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SirDrago
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 Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 3:29 pm Post subject: |
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| tuschinski wrote: | Dear Goathead,
As most said, it is most probable that the horrible videocard (onboard=bad) is the only problem.
I don't want to alarm you, but as you have an integrated graphicscard you should check (manual of his HP?) if you have an AGP slot.
If so, take it to asmall shop (boutique?) and get a decent videocard. My suggestions would be:
Ati Radeon 9800 Pro AGP
Nvidia 6600GT AGP
One of these should cost between 150-200$
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Hm at newegg.com they have GF 6800 for around 250 dollars and the performance in comparision to the GF 6600 is much better.
I assume strongly that he has an AGP slot. From my knowlegde all
motherboards for a p4 have an AGP slot.
I would also advice you to bring the PC to a shop where they can install the grapic card for you. It`s not hard but if someone has no knowledge / experience it`s better to do it that way. |
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tuschinski
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:23 pm Post subject: |
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| SirDrago wrote: |
Hm at newegg.com they have GF 6800 for around 250 dollars and the performance in comparision to the GF 6600 is much better. |
The 6600 is easier to find and a lot cheaper. I advice him to buy the card in a shop and let them install it for them. Buying a card online almost certainly is a nono for small boutiques to install... or they will dock him for that. Marketprice in small shops for the 6800 AGP (if you can find them) is not that good afaik
Also... the shop can check if your powersupply can take the load of the videocard.
| Quote: |
I assume strongly that he has an AGP slot. From my knowlegde all
motherboards for a p4 have an AGP slot.
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Hehehe... no way. It seems he has an office pc with integrated graphics. I have a few HP P4's here at work(note that he has an Athlon, not a P4).. none of them has an AGP slot. So he should check. (and thats hoping he doesn't have a fancy HP halfheigth desktop... but let's not muddle it more).
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I would also advice you to bring the PC to a shop where they can install the grapic card for you. It`s not hard but if someone has no knowledge / experience it`s better to do it that way. |
Last caveat... will this void his warranty? |
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SirDrago
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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| tuschinski wrote: |
Hehehe... no way. It seems he has an office pc with integrated graphics. I have a few HP P4's here at work(note that he has an Athlon, not a P4).. none of them has an AGP slot. So he should check. (and thats hoping he doesn't have a fancy HP halfheigth desktop... but let's not muddle it more).
Last caveat... will this void his warranty? |
hrhr no AGP slot... wow great mainboard i assume... i guess they put all the crap in there as long as it`s cheap....
Btw if theres no AGP slot, i hope that there is space for an AGP card. I remember my g/f had an HP and that cases was so small... nothing more would fit in there.
I assume that the warranty will void. But he can either have a crappy PC or trying to improve it. |
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luckybaer66
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:56 pm Post subject: |
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Goathead,
I don't think there is any reason for you to return your PC or pay anyone to work on it. Installing a graphics card is pretty easy, and you get to determine what you want to put in your PC.
Here is a link to a site that will help to take the worry out of messing with your PC: www.mysuperpc.com
I recently opened up my son's 2-year old Sony Vaio to upgrade its video capabilites. Like your HP, this box had a crappy SiS video integrated onto the motherboard. Turned off the PC, disconnected all cables, opened up the PC, located the AGP slot, gently inserted an ATI Radeon 9550 card, closed the PC, connected all cables, turned on the PC, and let Windoze XP recognize the new hardware. From there, all you need to do is insert the disc that comes with the video card so that the drivers and other key software are installed.
The whole process takes about 30 minutes. |
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Brian
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:31 pm Post subject: Re: |
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| Quote: | | I don't think there is any reason for you to return your PC or pay anyone to work on it. Installing a graphics card is pretty easy, and you get to determine what you want to put in your PC. |
Just make sure you have an AGP slot before you buy the AGP card to fill it. Some motherboards that have onboard video don't bother giving you an AGP slot. In those cases, your only choice is a PCI video card.
Another thing to consider is that some PCs won't recognize the new video card until you've went into the device manager in Windows and disabled the onboard card. I had a Compaq several years agol that required a Bios update before is would disable the onboard card and allow me to use the new one.
B. |
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SirDrago
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 7:04 pm Post subject: Re: |
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| Brian wrote: | | Quote: | | I don't think there is any reason for you to return your PC or pay anyone to work on it. Installing a graphics card is pretty easy, and you get to determine what you want to put in your PC. |
Another thing to consider is that some PCs won't recognize the new video card until you've went into the device manager in Windows and disabled the onboard card. |
errr you need to disable an onboard graphic card always in the BIOS.... to disable it in windows doesnt really help. |
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PiratesFan
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 7:42 pm Post subject: |
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THat would be correct Sirdrago... if you don't disble it in the bios you could have IRQ conflicts or worst... no video ... |
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luckybaer66
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| Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 8:21 pm Post subject: |
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Guys you are right. I get this myopic view of things only because I build my own PCs and can actually get into my BIOS at start-up. I had to struggle to figure out how to access the BIOS in the one PC we have in the house that was not built from scratch.
I'm certainly no genius, but one thing I am passionate about is convincing folks out there who do lots of things on their PCs that are demanding - video, audio, gaming, database, hardcore number crunching, etc. - to build their own PCs. I learned the hard way after I went through boxes made by IBM, HP, and Sony about how crappy some of the installed components were. Lousy motherboards, integrated graphics, low-quality RAM, loud hard drives with small buffers - Arrrrrgh!!! Even though it does take time and effort to research the components that will work together well in a PC, I'll bet that most people in this forum will find the effort worthwhile.
Anyway, good luck to Goathead. I hope that he can get whatever ails his PC corrected so that he can enjoy Pirates! |
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SirDrago
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| Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 6:21 am Post subject: |
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| luckybaer66 wrote: |
I'm certainly no genius, but one thing I am passionate about is convincing folks out there who do lots of things on their PCs that are demanding - video, audio, gaming, database, hardcore number crunching, etc. - to build their own PCs. I learned the hard way after I went through boxes made by IBM, HP, and Sony about how crappy some of the installed components were. Lousy motherboards, integrated graphics, low-quality RAM, loud hard drives with small buffers - Arrrrrgh!!! Even though it does take time and effort to research the components that will work together well in a PC, I'll bet that most people in this forum will find the effort worthwhile.
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I agree with you 100%. Prebuild PC`s are crap and too expansive anyway. |
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tuschinski
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| Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 12:47 pm Post subject: Re: |
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| SirDrago wrote: |
errr you need to disable an onboard graphic card always in the BIOS.... to disable it in windows doesnt really help. |
Well... thankfully if you plug in an AGP card it automatically should disable the Integrated GPU(Motherboard makers seem to learn stuff!). As there can only be one AGP connection (be it slot or integrated) this is a GOOD thing:) |
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luckybaer66
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| Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 3:41 pm Post subject: |
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I've upgraded 4 PCs from integrated graphics to video cards with either Nvidia or ATI chips. All 4 PCs were Windows XP (some SP1 and others SP2). I've never had to disable the onboard graphics via the BIOS. Perhaps in older versions of Windows, maybe? |
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SirDrago
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| Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 7:04 pm Post subject: |
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| luckybaer66 wrote: | | I've upgraded 4 PCs from integrated graphics to video cards with either Nvidia or ATI chips. All 4 PCs were Windows XP (some SP1 and others SP2). I've never had to disable the onboard graphics via the BIOS. Perhaps in older versions of Windows, maybe? |
As i said, windows has nothing to do with it. probably the bios switched it automatially. |
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Captain Hooked
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| Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 4:51 am Post subject: VAIO huh??? |
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For everyone's collective amusement...
I bought a new graphics card today just to run Pirates! faster. I have a 2 year old VAIO. I uninstalled my old card in windows, put the new card in, booted it up, installed the drivers; couldn't run pirates due to a directX error (which didn't happen before). I messed around with some of the windows settings and now I can't boot up even is safe mode. I guess I'll try the BIOS when I get home...
It'll all be worth it if those god-damn city battles will go faster than snail's pace! |
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sky
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| Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 7:10 am Post subject: |
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I never did it on my own, but some time ago i read that it is difficult to exchange e.g., a graphics card with NVidia (GForce) chip with another one that has an ATI chip on it (or vice versa). What I heard from people who tried to do it, they didn't get their system running properly and finally had to re-install their operating system. I'm not sure, but I guess that was/is mainly a Windows 2000 issue. Maybe with WinXP such an exchange works better...
So, which card did you have before, and which one are you using now? Would be interesting... |
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SirDrago
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| Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 8:11 am Post subject: |
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| sky wrote: | I never did it on my own, but some time ago i read that it is difficult to exchange e.g., a graphics card with NVidia (GForce) chip with another one that has an ATI chip on it (or vice versa). What I heard from people who tried to do it, they didn't get their system running properly and finally had to re-install their operating system. I'm not sure, but I guess that was/is mainly a Windows 2000 issue. Maybe with WinXP such an exchange works better...
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Hm that sounds wrong. The only problem that could appear is if you don`t deinstall the video drivers from the old card before you install the new card. Then there could be some problems. I only speak about XP here because i don`t have experience with Windows 2000. |
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