Could some one advise me on the differences between graphics cards. I want to upgrade mine but I dont know the first thing about them. Also chip sets, their all a bit mind boggeling to me. Any help would be most welcome.
2007-09-02 23:00:24 · 5 answers · asked by king_sigh 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Other - Hardware
Easier to help you if only you posted your PC first.
PC Graphics:
1. Integrated or onboard (part of the motherboard chipset)= good for 2D (office applications) and video but slow for 3D (games). Shares with system RAM. This gets automatically disabled once you plug in a discrete graphics card on a graphics expansion port (AGP or PCIe).
2. PCI graphics card (different from PCIe)= expensive but SLOW. Useless for many current games
3. 8X AGP card= faster than above even in games, has its own memory
4. x16 PCIe card = fastest gaming cards are in this format
2007-09-03 00:52:03 · answer #1 · answered by Karz 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The type of graphics card you need depends on the type of thing you use your computer for, Nvidia are leading the way with graphics cards at the momment so I will use them as examples.
For basic systems that do not play games and / or run Windows XP the 8400GS is cheap and cheerfull.
For basic games the 8500GT is a fair card.
More advanced games or games that are new out would need something more powerfull like the 8600GT or 8600GTS.
The cards up from these are more for hardcore gamers ie the 8800 GTS 8800 GTX and 8800 Ultra.
Hope this helps
2007-09-03 06:10:36 · answer #2 · answered by Jenny O 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you want to upgrade your graphics card you need to find out what kind of slot you have, there are 2 kinds AGP, and PCI ExpressX16, the PCI Expressx16 is the faster and newer one, then you can go to somewhere like www.newegg.com and read reviews of the cards, so long as they are the same slot they will work. You can look at pictures or if you have your motherboard model you can look that up, if you have the motherboard manual it will say in there also.
Chip sets are just things to do with your motherboard, you dont need to worry about those.
2007-09-03 06:09:30 · answer #3 · answered by applebeer 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My advise to you is not to upgrade until you know what your requirements are, might end up wasting money on a fuction that you'll never use. Upgrading anything is pretty much useless unless you know why you want to get somewhere faster, increase stability for longer, etc
2007-09-06 08:15:51 · answer #4 · answered by John H 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Afraid not - know about fish & chips though
2007-09-03 06:05:14 · answer #5 · answered by BonBon 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋