Hey im not really good with computers and i want to change my graphic card so i want to confirm is my graphic card slot PCI?And wheather it is intergrated or not so if anyone can help me ill be gladful. =) Thx!
Here is a pic:

Well that looks like Onboard graphics i.e on the motherboard, which I have on my 2350 dell dimension. You should be able to add a PCI graphics card, or you might find a better slot inside i.e AGP or PCIE. I know some entry level dell models used onboard graphics BUT had an unused AGP slot inside.

I'd suggest either post the precise model type for the computer or have a look inside. You should see a bank of PCI slots which may be taken up with modems, USB etc cards. If you also see a slot close to them but of a different length and with a plastic latch mechanism at one end you may be in luck.

My computer model is the Compaq Presario SR1360CF

Well according to HP :
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...dlc=en&lang=en

You have a PCI-E *16 slot inside, which is good as you can pretty much use any current graphics card that supports PCI-E

2 things I'd check though.

1) I'd have a look inside just to be sure. If youwant to post a picture if you're not sure what you're looking for

2) Boot into the BIOS and see what options you have for primary graphics device, I'd expect you may have an option to use either onboard or PCI-Express as the primary.

If you can confirm the above you don't need to worry about the archaic world of PCI graphics cards (unless your REALLY want to that is )

Erm..Btw may i know how do you boots into the BIOS? Sorry im kind of dinosaur with computers =X
And btw thx for the help =]
If needed i might open up my computer and check it xD

Well it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. from memory I think my old Compaq was hold down F2 during boot up. You may briefly see a message regarding this when you see the Compaq logo during a normal boot. Also sometimes holding Esc down during boot can get you to the BIOS/Setup screen. If You get the Windows XP banner you've gone too far, but let it boot normally and shut down gracefully, then try again.

You need to be fairly careful in the BIOS as it controls disk allocations and lots of other things, so if you accidentally change anything make sure you don't save your changes at exit from the BIOS (it normally asks you if you want to save Y/N)

Checking inside involves shutting down, turning off the power and normally just sliding back a side panel. Sometimes you need to unscrew a screw on the back, but it's pretty easy. You just need to look and see what's inside without touching anything

I checked my setup at the start when windows is starting. I have an option thing where i can choose PCI , PCI-express , onboard. Does this mean that i have PCI-express slot as well?

It certainly suggests so. Me, I'd prefer to see it too, but I think you are , as we English say "quids in" i.e. you are lucky enough to have a motherboard with PCI-E support, which means you have the widest choice of graphics card

Hehe ic. Thx for all the help really appreciate it a lot =]
Btw i checked its under BIOS Setup Utility ---> Primary Video Adapter and i have those 3 options.
But i am most likely goin to open up my CPU and check =]
Thx alot hhehe

@jives11 stop quoting the post just before yours. As that is the post that you are replying to anyway!!

@hollowreed it's confirmed, you HAVE pci-express. That's it ! Now go buy a comatable card, or take it to a computer tech shop and buy one through them (they will usually mount it for 5 to 10 dollars (if you buy from them)

No quote required!

I'm pretty sure i could run the 8500GT with my 90PSU. Every card which i had ran perfectly on this computer which only has 90PSU. The requirements for PSU are kinda incorrect. My Geforce 6200 runs fine and the temps says at 43 or 50, sometimes it goes up to 54 one time, but other then that, 90watts gets the job done.

Btw, " hollowreed " have fun shopping for a new powerful but cheap PCI-E video card

Hmmm, not sure we are talking about the same thing here. I doubt you could find a modern PC ATX PSU of less than 250 Watts, and typically I'd suggest at least 400 Watts when you are using DVD combo, couple of disks and a Graphics card. Do you mean 90watts for the card on top of the , say, 250 Watts provided by the PSU ?

Jives since your the only one who has gotten the 8500gt pci card....would you prefer the 8500gt or the x1550 pci card?

I have had this computer for over 6 years, windows98se edition, using 90watts and it still works like perfect , and it still blows out cool air all the time. I have use graphic cards from the 7000radeon , 9250 card, the geforce 5200fx, the geforce 5500fx which i am using now and the crap *** bfg geforce 6200 card. I have a dvdcombo drive, plan on upgrading to a dvd/writer, etc.

90watts gets the job done. I think this PSU was meant to be in this computer and work well with the computer despite what i am using.

I guess I can use quotes here

I can't answer your question as I have no experience of a 1550, sorry, but I have tended to stick to nVidia cards over the years. No real reason now I come to think of it. I'd suspect that it's broadly similar. The 8500GT is definitely better than the PNY 6200, which is now up on ebay. Not only reflected in the 3dmark03 score, but in real life gaming. My son was playing STALKER at maximum detail and resolution and it was running fine (P4 2.6Ghz, 1Gb). last night he was on HL2: "Gary's Mod" and it looked stunning

Well we had our first BSOD last night while running HL2 Garys Mod. The offending driver was the NV4_disp.dll . the machine is running with the latest nvidia driver 169.21. Could be the driver is unhappy with the PCI-PCI bridge ? Also could be either a cooling issue or a PSU one. I have a 400 Watt supply and a small case fan blowing out next to the massive heatsinks on the 8500GT. After the reboot , speedfan reported the VGA core was 54 degrees C, I'm guessing this is not that high for a GCPU ?
Anyhow I have ordered one of these to blow directly onto the heatsink
http://www.advancetec.co.uk/acatalog...4090504%2ehtml

As a precaution I've also stopped running power strip and PCI latency, even though they were both running with the defaults (no OC)

BTW I decided to blog the odyssey of my dell dimension 2350 here http://mr-ives.blogspot.com/ You can see the size of the 8500GT occupying 2 PCI slots in the picture

Why aint they selling this card in the US, at nationwide stores?

Going to buy the evga version of the 6200 256mb card today, and i will let you know how it works. Its not a OC card, which i think is good, but it has higher specs then the bfg version. I just hope it works better!

peace

Hello all. I came across this thread in a web search for PCI cards. This thread is awesome and very informative, it helped me find the vendor I ordered my 8500 from (off eBay). I ordered the 8500 GT PCI today and I will tell you all how it rocks when it arrives from the UK. Thank all!