I need some help looking for the right graphics card...?

Question

I need a new graphics card for my computer, and I was looking at some. I read somewhere that not all graphics cards work with all computers; how do I know if a potential match will work on my computer?

I only need about a 128-256MB card.

AHA! I have a PCI Bus! And my computer's old. Thanks!

AHA! I don't have a PCI bus. It's an AGP. As for the make/model, I have no idea, really. It's an amalgamation of parts. It's a Packard Bell plastic case (hah.), Seagate 160GB hard drive, mystery motherboard, S3 ProSavage 32MB graphics card, and that's as far as I know.

And I found a possibly good card. I needed the new card for gaming (as well as a needed update), and I found an old ATI Radeon 9600 graphics card that uses AGP. The Radeon works perfectly with Halo, too! Yay.

*Edit* I needed the Not-so-new but still useful card to play a not-so-new game.

Oh, and the Radeon's a 128. What a great update from a 32MB.

Answer 1

You don't have a lot of options for a PCI card - you're sure you don't have a PCI-E or AGP slot??

If you don't, you're best bet would be an nVidia FX5200 PCI card. The only other real option would be an ATI 9250 PCI. Both of these are 128MB cards, and can run most games released before about 2004.

If you want something better then this, you'll have to replace your motherboard, which will probably mean replacing your CPU, and your RAM, and . . . well, you get the picture.

Answer 2

almost every PC has a pci bus it is slow. Is there not an AGP slot for sure? What kind of computer do you have? make/model..

Answer 3

you need to know what graphics card your computer can take, here are the choices,

PCI-E
AGP
PCI
ISA (highly doubt it)

Most PCs will take a PCI card, but you should buy one that your board can take. I would say if its old, then just buy a whole new computer, it its fairly new then its probably PCI-E. All depends.

Answer 4

Decide what you need it for (games, graphics etc.) then check newegg.com