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.
