Upgrading your video card?

Things to consider when upgrading a graphics card.

The biggest thing you need to answer for upgrading anything is what you use the computer for. Whether it be gaming, video editing or just general applications (Word, E-mail, Internet). You need to know how you are going to use your computer.

If you just use your computer for general applications, then upgrading may not be for you.

But...

If you are a hardcore gamer or a junior Steven Spielberg, then you may want to consider upgrading your graphics card if yours is not up to par.

The first thing you need to do is look at your motherboard. You need to know what kind of interface to get for your card. Unless your computer is really old it will most likely have AGP or PCI Express (old computers might just have PCI) Now you need to know how many lanes that interface has. AGP comes in 2X, 4X, or 8X where has PCI Express is 16X.

PCI Express it the best interface and the better cards only come in PCIe interface. But unless you are willing to buy a new motherboard you are pretty much stuck with what ever you got.

Now that you know what Interface to get and what speed you can look for a card. I recomend shopping at either www.tigerdirect.com or www.newegg.com both are really great computer hardware sites.



Lets assume your motherboard supports AGP 4X. Now ATI or Nvidia? These are the two main Graphics card processor manufactures, they are both about the same. So pick which ever one you like best.

Lets look at Nvidia because that is the one I like the best. So now it is time to select your GPU or Graphics Processing unit. I don't know the GPU's for ATI but for Nvidia they range from the GeForce 6200 to the GeForce 7900 GTX. So this is were you need to decide how much you are willing to spend and how good of a card you want. The higher the number the better the card and the more expensive. For a good gaming computer with out spending a lot of money I would go with a GeForce 7200 or 7600 (if you have PCIe) they are about 150 to 200 dollars. If you have AGP then GeForce 6600 or 6800 they are about 100 dollars. But you can go with what ever GPU fits your needs the best. You defiantly do NOT want to go below GeForce 6200.

The last major thing to look at is how much memory you want for the card. Typically it is 64mb, 128mb, 256mb, or 512mb.
Now a days 64mb is too low you won't be able to play newer games very well. 512mb is very expensive they are normally 500 dollars and to be honest I think it is overkill, they are very few game were 512mb would be needed. So that leaves 128mb and 256mb. I would base this on how nice you want the graphics to be on your game and how much money you have. If you got the money go with 256mb.

There are some other points to consider when buying a card they are not as critical as what I talked about.

Here are some other points to keep in mind:

PixelPipelines: The more the better (nothing under 4)
OpenGL: 1.5 but 2.0 is perfect
Cooling: At least a heat sink but heat sink and a fan is great
Monitor port: this will be either VGA or DVI some even have two or one of each. You need to make sure your monitor has the corresponding plug. There are adapters though.

The last thing I want to talk about is if you want to put two graphics cards in. You need to make sure your Motherboard is SLI or Crossfire supported and has two PCI Express 16x ports side by side.

ATI uses Crossfire and Nnvidia uses SLI. When you look for you card make sure it says SLI or Crossfire supported.

Well that's every thing you need to know about upgrading a graphics card. If you have any questions feel free to ask.