Compatible Graphic Card (Help Please)

Spence2612

New Member
Hey guys! I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to computers and such and I've had a bit of a problem lately in requiring the right graphics card that is compatible for my PC that i was wondering you guys could possible help me with. I recently purchased the Nvidia Ge-force 6 APG graphics card for my PC from "PC World", who also said that this certain graphics card would be compatible for my PC, but for some reason it didn't work properly. When i manually installed the graphics card into my APG slot and started up my PC my monitor would go into a blank black screen and all you would here are the noises from the desktop when it started up every time i tried to start up my computer with my graphics card installed into my PC, i even tried installing the drivers for my graphics card before i put it in and also tried turning of my computers inbuilt display thingy ma bob.

Now i have recently taken my graphics card back thinking that it was faulty or wasn't compatible and got my money back. I was wondering whether maybe you guys could help me search for a graphics card on the Internet that you would maybe think is compatible with my PC. All i can really do here is give you as much information about my PC as i can as i (again) am a bit of a noob with these things. Hope you can help search for a compatible graphics card guys and thanks for reading. Here is the list of my PC information that i have gathered that i thought would maybe help. P.S sorry if its in a bit of a mess or if any of this information is useless to you, i just bundled a load of information i could find together, and the last graphics card was APG and fitted ok but didn't work for some reason. Also my price range is around 50-60 or less. Thanks Again guys :) .

Windows XP Home Edition. Service Pack 1
Packard Bell
Model: ALT-C0Z
Intel (R)
Celeron (R) CPU 2.80GHz
448MB of Ram
ACPI Uniprocessor

PCI Devices Listing=
IDE cntrlr
Simple Comm.cntrlr
multimedia device
display cntrlr
ACPI cntrlr

Display Type: EGA/VGA
Cache Memory: 256k
Extended Memory: 447m
Current Display Adaptor:SiS 651C
DVD/CD-ROM Drives: HL-DT-ST DVD ROM, GSA-4120B
Handles: SiS 7001 PCI

Monitor Sh*t
Power: AC 100-240v
1.5A 50/60Hz

Hope this helps guys and thanks for reading.
 
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J_D

New Member
Do you know what your motherboard is? (make and model number)

If you dont you can find that out using free programs such as everest home edition.
 

Spence2612

New Member
Ok im now able to give you guys more information thanks to everest (thanks J_D). J_D The make of my Motherboard is aparently Unknown according to this. but the id is 08/08/2004-SiS-651-6A6IXG05C-00. Some other information i found was
Front side bus properties
bus type: Intel Netburst

????
 

J_D

New Member
Ok well that’s a shame but the ID does tell us the Chipset is a SIS one (I think). Hmm

Right well back to the problem:

Can you post back the results from the following found in Everest: (hopefully it will tell you but as it doesn't recognise the Mobo it might not provide all the information)

Motherboard / Motherboard / Expansion slots =
Motherboard / Motherboard / Integrated Devices =
Display / GPU / Graphics Processor Properties / Video Adaptor =

I just want to check what can go were and what is currently there
 

J_D

New Member
Ok no problem.

By the way I thought I might as well clarify for you the Graphics cards and there slots

Basically there are 3 types of socket:
PCI (Slowest) (Oldest)
AGP
PCI-e (Fastest) (Newest)

You don’t have to worry about the PCI one, these days unless your motherboard is very old.

PCI-e is fairly new so there is most chance your graphics socket is an AGP type.

Now in an ideal world you should be able to bang in any AGP Card in the AGP socket and it will work, (most of the time)


Reading back did you say you had another AGP Card that didn't work also?

Edit: P.S as a bit of an off topic comment but I would suggest you download and install Windows Xp service pack 2. Service pack 2 patches windows with a lot of security content etc
 
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Spence2612

New Member
Packard Bell
Model: ALTZ-COZ
Operating System: Microsoft XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack: Service Pack 1
Direct X: 4.09.00.0902 (DirectX 9.0b)
ACPI Uniprocessor Pc
CPU 2.80 GHZ
448 MB Of RAM


MotherBoard

2 PCI and 1 AGP Slot
MotherBoard Name: Unknown
Motherboard ID: 08/08/2004-SiS-651-6A6IXG05C-00
Front side Bus Properties
Bus Type: Intel NetBurst
Bus Width: 64-bit
Real Clock: 133 MHz (QDR)
Effecive Clock: 533 MHz
Bandwidth: 4267 MB/s
Chipset Bus Properties
Bus Type: SiS MuTIOL
Bus Width: 16-bit
System Memory: 448 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
Motherboard Chipset: SiS 651
BIOS Type: Award Medallion (08/08/04
Bios Manufacturer: Phoenix Technologies Ltd

Motherboard Chipset

North Bridge: SiS 651
Revision: 02
Memory Timings
CAS Latency: (CL) 2.5T
RAS To CAS Delay (tRCD): 3T
RAS Precharge (tRP):
RAS Active Time (tRAS): 6T
ROW Cycle Time (tRC): 10T
RAS To RAS Delay (tRRD): 3T
Write Recovery Time (tWR): 2T
Memory Slots
DRAM Slot #1: 256 (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
DRAM Slot #2: 256 (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
Intergrated Graphics Controller
Graphics Controller type: SiS 315
Graphics Controller Status: Enabled
Graphics Frame Buffer Size: 16MB
AGP Controller
AGP Version: 3.05
AGP Staus: Enabled
AGP Device: SiS 330 Mirage Intergrated
AGP Aperture Size: 128 MB
Supported AGP Speed: 8x
Fast Write: Not Supported
Side Band Addressing: Supported, Enabled

CPU

CPU Type: Intel Celeron D 335, 2800 MHz (21 x 133)
CPU Alias: Prescott-256
CPU Stepping: C0
Instruction Set: x86, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3
Origianl Clock: 2800 MHz
Min / Max CPU Multiplier: 14x / 21x
Engineering Sample: No
L1 Trace Cache: 12k Instructions
L1 Data Cache: 12KB
L2 Cache: 256 KB (On-Die, ECC, ATC, Full-Speed)
CPU Manufacturer: Intel Corporation

CPUID

CPUID Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
CPUID CPU Name: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.80GHz
CPUID Revision: 00000f33h
IA Brand ID: 00H (Unknown)
Platform ID: 0Fh (Socket 478)
IA CPU Serial Number: Unkown
Microcode Update Revision: B
HTT / CMP Units: 0 / 1

Physical Memory
Total: 447 MB
Used: 254 MB
Free: 193 MB
Utilization: 57%

SWAP SPEACE
Total: 529 MB
Used: 330 MB
Free: 198 MB
Utilization: 62%

Virtual Memory
Total: 977 MB
Used: 585 MB
Free: 391 MB
Utilization: 60%

Physical Address Extention (PAE)
Supported by opperating system: Yes
Supported by CPU: Yes
Acitve: No

SPD

Device Description
DIMM1: Micro Tech. 8VDDT3264AG-40BGB
DIMM2: Hyundai HYMD532 646CP6JD43
Memory Module Properties
Module Name: Micron Tech. 8VDDT3264AG-40BGB
Serial Number: 250E312BH
Manufacturer Date: Week 33 2004
Module Size: 256 MB (1 Rank, 4 Banks)
Module Type: Unbuffered
Memory Type: DDR SDRAM
Memory Speed: PC3200 (200 MHz)
Module Width: 64 Bit
Module Voltage: SSTL 2.5
Error Detection Method: None
Refresh Date: Reduced (7.8 us) Self Refresh
Memory Timings
@ 200 MHz: 3.0-3-3-8 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
@ 166 MHz: 2.5-3-3-7 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
@ 133 MHZ: 2.0-2-2-6 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)

Current Display

Windiows Video: SiS 651c
Adapter String: SiS Compatible VGA
BIOS String: 0.94.00
Chip Type: SiS 661FX Rev 00$0
DAC Type: Internal
Installed Drivers: SiSGRV
Memory Size: 64MB
PCI / AGP Video
SiS 330 Mirage Intergrated
Display Type: EGA / VGA
video adapter: SiS 651C (64 MB)
3D Accelerator: SiS Mirage Intergrated


Monitor NEC LC700

Monitor ID: NCI5025
MODEL: NEC CI LC700
Monitor Type: 17" CRT
Manufacturer Date: Week 27/2004
Max. Visble Display Size: 32 cm x 24 cm (15.7")
Picture Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Horizontal frequency: 30 - 70 kHz
Vertical Frequency: 50 - 150 Hz
Maximum Resolution: 1280 x 1024
Gamma: 2.80
DPMS Mode Support: standby, suspend, active-off
Power: AC 100-240V 1.5A 50 / 60 Hz
Supported Video Modes
640 x 480: 135 Hz
800 x 600: 110 Hz
1024 x 768: 85 Hz
1152 x 864: 75 Hz
1280 x 1024: 65 Hz
Monitor Manufacturer: NEC Mitsubishi Electronics Display

Multimedia

Audio Adapter: SiS 7012 Audio Device
DVD CD-ROM DRIVE: HL-DT-ST DVD RAM GSA-4120B

Storage

IDE Controller: SiS PCI Controller
Floppy Disk Drive: Floppy Disk Drive
Disk Drive: ST380011A (80 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)
Optical Drive: HL-DT-ST-DVDRAM GSA-4120B
SMART HARD DISK STATUS: Ok

Hope this helps! nothing came up for GPU sorry! Thanks again!
 

Spence2612

New Member
Yeh J_D i had a AGP Nvidia Ge-force 6 series Graphics card that didn't work! it may well have been faulty but im not sure! that the only graphics card i have ever bought so im not to sure whether it was or not! thanks for the help so far.
 

ADE

banned
Maybe you need a better power supply...That is a common problem for first time upgraders. Look on the requirements for the power of the card (Ex: require at least a 300W power supply (AKA PSU) etc) and see if you have a power supply that it recommends.
 

CopperKid

New Member
i have a feeling he has a foxconn mobo...
because my mobo is a foxconn 661mx with mirage integrated graphics...kinda like his
i could be wrong though :D
 

J_D

New Member
Maybe you need a better power supply...That is a common problem for first time upgraders. Look on the requirements for the power of the card (Ex: require at least a 300W power supply (AKA PSU) etc) and see if you have a power supply that it recommends.

Hmm I doubt that’s the problem, unless of course he has a PSU which is below 250Watts. Only the really new cards actually need a lot of power i.e. 8800

But yeah I think it would be a good idea to go in your case and check the label on your Power supply.

Spencer can you clarify something for me.

Do you currently have anything installed in your PCI/AGP ports?

From what I am reading it looks like you are using the integrated video chip that is on your motherboard. Yeah?


Well anyway it looks like a few things could be happening:

Worst case:
Either your AGP slot on the motherboard is busted or you were unlucky with the one you bought and it was faulty.

Or
Secondly did you go about installing it correctly?
1) Before adding the new GPU (Graphics Processing Unit = graphics card) did you uninstall the current driver for your SIS integrated GPU chip? (My uncle upgraded his Very old "PCI" Graphics card to an AGP one but on first attempt he did not uninstall the old drivers and this caused problems)
2) Physicly install the Graphics card (not the driver that comes last)
3) You may have to disable the integrated graphics chip VIA the BIOS (I think you mentioned this earlier)
4) Boot the computer and make sure you now have the Monitor cable going to the Graphics card not the Other Port further up the back of the tower (This is an easy thing to miss lol :eek: )
5)if you do get a output signal to your monitor then the first thing to do is install the latest driver for the particular model, if your card came with a Disc I would suggest not using the supplied one as it is usually a lot out of date compared to the one on the manufactures website.
6)a) If you don’t get an output firstly make sure the Card is seated correctly (if the new card has its own fan then see if that’s spinning when the computer is turned on if its not spinning when correctly seated and the computer is on, then that’s a sure sign there are more problems afoot)
b) With the computer on try switch the monitor cable back to the integrated port, does this give you a output on the monitor?

It’s a shame you don’t still have the card because it would have been useful to test. I don’t suppose you have any AGP Graphics cards lying around anywhere?

If you want to buy a card all you need to buy is an AGP socket type graphics card it SHOULD work. But then you can never tell with PC's

I take it your from England like me (Pc world) I really wouldn't buy graphics cards from them especially in store sooo much more expensive usually.

My first port of call is Novatech www.novatech.co.uk it’s a comparatively small business and is based in Portsmouth and Bristol, so it might (like me) be quite local. And their prices are normally very good too :D Their AGP NVIDIA Cards are @ http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/products/a850x1y0z1p1s0n0m0

Currently they really don’t have any 6*** cards which is a shame cause if you don’t want to break the bank yet get a fairly decent card then a 6600GT would be good. but to be fair even the 5200 (my first card) would perform better than the current integrated Mirage chip

What’s your budget by the way?
 
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