Graphics Card Site Needed.

angel

I asked here a while back and got very good advice about buying RAM. I went to Crucial and they scanned my pc and told me what was compatible.

Now my son is asking for a better graphics card for his birthday as he plays a lot of games and Crucial don't sell these. I'm wondering if anybody knows a site that will scan the pc that sells graphics cards.

Thanks in advance!

techexpert

Not that I know of, but any graphics cards are compatible [I think]

johngc

Its not quite as simple as that Im afraid.

First you need to know what type of card you motherboard can take (PCI, AGP, PCI-E). If you know the make of motherboard you have let us know or even the computer model if you bought it from a big company.

Then you need to decide what sort of thing you want the card to do. Are you going to be playing very graphically intensive games (the latest ones) or is it just a bit of playing every now and then. Cards can cost up to £500 or so.

Then it comes down to the make you want to use. The two main companies are NVidia or ATI that make the chips - personally I swear by NVidia but there are mixed opinions.

globalds

The critical choice is the connection on your motherboard .PCI Express or AGP .If you can find that out and post it up here .And then tell us what some of the games are ...Unfortunately some of the newer stuff will require faster (generally more expensive ) cards .
Then I think lots of poeple will offer some advice .I bought an expensive card from the USA ...This would have been a real bargain ..If It hadn,t been held up by customs 'till I payed duty..

edit* seems I have repeated everything previous poster said .....damn my slow typing ....*

GoofyGAT

angel, in addition to johngc's queries about your motherboard/PC make+model, the types of games played & budget....please also post the complete system spec.

This will enable us to give a few suggestions based on the spec/PSU/etc as well, which is important to get a good balance. G

P.S. I feel the best card for your system/needs/budget are more important than the make (nVidia/ATi), so don't worry about this for now

angel

Thanks for all of the replies.

My pc is an emachines 3230 if that helps at all. Could you tell me if there's anywhere on the pc that I can find out about the system spec and what motherboard it is. I have no idea where to look for it all!

Thanks again.

Oh and he wants it to play online games with his friends, Runescape, Kalonline etc. nothing too fancy really!

banger9365

you mite have to open the case to see if it's got one off these http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:AGP_slot.jpg

the red/brown one, the white ones are pci slots and if they look nothing like it they may be pci-e slots http://www.jar42.com/post_images/pcie%20002.jpg

Mobeer

GoofyGat found a good web page for another person asking about eMachines. This suggests your motherboard only has PCI expansion slots. If this is correct then this is bad, since PCI cards tend to be old and relatively slow.

Dabs are listing the GeForce 6200 at £41 which is quite popular based upon the customer reviews. Note though the charts at Tom's Hardware. The one I have linked to shows a GeForce 7300GS at the very bottom of the chart, and this is a newer card than the 6200. So though you can upgrade, I would still have low expectations.

GoofyGAT

Your best option's a PCI card unfortunately (don't mistake this for a PCI-E one).

eMachines 3230 motherboard specs: MSI MS-6714 (845GVM-L) (confirmed at the MSI site here) / Original source

What games is he presently playing/thinking of playing?

Getting a 'gaming' grade PCI card is going to be very difficult, if not impossible. Having said that, depending on the PC's PSU (min 300W required) & games played this GeForce 6200 may be the best you can go for. G

GoofyGAT

Good man Mobeer - was a shade quicker than me!

To be able to fit a much better graphics card (than the one suggested), another option would be to upgrade to a motherboard with an AGP/PCI-E slot. This would certainly mean a PSU upgrade too.

Hence more expense & hassle: all upgrades will total in the region of £120 - not to mention backing-up, refitting the CPU (the entire PC really!), then reinstalling Windows & applications from scratch. G