IntroBefore you even look into buying a new video card you must know what you need. in some cases you dont need a new video card you may need more ram or CPU power, most of the time it is the video card.
First we need to OPEN your computer case. Usualy it slides off the side with unscrewing a few screws or a little lever.
once you get your case open then we must decide if you have AGP or PCI express or neither.
[img]http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/1439/pic1iv6.th.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"IPB Image\" /]This is your average AGP slot with measurements in inches to help you tell if you have PCI express or AGP
[img]http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/4647/pic2ae2.th.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"IPB Image\" /]This is your average PCI express x16 slot
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE EITHER STOP HERE AND SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS TUTORIALNow that we know wich one you have we can start shopping for a new video card.
AGP cards: Agp cards are slightly more mony than pci express. if you have it i do not reccomend buying a new motherboard just for pci express unless you want a more "High end" PC. The absolute fastest AGP card
on the market is the NVIDIA 7800GS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814130274PCI express x16 cards: PCIe Have the ultra high end cards down to some of the low end cards they are also generaly cheaper. With PCIe you may have 2 slots that could support CROSSFIRE(ATI) or SLI(NVIDIA), This is running 2 video cards at once working together. NVIDIA has now made a card that supports SLI in a single card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814130023 The 7950GX2
it is currently the fastest because of that, it had 1 GB total memory because each card has 512 memory
ATIs fastest card is the x1900xt
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814127206------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You may not want to spend this much money on a card or need somthing this powerfull so here is how you choose a card that is right for you.
MEMORY IS NOT EVERYTHING
Clock Speeds, Pixle pipelines is what is most important
The mid low end cards is as low as I would go when buying a card.
The NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
>and
The ATI Radeon 9200
are virtualy the same cards, i would not buy anything below this. They are only about 60(USD) bucks at the most
they have a
250MHZ Core clock
400MHZ Memory clock
4 Pixel Pipelines
and usualy 128MB of video mem
This card usualy will run GTA:SA at medium-low settings depending on the rest of your system
Try not to buy a video card with any settings lower than the ones listed above.
High end cards generaly have specs near these:
500MHZ Core clock
1.3 GHZ Memory clock
20 Pixel Pipelines
256-512MB of memory
they range from 250-350 dollars
ULTRA high end cards are anything above these specs
they are usualy 400-600 dollars
Pixel Pipelines are slightly more important than core clock and memory clock
a card with 8 Pixel Pipelines and a 300 MHZ core clock would be better than a card with 4 Pixle Pipelines and a 400 MHZ core clock. The core clock is generaly more important when shopping for a video card than the memory clock However memory clock is still extreemly important.
Choose what you need and buy.
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Installing:
Take off your shoes and sox to avoid static shock to the hardware ang hold your card by the edges
[img]http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/1258/pic3wy7.th.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"IPB Image\" /]align your card to the apropriate slot
[img]http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/3903/pic4hx7.th.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"IPB Image\" /]push the card in all the way
[img]http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/186/pic5yd9.th.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"IPB Image\" /]now start up your PC pop in the disc that came with it and install your video drivers.
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Dont have AGP or PCIe. You have PCI(normal) there are few cards for this type, and they are all low end cards
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814139005 is most likely your solution
but i strongly reccomend a new motherboard
TUT comming soon
