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Author Topic: need a little help with pc issues  (Read 543 times)

Offline Pooface

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need a little help with pc issues
« on: September 09, 2005, 10:19:12 AM »
i know  a fair thing about puter but need help with this; im thinking about buying a new vid card, but im confused as to the whole chipset thing.

do i need to buy a chip that matches my pc, or is chipset like an interface thing??? i wouldnt want to spend a ton of money on a new card, to find it doesnt work. if there are problems like this that i need to consider is there a diagnostic that i can run to tell my pc's settings and stuff?  

ty in advance,

     poo
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Offline Schutt

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need a little help with pc issues
« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2005, 11:23:13 AM »
Now, in theory you should have either AGP or PCIe slot on your motherboard. If you buy the corresponding type of video card it should work.

Why should? because there are some uggly side effects. You need a big enough power supply to feed the card, if the card has no external power connect you can run into trouble with your motherboards voltage regulators being overloaded. But unlikely.

You need some air ventilation in the case and a not to high temprature in the case. If that is not the case need to rearange cables /stuff, and get a extra case fan or replace/move the esixting one.

You need to check if your motherboard is "video card friendly". What i mean is some motherboards have components placed in the area that on the achsis of the graphics slot. Some graphic cards now are a bit wider/lower so these components collide when you slot in the card.

Usually it fits and works, but when you install the card watch closely if anything would collide. If that happens you should be able to get a diffrent card from your vendor.

Bottomline:
When you have the slot on the motherboard and juicy enough power supply you should be good, just with 2 slot cards or some rare cases of motherboard/cooler/card combo you can have physical problems, as in two materalistik items can not be in one place.

Electronically usually no problem, no matter which card.
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Offline Pooface

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need a little help with pc issues
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2005, 12:51:36 PM »
my pc is almost brand new and everything, it owns as it is, but i wanted to go up to 256mb or 512mb from the 128mb vid card i have now. i saw on amazon the whole pci agp thing, and was just wondering whether there was a way of telling which i need.

ty anyway for that schutt:aok
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Offline OOZ662

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need a little help with pc issues
« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2005, 04:25:04 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Pooface
my pc is almost brand new and everything, it owns as it is, but i wanted to go up to 256mb or 512mb from the 128mb vid card i have now. i saw on amazon the whole pci agp thing, and was just wondering whether there was a way of telling which i need.

ty anyway for that schutt:aok


PCI are generally farther back, white, and longer slots.

AGP sits father forward, is just above the PCI slots, and are brown.

I've never seen a PCI Express slot before.

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A Rook who first flew 09/26/03 at the age of 13, has been a GL in 10+ Scenarios, and was two-time Points and First Annual 68KO Cup winner of the AH Extreme Air Racing League.

Offline Ack-Ack

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need a little help with pc issues
« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2005, 10:03:18 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Pooface
my pc is almost brand new and everything, it owns as it is, but i wanted to go up to 256mb or 512mb from the 128mb vid card i have now. i saw on amazon the whole pci agp thing, and was just wondering whether there was a way of telling which i need.

ty anyway for that schutt:aok



Look in the Device Manager and see if you have  a listing for an AGP to PCI bridge.  If you do, then you have an AGP card. You can also look in your BIOS for and see if you have an AGP aperture setting.  If you do, then again you have AGP.


ack-ack
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Offline Pooface

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need a little help with pc issues
« Reply #5 on: September 10, 2005, 05:40:48 AM »
how do i get into the device manager ackack, and ty everyone, big help:)
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Offline OOZ662

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need a little help with pc issues
« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2005, 11:44:16 AM »
Right Click on My Computer>Manage>Device Manager
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A Rook who first flew 09/26/03 at the age of 13, has been a GL in 10+ Scenarios, and was two-time Points and First Annual 68KO Cup winner of the AH Extreme Air Racing League.

Offline Pooface

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need a little help with pc issues
« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2005, 12:20:45 PM »
oh great, its pci.

ty very much:aok
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Offline JTs

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need a little help with pc issues
« Reply #8 on: September 10, 2005, 08:54:44 PM »
that mean its pci-e?
« Last Edit: September 10, 2005, 08:57:14 PM by JTs »
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Offline Fry

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need a little help with pc issues
« Reply #9 on: September 10, 2005, 11:15:44 PM »
If I recall correctly, AGP slots are brown and PCI are white...usually.  If a motherboard (MB) has an AGP slot, ususally there's only one.  As for PCI slots, they range from 2 to....I've seen 4 on a MB, myself.

Click here to see what a PCI slot looks like...it's the top picture.

Click here to see a picture of an AGP slot... the second picture.

And as far as I know, the chipset on the videocard really has nothing to do with the chipset on your MB.  Just be sure that the videocard can handle T&L (transform and lighting).  I think that's an AH2 requirement.  All GeForce (Nvidia) cards from the GeForce2 and higher all have T&L.  I'm not familiar with ATI cards to give you any info there, but I'm sure a quick search on these boards could help you out.

To get a very detailed output of what's on your PC and what you have configured, click on Start, then click on Run.  In the Open field, type in dxdiag and press OK.  Once it completes, you can save it as a text file by pressing the Save All Information button.  That comes in handy if you need to send your PC's info for support.
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Offline Max

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need a little help with pc issues
« Reply #10 on: September 11, 2005, 05:54:41 AM »
FRY!!!

Noticed the name and then the -SW- tag line! Damn!!! How are ya? Have you bumped into the other AW/Mac'ers? Ren, Coach, BB, Dano, Fool (rare) and yours truly, Mad Max :)

Cya up.

DmdMax
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Offline Fry

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need a little help with pc issues
« Reply #11 on: September 11, 2005, 10:55:26 AM »
Hey Mad Max!  Boy, all the old timers are coming out of the woodshed now, hehe.  How've you been?  I've been doing pretty good now that the wifey has "forced" me to get some "me" time....lots of stress of work and a couple of new kids over the years.  So AH it is:aok

I've not see any of the MacAWers up, but I've seen a few posting every now and then.  I finally sold my 11yo Performa this summer for a wopping $35, hehe.  There went my last touch with MacAW ...but I still do have saved somewhere all my related webpages saved somewhere:)

Funny thing is that the MacAW mailing list is still active every now and then.  Not much, but folks do keep in touch after all these years....boy, going on 9 or 10 years now;)

Hey, I got to go, but I'll look for you.  I'm flying Rooks for now:-)

Watch yer six!
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