which vga upgrade for my system

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someoneelse

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i stumbled on this website while trying to find help on video cards

the first thing id like help with is to find out about my computer(3 year old hp pavilion 725n) i dont know anything! (i guess i could just open it up and find out :rolleyes: ) i need a grafics card that supports hardware transform and lighting (T&L) ill probably get Evga e-GeForce FX 5500 w/ 128MB but i dont know if should get PCI or AGP. i also dont know the watts my psu has and i need 250. ill guess ill eventually need to know how to disable the integrated grafics too. (geforce 4 mx integrated gpu)

thanks for reading and i hope someone can help me
 
You can probably go to HP's website to find out about your PC. You can also check the documentation that came with it. If you have an AGP slot, get an AGP video card.
 
thanks ill see what i can find out about my pc, but i dont expect anything :(
it also seems (from reading other threads) that i also need to find ou if i have 2x 4x or 8x AGP slot
 
Just run DxDiag in the RUN window (if you're running XP) to find your AGP port or boot into BIOS and check it there.
 
As your PC is over three years old I'd open it up and have a look (you're going to have to do this to put the new card in anyway). If there is a slot offset to the right (usually brown but can be other colours) above the PCI slots (normally cream coloured) you have an AGP slot.
However I looked on the HP website and it would appear that you have 3 PCI and one AGP (probably 8x but HP aren't exactly helpful) on this PC and integrated Geforce 4MX graphics.
 
i did open my pc and visit the hp site but neither gave me info on the watts my psu supplies (and dont want to get a new one)
dxdaiag does not say the kind of agp slot it is and its probably 4x or 8x so a 4x/8x card will work
thanks both of you :)

does anyone konw what WHQL is? :confused:
 
I forget what the exact acronym is (WHQL) but is smthg like :
Windows -Hardware-Quality-lab. In short it just means the driver has been qualified by M$ techs to operate properly in the Windows OS environment.

You are correct an X8 AGP card will work fine in an X4 slot. The Watts of your PSU should be written on the label itself. It should look like 400W, 12V-20A, 5V-35A, 3.3V-5A., as an example. The 400W is the total watts.

Cheers
 
on the back of my pc it sais:

AC input 100 - 127 V~ 4.0A
50/60Hz 200 - 240 V~ 2.0A

so is it the 100 or the 200? (only 100 watts?)

oh no!!! :'( that...SNIFF....means.....SNIFF......NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

thank u.....SNIFF......for ur......SNIFF........help!


(how do u open the BIOS?......SNIFF)
 
AC input 100 - 127 V~ 4.0A
50/60Hz 200 - 240 V~ 2.0A

That is just the input voltage for your power supply, infact, thats a standard for all power supplies. North america uses 120Volts, which is the power you get at the wall in your house. The wattage rating should be somewhere else on the power supply, normally places make the wattage rating part of the model number eg. ATX300Wxxxxx and so on. Power supplies are dirt cheap now so if you ever need to, you can upgrade it for almost nothing.
 
cman21 is correct that's just the AC input info. Sorry, you can find the label on the inside, take your left side off the case (when facing it at the front). ( The label you read is the back of the PSU so you were close but I can't give you a cigar. ) It will either be on the side of the PSU facing u or on the top. If on top, then u'll have to unscrew the 4 screws from the back outside and carefully tilt the PSU to see it. You don't have to unplug any internal connections, just make sure the PC is off and unplugged.
 
Make sure the PC is off, unplugged, then press the power switch to discharge and residual juice left in the PSU as you'd be suprised how much some of these units hold.
 
i looked closer this time(i didnt need to tilt the psu) and it says the output is 200w
i guess a grafic card that needs 250w wont work. i see if i can find a cheap psu on new egg. if i get a 300w psu it will have enough power.
 
Yes any standard ATX form PSU will.
Use this link to calculate how much wattage you need. A cheap PSU will only give 70% continuous power from what it's label says. Ex 400W=280W continous. But if you buy a good PSU, like OCZ, Antek and some Thermaltak models the continuous power it the rated label power. ie. 400 =a true 400W.

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp
The link above calculates your continuous power need.
 
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