graphic card question

[gaymer77]

I have a standard PC I got from Best Buy and the graphic card is intergrated or whatever the term is where its attached to the motherboard. My question is can I replace it to upgrade it or do I have to buy a whole new PC to upgrade my graphic card? The reason I'm asking is because my graphics card is really outdated and I and having problems playing anything other than WOW on it now & my fps drops down to single digits on a couple AOE heavy fights in 25 man.

[Deleted]

Got a link to your pc maybe by any chance?

Unless the computer itself is super dated or something it likey has a free PCI-E slot, looks like the green one in THIS, and you should be able to stick one in (Open it up and take peek to see!). Providing your PSU has enough juice.

If it is a pre-built it might not have a spare molex connector (to power the card) but you can likey pick up an adapter cable for a few $$. (Tried plugging a card into my friends comp recently only to find a case full of sata connectors =[ )

[gaymer77]

I'll have to take a look when I get home. How difficult is it to install a graphics card to a computer and when/if I'm able to, how will the computer know which one to use or does that even matter? Sorry really computer illiterate here.

[Deleted]

It's really quite simple to install one to be honest. From my own first experience, just opening my computer and realising, 'oh. I have one of those slots!', was the hardest bit.

You literally plug it into the slot, (Similar to how ram works if you've dealt with that.) Plug a power cable into it(if it needs one, some of the older cards don't), turn on the computer and run the setup disc you will get in the box.

Haven't dealt with a situation going from integrated graphics to going to a graphics card before, but I would imagine that it would be taken care of with the disc you will run. If not it would still be a fairly straightforward thing for someone on these forums for eg. to guide you through in a few minutes.

[Gladria]

I'll have to take a look when I get home. How difficult is it to install a graphics card to a computer and when/if I'm able to, how will the computer know which one to use or does that even matter? Sorry really computer illiterate here.

Graphics cards are easy to install, just read the directions first. I'll either be install drivers first (usually on a cd that came with the graphics card) then install the card or the other way around with install the card first then installing the drivers. Just make sure to do it in the order the manual tells you to.

As another suggested, do you have a link for you computer, or can you post some specs.

[gaymer77]

I don't have a link to it but I bought it like 3-4 years ago and it was a so-so graphic card back then. Really I was just using it to browse the net, play WOW, and do homework on so it wasn't all that expensive of a PC either. eMachine ET1161-01 is what it says my computer is. AMD Anthlon Processor LE-1620 2.40 GHz 3.50 GB RAM 32-bit OS

[analord]

According to newegg your computer does have a PC-I express expansion slot needed for a graphics card.
Still, if you want to buy a graphics card I don't recommend buying a recent one. Your computer seems a little old, and sometimes old motherboards don't recognize newer graphic cards.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

A bit of googling came up with this link to a computer with that model number on newegg.com. It isn't exactly the same processor though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883114064

That page has a 250W power supply listed. I would be quite careful as to which graphics card you choose.

[gaymer77]

Any recommendations on a card then?

[Gladria]

Any recommendations on a card then?

I can't see you needing to go higher then http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127490 although, if it's true that you only have a 250w psu, you would need to upgrade it first for most any fairly recent graphics cards. I think for the card I linked you need a 300w minimum. This psu is cheap and should work http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182021, mostly depends on how much you want to spend really?

[Deleted]

I can't see you needing to go higher then http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127490 although, if it's true that you only have a 250w psu, you would need to upgrade it first for most any fairly recent graphics cards. I think for the card I linked you need a 300w minimum. This psu is cheap and should work http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182021, mostly depends on how much you want to spend really?

MSI recommends a 450W powersuply, so 300W is cutting it very short.

[Renike]

Follow what scourge says because 300w is cutting it short normally what i do is take the wattage required from the Videocard box and just add 200w to it so i have some cushion, so if i add any extra fans and for anything that is plugged in thru usb, but thats me. With your computer 500w would be fine if the box for the videocard says 450w

the videocard i have is decent its a Nvidia EVGA GTS 450

[gaymer77]

So how difficult are those PSUs to install? I'm only weary about doing anything because the most I've ever installed on a computer was RAM which was hella easy.

[analord]

It's not that difficult, but it can get kinda confusing with all the cables you gotta plug. If you don't feel comfortable doing it, I'm pretty sure you can get it installed for free at any place where you can buy it. Same goes for the graphics card.

[Deleted]

Very very easy to install a GFX card, Nice tutorial on how to do it.

yes it is radeon advertising, but the same steps can followed regardless of the brand.

[gaymer77]

Ok feel a whole lot more confident about installing the card but what about the PSU? Is that hard to install?