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nrhatigan
Posts: 74
Joined: 6/20/2005
Status: offline
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Graphics cards - 3/12/2007 11:36:08
First let me say this is definately not my home corner and Im a little out of my comfort zone.
My Daughter loves the Sims2 - really can't see the attraction myself. It seems to gobble up every resource on the old machine she and her brother use. The latest problem is the graphics card is not up to the job. I have bought an upgrade and expect the unwelcome job of installing it later this week. Ive never installed one before.
Now in crude terms I understand the graphics card is what makes the display on the monitor visible? The machine currently has its graphics integrated into the mother board (no separate card). This is my problem when I pop the new one in ( assumng I bought the right make model etc) how will windows know which one to select. I am assuming a big conflict and neither working with a blank screen.
I did think of disabling the old one before installing the new one but then what if the new one doesnt work at all will I be left without a monitor .... 
Any ideas?
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BobbyDouglas
Posts: 5431
Joined: 5/15/2003
From: Arizona
Status: offline
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RE: Graphics cards - 3/12/2007 13:06:26
Don't do anything physical to either card.
What's the computer model number or motherboard?
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nrhatigan
Posts: 74
Joined: 6/20/2005
Status: offline
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RE: Graphics cards - 3/12/2007 13:09:34
Its a compaq presario S3150UK.
THe "new" card is AGP x4, and Ive spotted the brown AGP slot on the mother board.
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nrhatigan
Posts: 74
Joined: 6/20/2005
Status: offline
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RE: Graphics cards - 3/12/2007 13:42:15
THank you
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nrhatigan
Posts: 74
Joined: 6/20/2005
Status: offline
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RE: Graphics cards - 3/14/2007 3:27:05
THanks to you all for the advice.
I followed it and the manual! or at least the instructions from the web. However it seems like the card I bought is not up to the job. The minmim spec I required was 32MB T&L but the game still doesnt display correctly. Windows found it fine but installing the driver and controls from ATI failed for some reason saying the video adapter was incompatible.
It was only a few £ off EBay so I might cut my losses unless you can think of something else I can do to get the darn thing working.
For some reason I thought the video card had to go into the AGP slot, but presumably I can get a pci compatible one and that will be fine in a spare pci slot.
Most new cards seem to be pci express but I dont seem to have one of those.
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Reflect
Posts: 4767
From: USA
Status: offline
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RE: Graphics cards - 3/14/2007 6:24:11
Non PCI express graphics cards will be hard to find, it's been a while. For the MOBO you have I would get a Nvidia GeForce 4 or 5. If getting 5 pay attention to make sure AGP 4 compatiblilty (some 5s are some are AGP 8). A GeForce 4 is dirt cheap...
http://castle.pricewatch.com/s/search.asp?s=GeForce+4&srt=t&mi=0&m=&view=
Stay away from any model that mentions MX, it is watered down so to speak.
Take care,
Brian
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