Slaytounge
New Member
Okay so what do I need to look into and how do I find it to be able to get the graphics card I want? Like say I want NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX. What do I need to look for to know that I will be able to use it on my computer?
What does it take to get a new graphics card?
- Thread starter Slaytounge
- Start date
Dropkickmurphys
New Member
Start by posting the specifications of your computer, your Power Supply wattage and your budget and we can help you from there 
Slaytounge
New Member
Hmm, could you be more specific lol I know just about nothing of computers. Where would I get the specifications you need?
Is its a OEM computer, whats the brand and model. If its a built computer install something like CPUz or PC Wizard and tell us what Motherboard it has. Open the case and the Power Supply should have a label on the side with the make and model.
Slaytounge
New Member
Yes, OEM.
System Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion
System Model: KC787AV-ABA-d4996t
So is this what you wanted?
System Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion
System Model: KC787AV-ABA-d4996t
So is this what you wanted?
Slaytounge
New Member
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6850 @ 3.00GHz, 3000 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
ScOuT
VIP Member
A couple things to consider.
The ammount of space in your case. Make sure you get the measurments from inside your case. That will determine what card you can even put in the case.
From that point you can look at cards that will fit. Once you find some...people can help you pick the best one.
Once a card is picked...then we will have to look at power supplies to run a new graphics card. Any newish graphics card will also need a power supply upgrade also. The HP power supply will not push the card.
The ammount of space in your case. Make sure you get the measurments from inside your case. That will determine what card you can even put in the case.
From that point you can look at cards that will fit. Once you find some...people can help you pick the best one.
Once a card is picked...then we will have to look at power supplies to run a new graphics card. Any newish graphics card will also need a power supply upgrade also. The HP power supply will not push the card.
Aastii
VIP Member
Your motherboard has a PCIe x16 slot, which is what all modern graphics cards use
Your motherboard is also mATX though, which would mean your case is probably smaller too, so you won't be able to get a large video card. I can't find the size of the case, but if the size of your motherboard is anything to go by, it is small
Also, your Power Supply is only 350W, and as it is OEM, it will be a pile of crap, so you will need a new power supply also
Your motherboard is also mATX though, which would mean your case is probably smaller too, so you won't be able to get a large video card. I can't find the size of the case, but if the size of your motherboard is anything to go by, it is small
Also, your Power Supply is only 350W, and as it is OEM, it will be a pile of crap, so you will need a new power supply also
Okedokey
Well-Known Member
which just to be very clear, probably wont fit in your current case so you will need a new case too. Any graphics card you put in that computer will need a new PSU btw (and case probably).
Slaytounge
New Member
Seriously I have no idea how to do any of this. I think you guys are mistaking me for someone who knows things about computers. How do I get a new power supply? Please make a post that someone would get even if they have never touched a computer before. Obviously I have but I know nothing of the building world of computers or wtf is even in them.
Aastii
VIP Member
Your motherboard is mATX, which stands for micro ATX. ATX is the industry standard. All ATX cases can handle mATX motherboardsboards, but only mid ATX or full tower ATX cases can handle full ATX size motherboards.
The motherboard is the main circuit board. I have put a picture below all of this writing with a picture of one, annotated with numbers. When a number is put in bracketts, that is refering to the picture, so you can see what I am on about. Everything goes onto the board, your processor, memory, video card, cables to hard drive, optical drives and expansion cards/devices (card readers, extra USB ports, fan controllers etc)
The place where the video card goes on the motherboard are called lanes (1, 2 and 3 in the picture). There are several types, howeveron newer boards you will generally only see PCI (1) and PCIe (2 & 3). Older boards will have AGP, however that has now been phased out, no new cards are made in that format and very very few motherboards are made with AGP slots.
In an earlier post I mentioned that your motherboard has a PCIe x16 slot. The x16 indicates the speed, that is the fastest. There are x2, x4, x8 and x16. They are all cross compatible, so an x2 card will work in any of the others, an x16 will work in any etc etc, however most of the time you won't be able to fit a larger card in a smaller port because of the shape of it on the board, it will have a plastic "border" which obstructs the card from going into the slot.
On the picture, 2 is a PCIe x2 and 3 is PCIe x16. You can tell because of the length. If you were to get a video card, it would go into the longer x16 slot.
4 and 7 are where your power goes. 4 is the power for your processor. You will notice there are 8 little squares (pins), however some motherboards come with only 4 pins instead. To keep costs down power supply manufacturers produce what are called 4+4 or 8-4 connectors. This just means that there are 2 seperate connectors, both 4 pins (hence the 4+4 and 8-4). 1 can be used on its own if the motherboard has a 4 pin CPU power port, or both can be clipped together to create an 8 pin cable. So, if you see a power supply advertised as 4+4 or 8-4, it will work with all ATX specification motherboards, be it mATX or ATX.
7 you will notice is much larger. There are 2 variations of this one as well, 20 pin or 24 pin, and again, power supply manufacturers produce what are called 20+4 pin connectors, or 24-4 connectors, again to keep costs down and for greater compatibility. This connector powers your entire motherboard and everything on it. It gives power to your memory, all of the chips on the board, to the expansion cards (the ones that go in the PCI and PCIe lanes) and to the ports on the back (your USB ports, firewire, keyboard and mouse etc).
5 is the CPU socket, your processor goes here. They all look similar, however some have differences depending on whether it is an Intel or AMD processor and which particular socket the motherboard has.
6 is where the memory does, they are called DIMM ports, DIMM lans or DIMM slots. DIMM stands for Dual In-line Memory Module. You will notice that there are 2 different colours. This is because motherboards now have what is called dual channel memory. This means if you have 2 of the same coloured slots filled by the same standard memory memory (same speed, timings, power etc) they can work in dual channel, which is faster than single channel. You can run the memory as a single stick in single channel, or as 2 single channel memory modules in the different coloured slots, however this is slower, or you could have 3 slots filled, so 2 in dual channel, 1 in single channel, or you could have all 4 filled for 2 lots of dual channel. Some Intel motherboards (socket 1366) have triple channel, which is even faster, they will have 3 memory slots the same colour.
You usually name the slots as they come away from the CPU socket. So it would go 1, 2, 3, 4 with 1 being the one closest to the CPU socket, and 4 being the one furthest from the socket.
8 and 9 are now starting to become rarer and rarer and almost obselete. 9 is a floppy connector, which is where the cable goes from your motherboard to your floppy disk drive. Very old
8 is called an IDE port. IDE was the standard before SATA (will mention it later) and all hard drives and optical drive would use it as a connector. However SATA is faster, so just about all hard drives now are SATA, and the number of optical drives which have IDE connectors are now becoming fewer and fewer.
10 are the SATA ports. These are where your hard drive(s) will plug into, as well as possibly your CD/DVD drive depending on whether it has a SATA connector, or IDE.
You also asked about power supplies. As much as people will say the CPU is the heart of a computer, or the motherboard is, that isn't the case, the power supply is. It doesn't do any of the calculations, but as the name suggests, it supplies power to your computer, and it isn't like the kettle lead which plugs into your computer where each one is the same, they are all different, some are better than others, some are very very bad.
As a guideline, go with the "better" brands, which include:
Corsair, XFX, Silverstone, Seasonic, Be Quiet!, Antec, BFG, Thermaltake, Enermax, PC Power & Cooling and OCZ.
Some of those have bad units in their line up, for instace apart from the Toughpower series, the other Thermaltake PSU's (power supply units) are rubbish, and OCZ units are ok if you are on a budget, but aren't as high quality as the other units in the list. The lower end Be Quiet! units aren't all that good either.
When I mentioned your PSU earlier I also mentioned wattage. That is the maximum power output of the unit. However, this isn't always a good indicator of the amount of power it can actually output. There are what are called rails on the power supply, and there are different ones, +3.3V, 5V, +12V amongst others. It is the 12V rails that you want to be looking at. Some units have more than one 12V rail, while others have a single, dedicated 12V rail.
Each rail, as well as having a voltage, will have a certain number of Amps. Higher quality units will tend to have more Amps on the 12V rail(s) than on the others. To work out the total number of amps on a PSU with multiple 12V rails, you do not simply add them together though. The unit will have an overall power output for each rail. The overall output for the 12V rail is usually combined
Let us say, as a simple example, there is a unit with 500W output on the 12V rails, and it has 4 12V rails. The total output is 500W, you would divide that by 12.
500/12=41.66666666...
So it would have ~41 amps combined on the 12V rails.
The reason that you need a new power supply because you are upgradeing your video card, or want to, is because the video card draws alot of power. I said earlier when explaining the power connectors to the motherboard that the large 20 or 24 pin connector will power the PCIe lanes, where the video card goes. This is partially true, however alot of video cards now have power connectors on the board, as the PCIe lane can't supply enough to the card, so it must have its own dedicated power input from the power supply.
These connectors are called PCI power connectors, and following suit, there are 2 types, 6 pin and 8 pin, and once again, some power supply manufacturers produce 6+2 or 8-2 connectors for their units.
Finally what you must takeinto consideration is the saze of your case. Video cards are pretty big things. Your gaming video cards range from ~7" in length to around 1 foot (12") so they need alot of space to fit in, which your case probably doesn't have, and also your case will have to suport the size of the power supply, which yours probably doesn't. As with the case and the motherboard, power supplies have an ATX industry standard too, but alot of manufacturers of pre built systems, like HP, Dell, Acer etc have different shapes and sizes to the standard, and some of the connectors are different too.
This is probably all too much information to take in at once, but put simply, you will need a new case and power supply, as well as your video card. If you provide us with a budget and which country you are in, we can help you to find the best you can get for your money. You can then refer to the "how to build a computer" thread, here:
http://www.computerforum.com/104641-how-build-computer-step-step-photos.html
for how to put it all together
The motherboard is the main circuit board. I have put a picture below all of this writing with a picture of one, annotated with numbers. When a number is put in bracketts, that is refering to the picture, so you can see what I am on about. Everything goes onto the board, your processor, memory, video card, cables to hard drive, optical drives and expansion cards/devices (card readers, extra USB ports, fan controllers etc)
The place where the video card goes on the motherboard are called lanes (1, 2 and 3 in the picture). There are several types, howeveron newer boards you will generally only see PCI (1) and PCIe (2 & 3). Older boards will have AGP, however that has now been phased out, no new cards are made in that format and very very few motherboards are made with AGP slots.
In an earlier post I mentioned that your motherboard has a PCIe x16 slot. The x16 indicates the speed, that is the fastest. There are x2, x4, x8 and x16. They are all cross compatible, so an x2 card will work in any of the others, an x16 will work in any etc etc, however most of the time you won't be able to fit a larger card in a smaller port because of the shape of it on the board, it will have a plastic "border" which obstructs the card from going into the slot.
On the picture, 2 is a PCIe x2 and 3 is PCIe x16. You can tell because of the length. If you were to get a video card, it would go into the longer x16 slot.
4 and 7 are where your power goes. 4 is the power for your processor. You will notice there are 8 little squares (pins), however some motherboards come with only 4 pins instead. To keep costs down power supply manufacturers produce what are called 4+4 or 8-4 connectors. This just means that there are 2 seperate connectors, both 4 pins (hence the 4+4 and 8-4). 1 can be used on its own if the motherboard has a 4 pin CPU power port, or both can be clipped together to create an 8 pin cable. So, if you see a power supply advertised as 4+4 or 8-4, it will work with all ATX specification motherboards, be it mATX or ATX.
7 you will notice is much larger. There are 2 variations of this one as well, 20 pin or 24 pin, and again, power supply manufacturers produce what are called 20+4 pin connectors, or 24-4 connectors, again to keep costs down and for greater compatibility. This connector powers your entire motherboard and everything on it. It gives power to your memory, all of the chips on the board, to the expansion cards (the ones that go in the PCI and PCIe lanes) and to the ports on the back (your USB ports, firewire, keyboard and mouse etc).
5 is the CPU socket, your processor goes here. They all look similar, however some have differences depending on whether it is an Intel or AMD processor and which particular socket the motherboard has.
6 is where the memory does, they are called DIMM ports, DIMM lans or DIMM slots. DIMM stands for Dual In-line Memory Module. You will notice that there are 2 different colours. This is because motherboards now have what is called dual channel memory. This means if you have 2 of the same coloured slots filled by the same standard memory memory (same speed, timings, power etc) they can work in dual channel, which is faster than single channel. You can run the memory as a single stick in single channel, or as 2 single channel memory modules in the different coloured slots, however this is slower, or you could have 3 slots filled, so 2 in dual channel, 1 in single channel, or you could have all 4 filled for 2 lots of dual channel. Some Intel motherboards (socket 1366) have triple channel, which is even faster, they will have 3 memory slots the same colour.
You usually name the slots as they come away from the CPU socket. So it would go 1, 2, 3, 4 with 1 being the one closest to the CPU socket, and 4 being the one furthest from the socket.
8 and 9 are now starting to become rarer and rarer and almost obselete. 9 is a floppy connector, which is where the cable goes from your motherboard to your floppy disk drive. Very old
8 is called an IDE port. IDE was the standard before SATA (will mention it later) and all hard drives and optical drive would use it as a connector. However SATA is faster, so just about all hard drives now are SATA, and the number of optical drives which have IDE connectors are now becoming fewer and fewer.
10 are the SATA ports. These are where your hard drive(s) will plug into, as well as possibly your CD/DVD drive depending on whether it has a SATA connector, or IDE.
You also asked about power supplies. As much as people will say the CPU is the heart of a computer, or the motherboard is, that isn't the case, the power supply is. It doesn't do any of the calculations, but as the name suggests, it supplies power to your computer, and it isn't like the kettle lead which plugs into your computer where each one is the same, they are all different, some are better than others, some are very very bad.
As a guideline, go with the "better" brands, which include:
Corsair, XFX, Silverstone, Seasonic, Be Quiet!, Antec, BFG, Thermaltake, Enermax, PC Power & Cooling and OCZ.
Some of those have bad units in their line up, for instace apart from the Toughpower series, the other Thermaltake PSU's (power supply units) are rubbish, and OCZ units are ok if you are on a budget, but aren't as high quality as the other units in the list. The lower end Be Quiet! units aren't all that good either.
When I mentioned your PSU earlier I also mentioned wattage. That is the maximum power output of the unit. However, this isn't always a good indicator of the amount of power it can actually output. There are what are called rails on the power supply, and there are different ones, +3.3V, 5V, +12V amongst others. It is the 12V rails that you want to be looking at. Some units have more than one 12V rail, while others have a single, dedicated 12V rail.
Each rail, as well as having a voltage, will have a certain number of Amps. Higher quality units will tend to have more Amps on the 12V rail(s) than on the others. To work out the total number of amps on a PSU with multiple 12V rails, you do not simply add them together though. The unit will have an overall power output for each rail. The overall output for the 12V rail is usually combined
Let us say, as a simple example, there is a unit with 500W output on the 12V rails, and it has 4 12V rails. The total output is 500W, you would divide that by 12.
500/12=41.66666666...
So it would have ~41 amps combined on the 12V rails.
The reason that you need a new power supply because you are upgradeing your video card, or want to, is because the video card draws alot of power. I said earlier when explaining the power connectors to the motherboard that the large 20 or 24 pin connector will power the PCIe lanes, where the video card goes. This is partially true, however alot of video cards now have power connectors on the board, as the PCIe lane can't supply enough to the card, so it must have its own dedicated power input from the power supply.
These connectors are called PCI power connectors, and following suit, there are 2 types, 6 pin and 8 pin, and once again, some power supply manufacturers produce 6+2 or 8-2 connectors for their units.
Finally what you must takeinto consideration is the saze of your case. Video cards are pretty big things. Your gaming video cards range from ~7" in length to around 1 foot (12") so they need alot of space to fit in, which your case probably doesn't have, and also your case will have to suport the size of the power supply, which yours probably doesn't. As with the case and the motherboard, power supplies have an ATX industry standard too, but alot of manufacturers of pre built systems, like HP, Dell, Acer etc have different shapes and sizes to the standard, and some of the connectors are different too.
This is probably all too much information to take in at once, but put simply, you will need a new case and power supply, as well as your video card. If you provide us with a budget and which country you are in, we can help you to find the best you can get for your money. You can then refer to the "how to build a computer" thread, here:
http://www.computerforum.com/104641-how-build-computer-step-step-photos.html
for how to put it all together
Slaytounge
New Member
Wow man thanks, I definitely feel I have more of an understanding about this now. So I live in the US and I'm looking to spend less than 500 dollars with the graphics card, case, and power supply...hopefully. So, what power supply should I get that will work best with my new graphics card and what size of case should I get?
So tell me if I got this right. In order to get my new graphics card I will have to; take my case off, remove my old graphics card, plug in my new graphics card in the correct place, remove my PSU, insert my new PSU, then put it all in my new computer case?
After typing that I feel as though my knowledge of this process went down...significantly. Tell me, is what I typed right?
So tell me if I got this right. In order to get my new graphics card I will have to; take my case off, remove my old graphics card, plug in my new graphics card in the correct place, remove my PSU, insert my new PSU, then put it all in my new computer case?
After typing that I feel as though my knowledge of this process went down...significantly. Tell me, is what I typed right?
Aastii
VIP Member
yes.
You will have to take everthing out of your current case, which is your hard drive(s), optical drive(s), power supply and motherboard. You will have to take your video card out to get the motherboard out, but usually you can get away with leaveing your CPU and memory in.
Try not to take your CPU heatsink off though, if you do that you will have to go and get some 90%+ isopropyl (rubbing alcohol) and some new thermal paste. The alcohol would be used with a lint free cloth or coffee filters to clean the old thermal paste off, and the new thermal paste would go on. Thermal paste is a good conductor of heat which you put on your CPU before mounting the heatsink. Because neither the surface of the heatsink, nor the surface of the CPU are totally flat, they have little scratches and ridges, air would go between those gaps, air being a very poor conductor of heat, which would make the chip get too hot. You put the thermal compound on there to fill those gaps, so the conduction of heat is much better than having it with air in those gaps.
Once you have all of your components out, put them in the new case, make sure everything is hooked up correctly, and you are good to go
You will have to uninstall the drivers for your old video card though, and install the drivers for the new one. Will explain how in a moment.For $500, you can actually do a near full system upgrade. You can get your Case, PSU and videard, however you can also get motherboard, memory and CPU which would be better than what you currently have. Bare in mind you can also sell your current system for a couple hundred $, so then if you wanted you could get a new hard drive and dvd drive too and have a complete new build.
If you want to get just your video, case and power supply:
Video card + power supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.493756 $210
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112238 $80
total $290 before MIR
$260 after MIR.
You will notice alot of budget left over. Your motherboard supports Intel Core 2 Quad processors, so you could
get:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115043
too and that would put you at $490. However, Intel Core 2 Quad processors are epically overpriced now, as well as becoming outdated as socket 775, the one which you have and the one which that processor is for, is no longer being used. There would be nowhere to upgrade to in the future.
If you want to do a full upgrade with future upgradeability:
Same video card + power supply
Case + Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.492939 $138
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131657 $90
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103706 $90
total comes to $528 before MIR
$498 after MIR
If you sell your current system, you can probably get around $200 for it, so now with your budget being $700 I would upgrade the motherboard and CPU I put to
motherboard + CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.486632 $275
and also get:
Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181 $55
DVD Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039 $18
Total comes to $696 before MIR
$676 after MIR
You will have to get an operating system on top of that remember, so that may set you back ~$100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754
that can be saved elsewhere though. If your current system were to sell for $270+, it won't be a problem, you can get the complete system I posted above, otherwise, drop it down to:
motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130293 $80
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103871 $105
Which would put it under $700, and much better than the computer you have now
=EDIT=
I said I would explain drivers. If you rebuild the entire system, it isn't a problem at all, just install the video card drivers and the rest of the drivers that come with the parts.
If you decide to just upgrade your video card, power supply and case though, you would have to uninstall your old video card drivers.I am going to assume you took my advice for case, power supply and video card.
Right click my computer and click properties (note, on this screen it will tell you if you have a 32 bit or 64 bit operating system. Remember which you have). If you are on XP, Click the hardware tab at the top, then click device manager. If you are on Vista or 7, in the bar on the left it will say device manager. Click that. A new window should appear.
Go to display adapters. and right click your video card. Click uninstall. You will be asked if you really want to. Click yes.
Shut down your computer and put your new video card in. It should have come with a driver disc. You can use that to install your drivers, or alternatively, go to the nvidia website to get them:
http://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk
Install them, restart your computer again, and you are good to go
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