installing new graphics card

[cooleddy4]

hi, i am thinking about buying a new graphics card. could someone please give me instructions on installing it?

can you have two graphics cards in at the same time, or would i have to replace the old one?

 

[Nubius]

You can't have two graphics cards in at the same time. You simply place the graphics card into the AGP Slot. There's only one AGP Slot and it's brown. That's all you do to install it. In the future they are coming out with something called PCI-Express and SLI technology that will let you have two of the same graphics cards working at the same time.

 

[Cappy]

What kind of graphics card , motherboard , Power Supply and Operating System do you have now ?

 

[ThirtySixBelow]

Just look at the top slot on your motherboard right below the cpu, if it is offset from the others and is further away from the back of the case then it is AGP, otherwise if they are all the same then it's PCI. Uninstall all of the drivers for the current card, turn off the computer, and then remove it from the slot. Take the new card and place it in the slot and restart the computer. Once it's booted to windows you can install the new drivers which sould be on a cd that you got with the card. It's not very hard... just a replacement and some new drivers.

 

[AND_YOU_ARE]

I have a question that goes along with this, but more on the software and drivers part. When upgrading my video card, an older ati to a newer ati, i should uninstall the drivers, and delete the ati folder on my hard drive. With different driver versions in it, right? I dont really have to change any other settings, do i?

 

[ShoobieRat]

Depends. If the drivers you currently have are specific to the card, then yes. However, if you're using a generic ATI driver, such as the catalyst drivers, you should be okay. Windows will likely reinstall the drivers anyway, and you should update your drivers afterwards. If you have onboard graphics though (graphics card built into your motherboard) then you need to disable it first.

Oh, and AGP slots are not always brown. It depends on the manufacturer, rather than the supposed standard. Chaintech's are yellow, Giga-byte's are green, MSI's are red, etc, etc... The AGP card will only fit into the AGP slot. The PCI slots are too close to the edge of the board, and they have their direction-tooth in the wrong position.

 

[ThirtySixBelow]

Oh, and AGP slots are not always brown. It depends on the manufacturer, rather than the supposed standard. Chaintech's are yellow, Giga-byte's are green, MSI's are red, etc, etc... The AGP card will only fit into the AGP slot. The PCI slots are too close to the edge of the board, and they have their direction-tooth in the wrong position.

I tried to make up for that with my description of it being offset from PCI, but you got all the colors down too, nice job

 

[jaksback]

just a note, i replaced my 9200 w/a 9600xt and yes the old drivers worked fine when i restarted but for some reason that i can't remember now i uninstalled the omega drivers i had and reinstalled the very same ones and i had more options in the advanced display properties such as the overdrive option. so just go for uninstalling the old and reinstalling the new. always best to go with a completely clean install

 

[cooleddy4]

but the graphics card i want to replace is a SIS 651GX 3D, which i think is onboard? So how would i need to take the onboard one out or jsut have 2 graphics on my pc?

 

[ShoobieRat]

You can't take an onboard graphics card out. It's soldered to the motherboard. Just disable it in the hardware properties, turn off the PC, put in your new card, and boot up.