Aces High Bulletin Board
Help and Support Forums => Technical Support => Topic started by: RTR on May 15, 2004, 12:51:08 PM
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Here's the specs on my crapola desktop.
Emachines T2642
intel Celeron 2.6 GHz
256MB Ram (DDR)
Intel 82845 graphics controller (on board..sucks)
Seems to me that I should still be able to install a better video card, and disable the onboard video.
However, being computer illiterate, I have no idea what video card would be a passable choice here. Nor do I know, or understand the difference between AGP or PCI, and how would I find out which I would need?
I'm not looking to turn this into a monster machine, just get it playable for AHII. (It is after all a pretty low end system, and not worth redoing totally).
Any advice out there?
Cheers, and thanks in advance :)
RTR
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PCI slots are usually white, AGP slots are usually brown. The one you need to look at is usually the one at the top of the board nearest the cpu and power supply. You'll have to open up the case to tell for sure, and you can also see if the computer manual has a section on upgrading the video card if you still have the manual. You may also be able to contact emachine's customer support and see if they have information on your specific computer's video card upgradability, but realize they might give you a generic and incomplete answer because sometimes the tech support people know less than you do about computers.
If you have a PCI slot, you can get a reasonably cheap PCI video card for about $50. Get either an Nvidia FX5200 pci or a GeForce4-MX PCI. Either should run under $80ish with the Geforce4-MX being cheaper.
If you have an AGP slot, you can get any AGP video card that your budget allows. In this case, avoid the geforce MX cards because you can get a lot better card for not much more money. An ATI radeon 9600, 9600pro, 9600XT, etc. should cost just a bit over $100 and will be pretty nice. An Nvidia 5700 card can also cost just a bit under $100 and would be nice too.
Shop around and see what other people have to say.
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Thanks for the quick reply Orig :)
Looks like it is do-able.
How about disabling the on board video, is there anything I need to do there?
Cheers, and thanks again
RTR
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You might have to go into BIOS and disable the onboard video. When you boot the computer, there is usually a little message that says something like "hit del key to enter setup". You just hit that key and look through the available options to find where to disable the onboard video. Again, the manual would help and there may be online help available from emachines.
The key to enter setup is usually either F1 or Del.
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RGR Orig, thanks for the info.
Think I can find everything else :)
Cheers and thanks again
RTR
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RTR i just rebuilt my pc and added a new graphics card atiradion 9600, as I have never done any thing like this before and was changeing the motherboard too i took a big risk.
I wont say it went easy I had some problems with the video card drivers, but now i got a good machine for ah2 just took some time.
MIne was trial and error but if i can do it you sure can:) :cool:
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hehe thanks for the boost in confidence Rogerdee.
You have no idea how much of a putz I can be with this stuff
Cheers,
RTR