Don't know much about video cards so if anyone could help me out that would be great?

Question

I need to know which video card is compatible with a computer that has a PCI slot in order to play the sims 2 seasons

Also do i disable the video card i already before i install a new one

does the video card have to pci compatible

i have a PCI video card slot does that mean i have to get a video card that is pci compatible or can i get an AGP or VGA

Answer 1

Kathy

You seem to be confusing some terms

Video cards come in four flavors: integrated, pci, agp and pci-e.
You mentioned you need to disable the existing video card so I'm assuming yours is integrated (with your motherboard). Check your motherboard specs or If you see a different looking slot next to the PCI slots you might have a spare AGP or PCI-E slot. These slots provide a better connection with your motherboard. If all you have is PCI slots, then your only option is a PCI card.

There are two major chip manufacturers for gaming video cards ATI and Nvidia. Both are very good. Now there is a number of manufacturers that use ATI and Nvidia chips in their products.

I would recommend that you buy a GeForce (Nvidia chip) 7000 series or higher. The 7600GT has a good price to performance ratio. There are several thngs you want to look for in a GPU

The chip speed (Core Clock in Mhz) look for 400 or better
The amount of memory (MB) look for 256
The memory type/speed (DDR2 or DDR3)
The number of bits (look for 128 or 256)
The number of pixelpipelines (the more the merrier)

So setup a price range that you are willing to pay and start comparing the specs of video cards in that range.

Another aspect you might want to evaluate is the noise it will generate (Fanless=no noise, Big quality fan and heatsink=little noise), small cheap fan on a tiny heat sink=lots of noise). And you should also check your power supply specs against the video card recommendations.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

First, do you know if its a PCI slot or a PCI-E slot? There's a big difference.

Here's a list of compatible video cards for Sims2 Seasons:

http://thesims2.ea.com/help/detail.php?help_id=280

To be on the safe side, if you've never replaced a video card, its best left to a computer technician.

Answer 3

Well, any video card that is made for PCI slots will be compatible.

But it will not run it very well.