I'm thinking about getting a new video card, but I'm not sure if my motherboard can support it. How can I find out if it is? |||Just check to make sure you have a pci-e 16x slot on it.
your motherboard manual will tell you what the slot type is.
If you dont have a manual you can google the motherboard model and it will tell you.
If you dont know the model number and dont have a manual then use http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php then look at
"mainboard - graphics"
You need to know what your power supply capacity is. Low-end cards need 350watts or more. Mid range cards need 450 watts or more. High range and multi gpu will need considerably higher capacity power supplies.
Once you know these aspects, its really just a matter of deciding on your budget. You generally get what you pay for with gpu's.
Theres a good guide here
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Best…
And benchmarks for cards here
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gamin…
|||You have a new computer. The question is what PCI-Express (PCIe) slots you have available for a video card(s).
I'm looking at newegg.com, which is an on-line retailer that has very good feedback about their customer service. I think you'll like their website.
Looks like the most inexpensive video cards can fit into PCIe-x16 computer slots, which are the latest technology. As far as I know, the only cards produced for the PCIe-x16 slot are video cards.
Wikipedia says:
* ... the largest size in common use for PCIe 1.1 is x16 (The smaller sizes are x1, x2, x4, and x8.)
* ... A PCIe card will fit into a slot of its size or bigger, but not into a smaller PCIe slot.
That means that if you get a PCIe-x2 video card, it will fit into your PCIe-x16 slot. However, I don't think you could find a PCIe-x2 video card. Today, most of the PCIe video cards are built for the x16 slot. The differences are going to be how much memory are on the card, and stuff like that.
On computers that are as new as yours, all motherboards have at least one PCIe-x16 slot. Some have two x16 slots, for accepting two video cards, where gamers can spend over $500 on two of the most expensive video cards available for playing the most advanced video games.
If you're not planning on playing a lot of video games, it will probably be sufficient to spend much less than $100 on a single video card. Newegg is showing an x16 video card for $20 that has 128 MB of on-board memory, which is plenty for Office, email, browsing, and Solitaire. I can't believe how inexpensive for an x16 card.
If you see video games in your future, then you'll have to research what specs are required in a video card to achieve good gaming frames-per-second at your desired resolution. Websites are devoted to this, and they name names.
It would be helpful if you can get more familiar with the slots (and everything) on your motherboard. There are free programs you can download, which will display an inventory of the components (and software) in your computer, including the make and model of your motherboard.
Two of them are Belarc and SiSoft.
Belarc info and download -- http://www.belarc.com/
SiSoft info -- http://www.sisoftware.net/
SiSoft download -- http://www.majorgeeks.com/SiSoftware_San…
Belarc is more simple. Either one will tell you the name of your motherboard, what slots it has, and what's installed in each. I'm pretty sure.
Given the name of your motherboard, you can do a Yahoo-search for it and get its specs -- probably from the manufacturer's website, such as what the expansion slots are, and which slot is in which location.
You might also try doing a Yahoo search for the model number of your computer. That will probably lead to some online documentation, including the motherboard stuff.
You can also use the photos on en.wikipedia.org to see examples of what the different PCIe slots look like, with narrative helping to describe the subtle differences.
If you have expansion slots on your board that don't look like any of the various PCIe slots, they might be older-technology "PCI" or much-older-technology "AGP" slots. There are video cards that fit into either of these types, but with PCIe-x16 cards selling so cheaply, and with an x16 slot in your computer waiting to be filled, you should certainly stick with buying the newest-technology x16 video card, which will get you the most performance for your money.
There is no concern about compatibility of NVidia vs. Radeon (or whatever other manufacturers). The choice of which to buy is generally about specifications vs. cost. To fit into your computer, the only must-be is that you get the proper type card for the expansion-slot into which the card will inserted.
There are more video-card specifications than I'm familiar with. DDR3 is faster than DDR2, is faster than DDR. Also, more memory (of whatever kind) will help handle images that are large and complex.
The video card should specify how high a resolution image the card can support. You'll want a card that can generate the native resolution of your LCD or the maximum resolution (and refresh rate) of your CRT.
Some video cards have passive cooling, but I hear they tend to run disturbingly hot. Most others include an on-board fan, and you'll want to read the reviews to make sure you're not getting too loud a fan, just in case you're concerned about noise. Most of the video cards listed on Newegg include lots of reviews.
Other people like to do their online shopping on TigerDirect.com. If you're shopping primarily for price, you can take advantage of Pricewatch.com. eBay and computer shows can save you even more money, but the buyer must beware.|||Do you have an Intel or AMD Processor ? Let me know Make and Model and I'll look it up for you.
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