9/2007 4:53:40 PM

oops, here are the big versions...

10/9/2007 4:55:28 PM

haha told you im computer retarded, just go to the link for my gallary.....


http://brentroad.com/photo_mygallery.aspx`

10/9/2007 4:56:39 PM

pci-express i think? Whats the model of the computer?

10/9/2007 5:10:29 PM

Looks like this is your mobo:

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=rs480m2-il

and it does have a PCI-E 16X slot, right above the three identical regular PCI slots at the bottom of your second pic.

So you're in the market for a pci-e 16x card like previously mentioned and I think a 8600GTS would be a fine choice for your situation...

although it might be nice to know the wattage on your power supply in the top left of the first picture too, the text on it is illegible.

[Edited on October 9, 2007 at 5:12 PM. Reason : ]

10/9/2007 5:11:33 PM

Model HP- 03057F3r

10/9/2007 5:12:18 PM

hmm. I dont think thats the model number. Usually HP puts the model number on the front of the case. For example mines an HP Workstation xw6000.

10/9/2007 5:17:10 PM

Max wattage 300?

10/9/2007 5:17:24 PM

HP a1130n

10/9/2007 5:18:13 PM

Oh I see. You're looking at the model on the power supply. The model name and number for the entire computer should be on the front of the case.

from HP's documentation Its a pci express x16 slot which is good. You can pretty much pick any card that will run off that 300 watt powersupply.

[Edited on October 9, 2007 at 5:23 PM. Reason : .]

10/9/2007 5:18:44 PM

Sweet, I apprectiate, Ill probbaly go with the card mentioned above seems to affordable and effective.

10/9/2007 5:29:03 PM