Graphics card help

[hammerman]

Hi, firstly im a bit of a technaphobe but im willing to have a go !!!!!!!!

I have a fairly old PC....it's about 4 1/2 years old and was bought from "Time" who have since folded.

However, my graphics card has gone kaput (so a couple of experts have told me) and i was wondering how easy it is to replace.

Is there anything i should look out for when buying a new one ? My present one is an ATI (don't know the size but could be 128 ?)....can i put a bigger one in ? I want to play with my old flight sims so they're not incredibly graphics heavy.

Rest of pc is 1gig RAM, AMD althlon 64 1.9ghz (i think) and 180gb hard drive.

The pc is fast and i really don't want to chop it in for a new one.....so any help would be very welcome.

Thanks

[Disco Fever]

Take the old graphics card and your pc details into Maplins Electronics or and decent computer place and tell them it's knackered and they should be able to sell you what you want and tell you if your pc is anygood to play the game you want...

[daffy654]

The information you really need to know is what interface your motherboard has for graphics cards.It might well be an AGP slot as it is an older model PC,most newer ones use PCI-Express. To find out what your existing graphics card is go to control panel>System>Device Manager>Display Adaptors and it will tell you the make and model of the card.You can then Google the card and find out whether it is AGP or PCI-E

[hammerman]

Thanks guys....i'll probably take the old one in.

Any ideas on the rough price for a reasonable one ?''''�40-�50 ?

[VHG]

My guess is it almost certainly an AGP card as your PC probably has an AGP slot.

Here is a basic AGP card for around �27 (you can probably get one for less if you hunt around).

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149296

When you come to replace the graphics card FIRST uninstall the drivers for the old card and then set Windowsr to basic VGA settings.

Then power off PC, take out old card, and put in new card.

Hopefully Windows will recognize it and display a basic VGA window.

(The problem you can get at this point is that Windows does not recognize the card so nothing is displayed on the screen so you cant actually DO anything).

Assuming you have Windows displayed then you need to install the driver for the NEW graphics card, which should allow you to set a decent resolution.

I would not spend too much on a graphics card because the rest of you computer will not be up to it.

Also some better graphics card require a special power to go to direct to your card, and your older power supply will probably not have the connector.

Buy the cheapest graphics card you can, then save up for a new PC.