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[Deleted User]

Chomeur wrote: »

PCI-E = PCI Express? Why don't I want this? The card Maplins have recommended me is PCI-E and indeed most cheap graphics cards seem to be this. If it should be PCI then Amazon comes up with this http://www.amazon.co.uk/PNY-Technologies-nVIDIA-GeForce-Graphics/dp/B001ZZXY98/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1291309004&sr=1-1 which has VGA and DVI. I would then use it with my existing VGA graphics card. But I'm not quite clear as to why I should get a PCI card.

Odds are if you don't know what interface your graphics card is using (the fact that you said 'VGA Graphics' makes me think this), it's going to be a single PCI-E slot (occupied by your current graphics card) or if its older AGP.

AGP only come in singles

You MAY have 2 PCI-E slots, but you would need to open your PC to find out. To play it safe I recommend PCI graphics card as you should at least have 1 free of those and it doesn't need to be that great anyway if its just desktop computing tasks you complete on it.

AHAR

If you're using Vista you need to be careful about adding a PCI card since it sounds like it won't work if it uses a different driver from your main card:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/multimonvista.mspx

From what I've read, Windows 7 reinstates the ability XP had of allowing any cards to work alongside each other for multi-monitor purposes.

Chomeur

AHAR wrote: »

If you're using Vista you need to be careful about adding a PCI card since it sounds like it won't work if it uses a different driver from your main card:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/multimonvista.mspx

From what I've read, Windows 7 reinstates the ability XP had of allowing any cards to work alongside each other for multi-monitor purposes.

It's OK, I have Windows XP.

Chomeur

[quote=[Deleted User];39020440]Odds are if you don't know what interface your graphics card is using (the fact that you said 'VGA Graphics' makes me think this), it's going to be a single PCI-E slot (occupied by your current graphics card) or if its older AGP.

AGP only come in singles

You MAY have 2 PCI-E slots, but you would need to open your PC to find out. To play it safe I recommend PCI graphics card as you should at least have 1 free of those and it doesn't need to be that great anyway if its just desktop computing tasks you complete on it.[/QUOTE]

When I referred to "VGA Graphics card" I meant the card that is currently attached to the existing VGA head. I was supposing that this head is part of the card in the same way that the new additional graphics cards have heads incorporated, but perhaps that's wrong.

Anyway, my computer has two expansion slots at the rear, one labelled "PCI Door" and the other "PCI Express x16 Door". Removing the cover from the later slot, it appears that there is an expansion slot behind it which is unused. So it seems I should be OK with a PCI-E card.

sharkie

not for games, highspeed graphics, or video, but for stock markets, docs, etc startech usb video and its like apparently work well and cheap too. http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/Category/category_slc.asp?CatId=735

Chomeur

Thanks Sharkie, might be good, although I'd prefer a card that I can put inside the computer cos it's tidier.

Anyway, I've now received a GeForce 9500 1GB graphics card from Maplins. It says to remove the existing "VGA Card" before installing it. But I can't see anything that looks like it might be removed inside my computer apart from two long cards which I'm pretty sure are for memory. I tried putting the new card in, and not worrying about removing the old one, but then I got no signal, either from the old or new VGA ports. Any ideas?

Chomeur

It seems my existing graphics card may be built in and not capable of removal. But there's a DVI port as well as the VGA one that I'm using, so perhaps I should just content myself with two screens and stick with what I've got.

davb

You need to be careful, but there may be an option in the PC bios to disable the onboard video.

Chomeur

davb wrote: »

You need to be careful, but there may be an option in the PC bios to disable the onboard video.

Thanks, yes, that's what Maplins have said. But I've been into the bios and discussed what it shows with Maplins, and it seems there is no such option. It seems the card may be faulty so I'm going to have to return it.

Chomeur

Finally got this to work. Got an extra wide Samsung screen with DVI attachment and plugged that in to the existing socket on my computer. The Samsung monitor comes with some software that allows you to split the monitor as if it was two screens, so it works well. It's been hard work though - I'd estimate about ten hours of my time in all to get this sorted, what with working out what to order, opening up the computer to install the graphics card, cancelling my initial order of screens and taking the faulty card back to Maplins for a refund.