Help, my son is asking me for a graphics card!

angel

I asked here a year or so ago and got brilliant help re. buying and adding RAM which I managed! Now my son says that he can't play new games anymore as the graphics card isn't good enough.

Firstly I guess that I need to know where I can find out the system spec of my pc, I seem to remember doing that last time. Can someone help me find out that info please?

Then I need some advice about what card to get or even if my pc can handle a more powerful card.

I'm feeling my anxiety levels rising already here! I'm not good at techie stuff!

Itsuru

Download Belarc Advisor for an easy way to find out your system specs, this will then help you determine what interface your motherboard will accept, and as a result what graphics cards are available. The most common interface is PCI.

Kudos for your concern on whether your PC can handle a more powerful card, most people don't consider that sometimes a more powerful power supply unit (PSU) is needed.

weegie.geek

Itsuru wrote: »

Download Belarc Advisor for an easy way to find out your system specs, this will then help you determine what interface your motherboard will accept, and as a result what graphics cards are available. The most common interface is PCI.

Kudos for your concern on whether your PC can handle a more powerful card, most people don't consider that sometimes a more powerful power supply unit (PSU) is needed.

It's true that the most common interface inside a PC is PCI, but you won't be wanting to use that for a graphics card.

You'll be looking for PCI-Express ideally, or AGP failing that. If you have neither, then you really need a new motherboard too.

Blacksheep1979

how much are you wanting to spend - if it's under £100 you're not going to be playing new games and if it's under £50-60 it's a waste of your time.

weegie.geek

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

how much are you wanting to spend - if it's under £100 you're not going to be playing new games and if it's under £50-60 it's a waste of your time.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with the first statement. Ideally the OP would go for an 8800GT which will be ~£115, but you can get a 3850 for ~£95.

Either will be able to play new games, albeit not at high settings.

Conor_3

weegie.geek wrote: »

I wouldn't necessarily agree with the first statement. Ideally the OP would go for an 8800GT which will be ~£115, but you can get a 3850 for ~£95.

Either will be able to play new games, albeit not at high settings.

What are you on about? I have a 7800GT and it runs everything I own at 1440x900 at high detail.

Itsuru

weegie.geek wrote: »

It's true that the most common interface inside a PC is PCI, but you won't be wanting to use that for a graphics card.

You'll be looking for PCI-Express ideally, or AGP failing that. If you have neither, then you really need a new motherboard too.

I didn't bother to specify in detail :P But it's interesting to note that the cards are backwards compatiable when buying.

banger9365

backwards compatiable to what ??software or hardware ??
if you start looking at upto date graphic cards you will need a new setup nearly if you have not got PCI-E for the graphic card
put like conor says the 7800 cards will play the new games ok put not for long,because games are been made for the new cards now, you can get a buget upto date card for about £110 if you have pci-e(the very latest buget card,only been out a few weeks)
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=20539&category_id=681&manufacturer_id=0&tid=cclvalue9600gt
put you can get cheeper one's like the 8800 cards(PCI-E) or 7 series card in AGP or PCI-E and at a push 7600,8600cards top end ones for playing the lastest games (crysis,call of duty 4 ect)

DatabaseError

i have a suspicion the op is in the same boat as me, having an older pc, and a new gpu may involve a new pc (me, athlon64 3k 939, 4 ide drives, 6800agp, no sensible upgrade path that i know of)

superscaper

Itsuru wrote: »

I didn't bother to specify in detail :P But it's interesting to note that the cards are backwards compatiable when buying.

I don't understand this. If referring to the interface, PCI, AGP and PCI Express are not compatible with each other.

angel

Thanks for all of the replies.

I downloaded Belarc and it gave me a whole bunch of info! I've taken what I think that you might need to look at so that you can see what kind of things I have and what I could do to be able to play better games.

Operating System
Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (build 2600)
Processor
2.80 gigahertz Intel Pentium 48 kilobyte primary memory cache512 kilobyte secondary memory cache
MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD MS-6714 PCB 5.0Enclosure Type: Desktop
Main Circuit Board b
Board: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD MS-6714 PCB 5.0Bus Clock: 100 megahertzBIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 06/29/2004
Memory Modules c,d
760 Megabytes Installed MemorySlot 'DIMM1' has 256 MBSlot 'DIMM2' has 512 MB
Local Drive Volumes

c: (NTFS on drive 0) 80.02 GB 24.54 GB free
Display
Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller [Display adapter]Proview CY-465 [Monitor] (14.0"vis, s/n FEIC450221810, May 2004)
Other Devices
USB Human Interface DeviceIntel(R) Graphics Chipset (KCH) DriverIntel(R) Graphics Platform (SoftBIOS) DriverStandard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 KeyboardHID-compliant mouseUSB 2.0 Root HubUSB Mass Storage DeviceUSB Printing SupportUSB Root Hub (3x)