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Vista Graphics Card - Confused or what!

Firstly, I will 'THANK' everyone who can help me here. I really appreciate your help.

A brief history... I've just upgraded my PC. It had a built in graphics card on the motherboard which is only basic and not 3D.

I've also bought Vista and installed, but the graphics card is not good enough for normal everyday use, although it does work fine to a point. If I need to do anything graphical or media related it can't do it and states I need a 3D compatible card at least 64mb. Even some of the pre-installed ScreenSavers won't work.

So, when searching for a new card I notice, on say somewhere like eBuyer, they split types into ATI and Nvidia, but I don't know what to get.

Just a note, I don't really want to play games, and have a very limited budget say under £30 if possible.

Point 2: The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2

Now it states it has a PCI Express x16 slot, a PCI slot, and a PCI Express x4 Slot.
That's where I'm lost! Descriptions don't really match those words when I'm looking for a card i.e. PCI II 16 or PCI 16... are they both the the same?

Once again, thanks for you helps guys if you can shed any light.
:think: Can anyone explain to me how to put a signature here? :think:

Comments

  • CHR15
    CHR15 Posts: 5,193 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    You don't really need to get bogged down in the technicalities of it all.

    Your mainboard has plenty of expansion options (which is good!)


    This card will suit your needs (play with postage to bring the price down below your £30 limit. It can come down to £28.56 with super saver)

    You could get a cheaper card but IMHO it is better to get the best card you can get for your budget of £30.


    EDIT: One of the reviews suggests it doesn't come with a DVI adaptor.
    Does your monitor plug in with a WHITE or BLUE connector???
  • Donnie
    Donnie Posts: 9,862 Forumite
    No need to spend that sort of money, with your requirements.

    This PNY GeForce 7300 LE 128MB DDR2 PCI-E Graphics Card for 15.99 including delivery is more than adequate for your needs.
  • leboof
    leboof Posts: 320 Forumite
    CHR15 wrote: »
    You don't really need to get bogged down in the technicalities of it all.

    Your mainboard has plenty of expansion options (which is good!)


    This card will suit your needs (play with postage to bring the price down below your £30 limit. It can come down to £28.56 with super saver)

    You could get a cheaper card but IMHO it is better to get the best card you can get for your budget of £30.


    EDIT: One of the reviews suggests it doesn't come with a DVI adaptor.
    Does your monitor plug in with a WHITE or BLUE connector???


    It plugs in with Blue Socket. Thank you for your reply.
    :think: Can anyone explain to me how to put a signature here? :think:
  • leboof
    leboof Posts: 320 Forumite
    Donnie wrote: »
    No need to spend that sort of money, with your requirements.

    This PNY GeForce 7300 LE 128MB DDR2 PCI-E Graphics Card for 15.99 including delivery is more than adequate for your needs.

    That's a brilliant price, thank you very much.

    Could you answer another question...? What's this Vista AERO thingy? Will I need it, will the card cope with it?

    Cheers again.
    :think: Can anyone explain to me how to put a signature here? :think:
  • Aero offers the ultimate graphical experence. It allows transparancy on the desktop and window applications. Yes it good I even upgraded my video card just for that. You will need 128Mb mim. on the card. Some cards only have DVI onboard to connect to your monitor, you will need an adaptor if you have the 15pin D plug. Dont forget to put your graphics properties to basic and unnstall your drivers first, then turn off the internal graphics adaptor in the bios. More info below:
    http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/experiences/aero.mspx
  • Donnie
    Donnie Posts: 9,862 Forumite
    leboof wrote: »
    That's a brilliant price, thank you very much.

    Could you answer another question...? What's this Vista AERO thingy? Will I need it, will the card cope with it?

    Cheers again.

    Card will cope without a problem, just make sure that you have enough system RAM installed. 1.5GB to 2GB will be enough.
  • leboof
    leboof Posts: 320 Forumite
    Sorry, I'm stuck again, card states supports DirectX 9.0c but isn't Vista DirectX 10? Will I run into difficulties here?

    Once again, thank you in advace for your reply.

    Edit: Oh, and my monitor currently plugs into a blue connection, where does that leave me?
    :think: Can anyone explain to me how to put a signature here? :think:
  • CHR15
    CHR15 Posts: 5,193 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Dont worry about DirectX. It won't be a problem for you

    Without trying to waffle.....

    Most resonably decent graphics cards have DVI outputs (a White socket). These give a much sharper image for flat screen monitors.

    The Old Style chunky CRT monitors had a Blue plug. These still work but do not give such a crisp image.

    vga-dvi-dsub.jpg

    This Card would be ideal as it has both a Blue AND a White socket so you can use whichever your monitor has.

    The Adaptor I mentioned looks like this

    vga-to-dvi.jpg

    Which allows you to use your Blue monitor plug in the White Card socket.


    It is quite normal for a DVI (white socket only) graphics card to have one of these adaptors in the box "Just in case"

    The cheap card Donnie has linked to doesn't mention which it has.

    If it is the same one AS IN THIS LINK Then you will see it has both white and blue sockets so there is no problem.

    Read the reviews of it at Play.com to help decide. My personal opinion though is still to opt for a far better card keeping within your allocated budget.
  • Donnie
    Donnie Posts: 9,862 Forumite
    leboof wrote: »
    Sorry, I'm stuck again, card states supports DirectX 9.0c but isn't Vista DirectX 10? Will I run into difficulties here?

    Once again, thank you in advace for your reply.

    Edit: Oh, and my monitor currently plugs into a blue connection, where does that leave me?

    CHR15 is correct about DirectX.

    As to the card, go for which ever you prefer. The more expensive card is better and I would consider it as an upgrade to the PNY card, but do you need a Rolls Royce to pop down to the corner shop?

    Either way, they both represent good value.
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