where does a graphics card go in a computer???

i am going to buy a graphics card for my computer and i wanted to know where does it go in the computer?

is it easy to insert in the computer?

thankz...

When you open your tower, on the motherboard, you will see slots with white tabs on both ends. You chould have a couple of them.

They just snap in.

[Edited on 16-4-2004 by SpittinCobra]

Originally posted by SpittinCobra
When you open your tower, on the motherboard, you will see slots with white tabs on both ends. You chould have a couple of them.

They just snap in.

[Edited on 16-4-2004 by SpittinCobra]

Thats if its a PCI Video Card....but most video cards are AGP Video Cards. An AGP slot is different from PCI slots...ususally theres 4 or 5 PCI slots and jsut 1 AGP slot. Check your computer and your video card to see if itll fit.

Originally posted by dreamlandmafia

Thats if its a PCI Video Card....but most video cards are AGP Video Cards. An AGP slot is different from PCI slots...ususally theres 4 or 5 PCI slots and jsut 1 AGP slot. Check your computer and your video card to see if itll fit.

tks DLM

Before you buy your video card you should open your tower up and check to see if you have an AGP slot or not (not all motherboards do) Buying an AGP card will do you no good if you don't have an AGP slot. An AGP slot differs from a PCI slot in that it is usually brown and a wee bit shorter than a PCI slot, which is white (there should be several PCI slots and only one AGP slot)

If you do have an AGP slot and buy an AGP video card (or any card, ram, etc.) there's a few things you should remember when installing it/them. When working on your computer, try to do it in a room with no carpet (static electricity), always try to keep one hand grounded on the metal work of the case. When inserting an AGP card into the slot, make sure that its lined up properly in the slot so that the seperator in the slot lines up with the space in the pins (this also goes for other cards, ram, etc.) Never force a card into the slot, apply even pressure until you feel it 'seat'.

After you install your new card and boot up your going to have to install the drivers for that particular card, which are usually included on a cd when you buy it. Depending on the make/chipset of the video card you may or may not have to uninstall your old drivers before you take out the old card and install the new one. NVidia usually lets you get away without uninstalling the old drivers and lets you install the new ones over top of the old, ATI on the other hand wants you to uninstall the old drivers and then install theirs completely with their driver installation package (without using the Windows plug and play wizard)

Hope that helps!

thanks every1 but one question...

i have a DELL dimension 4600, what are the chances that i have an AGP slot???

Originally posted by they see ALL
thanks every1 but one question...

i have a DELL dimension 4600, what are the chances that i have an AGP slot???

According to 'ZDNet Reviews' specs listing for the Dell dimension 4600 your computer does have an AGP slot. You can see the specs for yourself here

sorry 1 more question...

Video RAM: 128MB double data rate SDRAM
TV-out: Integrated TV Output support up to 1024x768 resolution
RAMDAC: Dual integrated 10-bit per channel 400 MHz DACs
Maximum color depth at 1,280 x 1,024: 160 Hz
Supported APIs: Microsoft DirectX 9.0
Interface: PCI
Compatibility: PC
PC system requirements: connection to your PC's internal power supply for operation, 300-Watt power supply or greater to ensure normal system operation where a number of other internal devices are installed, Intel Pentium 4/III, Celeron II, AMD K7/Athlon/ Athlon XP with AGP 8X (0.8v), 4X (1.5V) or Universal AGP 3.0 bus configuration (8X/4X), 128MB of system memory, installation software requires CD-ROM drive, DVD playback requires DVD drive
Mac system requirements: n/a
Warranty, labor: 3 year
Warranty, parts: 3 year

does the bolded words mean that the card uses a PCI slot???

thankz...

Originally posted by they see ALL
sorry 1 more question...


Interface: PCI


does the bolded words mean that the card uses a PCI slot???

thankz...

Yes.

Where did you get those specifications from? were they on the box or in the manual?? Usually it'll say what type of card it is (PCI or AGP) in fairly prominent lettering right on the box that the video card comes in.

The difference between a PCI card and an AGP card is in the performance. An AGP card will outperform a PCI card, especially if your motherboard supports AGP 4X/8X

You can still use your card even though it's not an AGP card, a PCI card is still better than using motherboard intergrated video.

Or you can pack it back into the box and return it to the store you bought it from and get an AGP card. Be prepared though.....AGP cards are usually more expensive than PCI cards.

www.amazon.com...=pd_sbs_e_1/104-6969224-6469502?v=glance&s=electronics

that is where i got the specifications. i plan on buying this card. do you recomend it, keep in mind that i dont plan on watching DVDz with it 'cuz i dont have a DVD player on my computer.

thank you for your time you have been VERY helpful...

Originally posted by they see ALL

that is where i got the specifications. i plan on buying this card. do you recomend it, keep in mind that i dont plan on watching DVDz with it 'cuz i dont have a DVD player on my computer.

thank you for your time you have been VERY helpful...

"ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB AGP Graphics Card"

That link you posted leads to the above card, which is an AGP card not a PCI card. Nice card too.....I've got two ATI Radeon cards (I run multiple PCs connected through a LAN), one of my cards is a Radeon 9000 128 MB AGP and the other one is a Radeon 9200 64 MB AGP. Both of them work extremely well. The only complaint I have is that the catalyst drivers that came out before christmas for them were garbage.....they've since released another set that seem to work very well.

Good luck with your purchase!

Originally posted by Ninor

Originally posted by they see ALL

that is where i got the specifications. i plan on buying this card. do you recomend it, keep in mind that i dont plan on watching DVDz with it 'cuz i dont have a DVD player on my computer.

thank you for your time you have been VERY helpful...

"ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB AGP Graphics Card"

That link you posted leads to the above card, which is an AGP card not a PCI card. Nice card too.....I've got two ATI Radeon cards (I run multiple PCs connected through a LAN), one of my cards is a Radeon 9000 128 MB AGP and the other one is a Radeon 9200 64 MB AGP. Both of them work extremely well. The only complaint I have is that the catalyst drivers that came out before christmas for them were garbage.....they've since released another set that seem to work very well.

Good luck with your purchase!

i think your wrong... www.amazon.com...=e_de_a_td/104-6969224-6469502?v=glance&s=electronics&vi=tech-data

Technical data


Video RAM: 128MB double data rate SDRAM
TV-out: Integrated TV Output support up to 1024x768 resolution
RAMDAC: Dual integrated 10-bit per channel 400 MHz DACs
Maximum color depth at 1,280 x 1,024: 160 Hz
Supported APIs: Microsoft DirectX 9.0
Interface: PCI
Compatibility: PC
PC system requirements: connection to your PC's internal power supply for operation, 300-Watt power supply or greater to ensure normal system operation where a number of other internal devices are installed, Intel Pentium 4/III, Celeron II, AMD K7/Athlon/ Athlon XP with AGP 8X (0.8v), 4X (1.5V) or Universal AGP 3.0 bus configuration (8X/4X), 128MB of system memory, installation software requires CD-ROM drive, DVD playback requires DVD drive
Mac system requirements: n/a
Warranty, labor: 3 year
Warranty, parts: 3 year

doesnt that mean it is a PCI card and uses a PCI card slot???

thankz once again!...

That link you just posted is different than the first one you posted, but it's still for an AGP card, here's a screenshot of the top part of the page your www.amazon.com...=e_de_a_td/104-6969224-6469502?v=glance&s=electronics&vi=tech-data" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">link leads to:



Notice the name of the card in big bold letters at the top: "ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB AGP Graphics Card" Notice where it says "AGP Graphics Card", that means it's an AGP card.

thank you for your help...

i should have seen that...

i might add on to this thread in a couple of months if i need help with it when i buy it:shk:

Originally posted by they see ALL
Technical data

Video RAM: 128MB double data rate SDRAM
TV-out: Integrated TV Output support up to 1024x768 resolution
RAMDAC: Dual integrated 10-bit per channel 400 MHz DACs
Maximum color depth at 1,280 x 1,024: 160 Hz
Supported APIs: Microsoft DirectX 9.0
Interface: PCI
Compatibility: PC
PC system requirements: connection to your PC's internal power supply for operation, 300-Watt power supply or greater to ensure normal system operation where a number of other internal devices are installed, Intel Pentium 4/III, Celeron II, AMD K7/Athlon/ Athlon XP with AGP 8X (0.8v), 4X (1.5V) or Universal AGP 3.0 bus configuration (8X/4X), 128MB of system memory, installation software requires CD-ROM drive, DVD playback requires DVD drive
Mac system requirements: n/a
Warranty, labor: 3 year
Warranty, parts: 3 year

doesnt that mean it is a PCI card and uses a PCI card slot???

thankz once again!...

Iwas just reading over the "Technical data" you posted again when I noticed that after it mentions the "Interface: PCI" it goes on to say: "AGP 8X (0.8v), 4X (1.5V) or Universal AGP 3.0 bus configuration (8X/4X)" which is referring to the card being AGP......very strange....PCI and AGP are two totally different interfaces.

Here's Webopedia.com's definition of AGP:

Short for Accelerated Graphics Port, an interface specification developed by Intel Corporation. AGP is based on PCI, but is designed especially for the throughput demands of 3-D graphics. Rather than using the PCI bus for graphics data, AGP introduces a dedicated point-to-point channel so that the graphics controller can directly access main memory. The AGP channel is 32 bits wide and runs at 66 MHz. This translates into a total bandwidth of 266 MBps, as opposed to the PCI bandwidth of 133 MBps. AGP also supports two optional faster modes, with throughputs of 533 MBps and 1.07 GBps. In addition, AGP allows 3-D textures to be stored in main memory rather than video memory.
AGP has a couple important system requirements:

The chipset must support AGP.
The motherboard must be equipped with an AGP bus slot or must have an integrated AGP graphics system.
The operating system must be the OSR 2.1 version of Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT 4.0. And currently, many professional Macintoshes support AGP.
AGP-enabled computers and graphics accelerators hit the market in August, 1997. However, there are several different levels of AGP compliance. The following features are considered optional:

Texturing: Also called Direct Memory Execute mode, allows textures to be stored in main memory.
Throughput: Various levels of throughput are offered: 1X is 266 MBps, 2X is 533 MBps; and 4X provides 1.07 GBps.
Sideband Addressing: Speeds up data transfers by sending command instructions in a separate, parallel channel.
Pipelining: Enables the graphics card to send several instructions together instead of sending one at a time.

*********************************************
Here's Webopedia.com's definition of PCI:

Short for Peripheral Component Interconnect, a local bus standard developed by Intel Corporation. Most modern PCs include a PCI bus in addition to a more general ISA expansion bus. PCI is also used on newer versions of the Macintosh computer.
PCI is a 64-bit bus, though it is usually implemented as a 32-bit bus. It can run at clock speeds of 33 or 66 MHz. At 32 bits and 33 MHz, it yields a throughput rate of 133 MBps. Also see PCI-X.

Although it was developed by Intel, PCI is not tied to any particular family of microprocessors.

*********************************************

So you can clearly see how they're two different interfaces with two different slots/pin arrangements/buses. I have no idea why it would list a card as being both AGP and PCI, unless they're reffering to two different versions of the card that are available.

:bnghd:

once again you continue to amaze me

i luv computer talk

anyway maybe the reason the card is both AVG and PCI is because it's backwards compatable???

maybe it's like ma burner which is backwards compatable with USB 2.0 and 1.0???

just a thought...

AGP sluts and PCI sluts are two completly different types of sluts. There's no way a card can fit in both. (I build computers for a living)

I think the card you're looking for is probably AGP, as all most recent cards are, minus a few exception. But the 9800 is fairly recent, so it probably is AGP.

About "Where is goes in a computer..." Just follow your monitor cable (Unless your Dell as on-board video) But you might have trouble changing parts in a Dell computer, there's usually not a lot of space left in thoses PCs. Also, I don't know what are your specs, but most clones like that are litteraly craps. So if I was you I'd buy a new PC, or start buying pieces to build a complete new one. Just my opinion...

[Edited on 17-4-2004 by m0rbid]

Originally posted by m0rbid
AGP sluts and PCI sluts are two completly different types of sluts. There's no way a card can fit in both. (I build computers for a living)

[Edited on 17-4-2004 by m0rbid]

You too eh?

In Canada we call them "AGP slots" not "AGP sluts"

Originally posted by m0rbid
AGP sluts and PCI sluts are two completly different types of sluts. There's no way a card can fit in both. (I build computers for a living)

I think the card you're looking for is probably AGP, as all most recent cards are, minus a few exception. But the 9800 is fairly recent, so it probably is AGP.

About "Where is goes in a computer..." Just follow your monitor cable

(Unless your Dell as on-board video) But you might have trouble changing parts in a Dell computer, there's usually not a lot of space left in thoses PCs. Also, I don't know what are your specs, but most clones like that are litteraly craps. So if I was you I'd buy a new PC, or start buying pieces to build a complete new one. Just my opinion...

[Edited on 17-4-2004 by m0rbid]

no im not gunna buy a whole new computer... im not afraid of small spaces...

Originally posted by Ninor

Originally posted by m0rbid
AGP sluts and PCI sluts are two completly different types of sluts. There's no way a card can fit in both. (I build computers for a living)

[Edited on 17-4-2004 by m0rbid]

You too eh?

In Canada we call them "AGP slots" not "AGP sluts"

sluts hahaha go to NY city if ya want those!

SLOTS NOT SLUTS...