Is it worth 'upgrading' my pc?

Hi all,
Can any of you tell me whether it's worth me (or even if it's possible) upgrading the video card? My PC is around 5 years old, ancient in computer terms but it works very well for what we require except in this one thing.
It plays most of the (admittedly older) games but the ones that start with XP as the oldest compatible OS are starting to say we need a better video card.
I have tried to find out what it has inside, you can tell I'm a real techie can't you:wallbang: but even if something says xxxxvideoxxx I don't know what it means. I'm not sure if I'm even looking in the right place on the PC?
Is there any way I can tell exactly what I have and if I can just fit another card rather than replacing the whole tower? Don't know what needs to be compatible with it, if anything.
If so, any idea what the cost is likely to be? Would have to get it fitted too.
Any advice would be very welcome.
Thanks all,

cheers

 

my son is a pc fundi ... he recently upgraded his older pc by buying a motherboard off ebay ... cost £160 but has loads of RAM etc ... then he bought a CPU and then a graphics card ... now he wants a new case .... it never ends (I pay everytime)

My pc is about 10 years old, and am due for an upgrade, my son wants to 'build' me one ... but think I'll buy a used laptop off ebay as it will work out much cheaper ... a good spec one (that was really good 2-3 years ago sells for cheap and does the job)

 

borrowers, you can't add another video card, you have to change the one that is there because there is only the one graphics card slot on the mother board.

The motherboard is where everything else connects to

To find out what you have is easy, do this.


start>settings>control panel>system>hardware>device manager>display adaptors

that then tells you what you have.

you may also want to see How to change a graphics card

(First one I found)

__________________________________________________________

2nd hand laptop

Me, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. Once its own integral mouse has worn out you have to use a plug in mouse, (no longer a laptop then is it) Also the battery may be on its last legs, a flat battery can bring down the power supply, so stop it working, average laptop life, 3 years, get a new one, or better still get a tower, you can easily change he parts

 

Hi borrowers-

You will find the requirements for the video games printed on the packet of the game itself.

You may find that your video card doesn't match the ideal requirements or the central processing unit (CPU) is not powerful enough.

Changing the video card is not a big deal. It is a matter of unscrewing maybe one screw, slot the old card out, put the new in. In the above video you don't actually get to see clearly the part which
has to slot in the "socket", which is the most important detail to understand how easy it is. It can only slot in one way. Don't try to force it any other way.

Changing a CPU is a bit more laborious, but can be done.
Make sure that the power plugs are plugged in securely (you will have to push a bit), but make sure that you push the correct way.
(If you install a more powerful cpu you will find beneficial to have one extra fan inside the tower)

if you watch the two videos below one after the other you will have much clearer ideas.

Video Card Requirements | eHow.com

How To Install Or Change My Computer's Power Supply (Installing Computer Parts)

PS just a reminder that video card and monitor work jointly. Without a good video card, a good monitor will not provide satisfying results and viceversa.

 

Upgrading your graphics really depends on your current system - ie is the graphics onboard? or are they handled by a seperate card (either PCI(e) or AGP). PCI cards are the norm now, and AGP is really never found on modern motherboards. On modern motherboards you can (motherboard depending) install a maximum of 2 PCIe graphics cards working in tandem to boost performance, which also means more money for the cards!!!

If you want to know if your system can play a game before you go and spend the money buying it...
Systems Requirements Lab, creator of Instant Expert Analysis
This site lets you select a game title, then analyses your system RAM/CPU graphics etc, and let's you know if it will run - and importantly how well it will run (ie might run but with reduced visual effects only)
It's worth noting that upgrading your graphics card might not work as expected - if you don't have enough RAM games wont work as expected, as they need to buffer huge amounts of data into ram to boost performance. Without enough RAM you would see 'stuttering' effects as the game runs, pauses to catch up and runs again...
Crucial memory has a tool on their homepage that lets you select your system and tells you what memory you need to buy, as well as the maximum memory you can install on your motherboard.
RAM Memory Upgrade: Dell, Mac, Apple, HP, Compaq. USB drives, SSD at Crucial.com/uk
RAM should usually be installed in matching pairs (ie 4Gb as 2x 2Gb sticks)

A good place for PC components is Ebuyer Cheap Laptops, Computers and Cheap LCD TVs | Ebuyer.com
Used them for years for components, upgrades etc and never had a problem...

You don't say what make/model your PC is, so it's hard to say what is inside the box, and whether you can upgrade it. Its not just what free sockets are available, you need enough power from the PSU to drive newer cards (not enough power can cause blue screen of death in windows, and kernel panics in Linux). You cannot upgrade the graphics on a system with onboard graphics (all you can do is change the amount of shared memory in the BIOS)...
If you need a faster CPU or more CPU cores (ie Dual to 4/5-core) you may need a new motherboard as it may not be able to drive the new processor. Again this can be checked by checking the manufacturers spec for the board before upgrading.
Again this brings me back to the PSU - if it's not pushing enough watts out, then it needs an upgrade too.
It's worth noting that today it can be cheaper to buy a new tower, rather than sourcing the parts (you can buy a tower without the moniter etc quite cheaply). EBuyer recently had a "Predator" machine going cheap (£400 compared to £550 in PC World) which I advised my brother in law to get as it was cheaper than upgrading his dell.

Doing an upgrade is easy, cards are designed to fit one way only, and as long as you take anti-static precautions, and don't try to force anything to much then it's a bit like plugging a plug in (sort of).

Its worth noting that the games that are currently in production are designed to run on graphics cards we can't even buy yet - the main reason we get machines with dual graphics cards, 5Tb drives and 10Gb of RAM for a "bargain" £3000, just so we can play patience
If you pay someone to install the parts, I'd use an independent PC shop and NOT the over priced, mask wearing retail park versions - these smaller shops tend to be run and manned by ahem, Geeks who know what they're doing


SF

 

Wow, thanks everyone. I've just had a quick look at your suggestions and am currently picking the pieces of my head from the kithen walls & ceiling,
Seriously, I will have another look later when I have more time but meanwhile thank you so much.
You lot are awesome!

cheers

 

Hi borrowers!

I've just finished building myself a budget PC after the old trusty Dell Inspiron 1525 went caput so I know how daunting it can all be! I highly recommend aprogram called Speccy (http://www.piriform.com/speccy) which a user called judderman recommended on a another thread (thanks for that!) it's created by reputable UK company and it looks like a good easy way to find out what's in your box:WINK1:
SausageFingers has given you some good advice and Ebuyer is definitely a good place to look for parts as that's where I got all the bit's for my PC

It's would also good to know what you use your PC for? is it just a bit of lite Internet and Email? or are intending to watch High Definition Videos and play the latest games I find that the biggest difference someone can make to an old PC is Ram (also called Memory) and is what your computer uses as temporary storage for running programs among other things

 

If your machine is about 5 years old, it will have one of two kinds of slot for the video card that were prevalent around that time.

You need to work out which of the two standards (of the day) it uses.

If it was top of the range at the time, it is likely to use a connector standard called PCIExpress (sometimes listed as PCIE or PCIX for short).

If it was not top of the range at the time, it will be AGP.

If its PCI Express, you will be able to get a pretty good graphics card quite cheaply, that will be capable enough for all but the newest games.

If its AGP, you will still be able to get a half decent card quite cheaply, but it will probably be a bit more limited in its capability.

Important note, it is not necessarily as simple as buying a new graphics card. There are other things you need to know before you replace anything in there.

Perhaps most importantly, there are power requirements. Graphics cards are in fact fairly powerful computers in their own right (they have their own CPU, memory, BIOS etc), and as such, they use quite a lot of power. Your PC will have a power supply in it that will have a maximum power rating that would have suited the way it was built, and had a bit of spare capacity left over for some upgrades. 400W power supplies were common back then, but some were as low as 220W. A hardcore gamer would choose a PSU that was capable of much more than 400W in order to power all the top of the range upgrades.

If you put in a beefy graphics card without checking its power requirements, there is a high chance that your PC will just refuse to work, as the power drain causes the voltage to drop too low. It is almost as likely that damage will result.

Kind of related to that is that things that use a lot of power also generate a lot of heat. You'll need to know that your PC case has adequate cooling to shift the extra heat generated in a more powerful graphics card. If your PC's cooling isn't up to the job, damage from that alone is unlikely, but you won't get the performance increase you're after. That's because most graphics cards have temperature sensors on them, and they limit themselves if they get too warm, in order to prevent overheating.

In summary, its easy to do if you know all the considerations. If you don't know all the ins and outs, its best to either get a shop to do it or just move them machine down the hierarchy and buy a new one for yourself.

 

You and me both!! Eyes glazed over fairly quickly too....

 

When I was told the graphics card on my beloved old Dell had 'died', the man to whom I entrust such things explained what was involved in replacing it - before doing any repairs he likes to ensure you fully understand (so that you can make an 'informed decision' about whether to go ahead). I did my best to look as though I understood .... in truth I think I nodded off somewhere along the way and just bought a new machine!

 

'Beloved' and 'Dell'. Two words I never expected to see in close association.

 

I personally happen to quite like Dell's and when they do offers you can actually sometimes get quite a bargain and there quality is getting better all the time

 

Have two dell bells running Gentoo Linux and never had a problem. Last time one crashed, was in the days of Windows, and those days are gladly a long way behind now

If you've ever played an old Atari console, or Megadrive or SNES and the like, then installing a GPU is just like plugging in the cartridge, except you just have to take the lid off first

SF

 

Yes I have to say I don't miss using windows much at all not since I discovered Ubuntu 6.10 a few years ago and now use Linux Mint Debian