Upgrading video card in older computer...

A

atomheartmother

New Member
I've got an older computer that I'd like to do some minor (i.e. cheap upgrades) to in order to play some older games (mainly Age of Mythology). I just have a few questions about what to look for when trying to find a compatible video card. Mainly, can I use a video card that uses DDR memory when the computer uses only SDRAM? Or do I need to hunt down a video card with SDRAM?

Also, on the mother board by the AGP slot, it says "Use only 1.5V AGP cards." How do I determine the voltage of a card?

So, as long as the card is AGP 2x/4x, it should work, right?

Here are the specs on the crappy computer:

http://www.computerforum.com/register.php?a=act&u=31042&i=3785450


Here are some cheap, crappy video cards that I'm looking at:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2974653&sku=D15-9050

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102435


Thes card ae definately overkill as far as memory and whatnot, but they seem to be as about as cheap as they get.
 
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the type of memory in your graphics card is completely independent of that of your main memory. I have DDR2 RAM, and DDR3 VRAM. But out of those two cards, either will work just fine for your needs. i recommend the 7500 from tigerdirect but either will work.
 
Thanks for the replies. Another quick question:

Do I have to worry about the power supply being able to continue powering the computer well, if I add a significantly more powerful/bigger video card than what is currently in there (some crappy 16 MB card)? I'll also be adding 512 MB RAM if that matters. There are some PCI cards in there that I don't use (a modem, a video capture card, a sound card). Could removing this offset any additional power needs of the new components (even if these cards aren't used)?

One more: The computer says the video card system is AGP 2X/4X. Can it run 4X/8X? I assumed not, but one of the cards recommended in the previous reply was 4X/8X.


Finally, the motherboard has "1.5V APG cards only" printed on it by the AGP slot. Are all AGP cards 1.5V by standard, or do I need to be careful about this? How would I find out the voltage?


EDIT:

I ended up going with the video card from TigerDirect (the 128MB Diablo one). I hope it works well.
 
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you would have been better getting the 6200 or the 9550 but youve got the 7500 now so it doesnt matter.

how did it go?

everything working ok?
 
OK, I've got it in and it seems to be working fine. I haven't tried any games out yet as I haven't recieved the RAM chip yet.

Anyway, how do I go about updating the drivers? The manufactuer website is no help and there is no update driver link anywhere on the computer.
 
hermeslyre said:
Heh I automatically assumed you meant a Geforce 7500.

http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html
Click to expand...


Oh. I tried doing that one (the Catalyst thing), and it didn't work. It said driver could not be found part when it began installing and then said something about connecting it to a traditional VGA something or another. I just have a regular old CRT monitor hooked up, so there should be no problem there.

The current drivers that came with it seem to be working fine, so I'll leave it alone until I have problems, I guess.
 
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