Removing And Adding A New Graphics Card

[aaron.abstract]

Great guide ^_^ 10/10

 

[Fury's Punisher]

Woah, cool. I had never known how to do this. Thanks

 

[odt]

Not a bad guide there's some stuff you've missed out, maybe you could add it?

Like this only works for a desktop.

 

[Illegal Socks]

Thanks for this very helpful!

 

[Hello Miss799]

5/10 you left out some very important details....

Okay, say you bought your computer with onboard video and you want to upgrade to an actual video card. So you install a new fancy video card, connect your monitor up, and I GUARANTEE you the monitor would show nothing!

You have to configure settings in the BIOS before the video card will actually work!

Some video cards are not compatible with some motherboards. Older motherboards may not have a PCI-E slot, and PCI-e is the standard primary video card slot these days.

Most new video cards these days also require a certain PSU, don't expect to get a 8800GT and have it work on a 200W psu. Make sure you PSU has a PCI-e power connector as well.

Get the facts first before you write a guide!

 

[Desir0]

Its an Ok guide, Not brill.

In the first pic, It appears one of the screws you boxed is a PSU screw, You don't need to remove that, its just usually thumbscrews that need removing.

Also, Your Graphics card was a PCI one, But as Hello Miss stated, PCI-e is now the normal graphics card slot, so already the guide is outdated. Plus, for really old computers AGP was used, So.. another problem

You havn't mentioned anything about getting new drivers for it, Configuring it in the BIOS, or even connecting the graphics card up with the power connector. Plus theres no mention if someone is wanting a crossfire or SLI set-up.

Again, As hello miss stated theres also the PSU concern. Alot of the pre-build computers have basic cheap power supplies, that are bare minimum for what the computer requires, Putting a half decent Gpu in most the pre-build machine will blow the whole computer at Load Power.

You have missed out so many key points in your guide, That i can't give you more than a 5/10. I have given 5 because the bits you have included, Have been 'fairly' clear.

 

[heavy_lift]

Thanks helped alot.

 

[Power of Truth]

I would rather not recommend a PCI graphics card, unless you only need minor uses (such as no more than 2048x1536@50-60Hz res), since most PCI graohics cards don't have dual link DVI's (30" LCD's need them for native res, 2560x1600), and the PCI bus can only be a maximum of 33MHz, and most graphics cards, even cheap old ones, run well over that (usually 200-300Mhz for the really cheap ones). Like someone else said, it would be much better if you had an AGP slot (8x is for video cards, and runs at 533MHz) tutorial, or even PCI-Express (1.25GHz) or PCI-E 2.0 (2.5GHz), seeing as they're the current standard. That would make it less likely for the less computer-savvy to accidentally waste their money on products their slots can't fully use to it's potential.

Also, like Desir0 stated, drivers installation and BIOS settings (to turn off on-board video for compatibility reasons) are a must.

If I were to rate it, I'd give you a 3/10.

6/10 for clarity; you need to show a little more of what you do.
3/10 for information; you boxed the Power Supply screws as needing to be unscrewed when that's totally untrue.
1/10 for detail; you totally forget about drivers installation, BIOS, and even compatibility. This is the worst part, especially since there are games that can't be maxed out without DirectX 10. You also needed to explain why DirectX and OpenGL are used and what they are, and classifications of memory, why more is sometimes better, and other times not worth the price, and an explanation of input (such as VGA, DVI, SPDIF, HDMI, etc), even if just a touch, would have been nice. Another thing that would be appreciated would have been which cards to look for. Most cards over $600 are workstation cards, and are usually poor at gaming, so an explanation of why they're not meant for standard personal use (unless large, 10GB+ 3D design projects are standard) would be a plus. Setting the power supply up for the cards is yet another skipped step. Most new video cards today use their own power connectors, where even a mention would have made a lot of difference.
2/10 for layout; it just isn't appealing and makes it harder to absorb the information. This isn't as important as above, but it's still a big factor when reading. At least there were pictures present instead of a giant wall of text, so I gave you an extra point.

 

[1337it]

You need to add the different slot, like others said, find out the types of GFX cards the mobo can handle, the latest drivers how to, if they need to install anything from a disk..

And where you say make sure its been unpluged for one or two days WTF? Turn off the power, unplug it, leave it for 30secs, then its right.

 

[Jagex Fails]

good guide i love the pics

 

[The True Gears]

You realize your "old graphics card" is an ethernet chip, right?

 

[Drag0nz Dealer]

10/10 helped me in stall my new geforce

 

[Bbri06]

In your picture you have the screws holding your power supply in place boxed in red as ones to unscrew, I believe. There should be no need to unscrew those to get your case open.

 

[It wasnt my fault]

nice

 

[Renegades009]

I must say after building multiple computers, this guide isn't detailed enough to go step by step if you have no previous knowledge. You dont need to unplug it for a day nor do you need a static wrist strap as long as your careful. You also have the wrong pci slot circled the black one should be, no one uses pci cards anymore.

I rate 6/10 for the effort.