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Author Topic: Can I get a new video card?  (Read 11491 times)

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Ruse

  • Guest
Re: Can I get a new video card?
« Reply #15 on: November 15, 2006, 02:30:02 AM »
My Bad :(

Track



    Apprentice

    Re: Can I get a new video card?
    « Reply #16 on: November 15, 2006, 06:11:39 AM »

    You have a motherboard with Intel 865G chipset.
    Every motherboard with this chipset has an AGP x8 expansion slot.

    Since ur CPU is a good one and will not be a serious bottleneck towards even high-end graphics cards today, and because u do not actually have a graphics card i would suggest that u buy an AGP graphics card. (You can also upgrade to 1024MB of RAM, but u will be fine with 512MB for now. in any case the graphics card comes way first)

    This will not only give u a serious boost in games, but since the graphics "chip" that u have right now is actually TAKING ur system RAM, ur performance in just abt everything will increase.


    Reply to this post with the budget u have for buying a graphics card and i will tell u what to buy.
    That's Right, I am a Graphics Card Expert!

    Snellejanus

    • Guest
    Re: Can I get a new video card?
    « Reply #17 on: November 15, 2006, 06:37:31 AM »
    @soybean:

    yes, I've opened my case before to look for slots, and I made a picture of it (though it's not a very good one):
    http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/2360/compmt0.jpg

    On the left by the arrows you can see 2 white slots, so that must be PCI slots? I think the bottom one has my wireless card in it. You can't see it on the picture, but both of them are connected to some 'thing' on the left which extends to below where it is inserted in a 3th white slot (sorry if this sounds confusing). I actually don't understand this, because according to my Everest report, I have 3 PCI slots of which one is occupied, but as I see it 2 of them are occupied?

    In the middle by the other arrow you see a black slot, I don't know what that could be?

    You can't see this on the picture, but left below there are 2 very long white slots which are occupied. I don't know, but I'm guessing these are my memory cards?

    I don't think I can see any other slots, is there any particular place where it should be?

    By the way, I just got a message from some other guy saying he was 100% sure I have an APG slot. I only told him about the 'Expansion Capabilities PCI, AGP, USB'-line in Everest, and my computer specs. I'm waiting for a reply as to why he's so sure.

    Snellejanus

    • Guest
    Re: Can I get a new video card?
    « Reply #18 on: November 15, 2006, 06:44:06 AM »
    @track, thanks for your reply! I didn't see it yet when I posted my previous message..

    So I'll ask you too: if you look at the picture in my previous post, do you know where I can find that AGP slot?

    About my budget: I'm not really sure yet. I'm just a student so not too rich ;)
    I also have no idea what these video cards cost. The PCI cards soybean pointed out were very good in price, but I'm guessing AGP cards are more expensive? From what price on can I expect a decent performance?

    soybean



      Genius
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    Re: Can I get a new video card?
    « Reply #19 on: November 15, 2006, 09:55:24 AM »
    Quote
    You have a motherboard with Intel 865G chipset.
    Every motherboard with this chipset has an AGP x8 expansion slot.
    Track, where is the AGP slot?  I don't see it in that image he posted, and I don't believe he has one.
    « Last Edit: November 15, 2006, 09:56:12 AM by soybean »

    Track



      Apprentice

      Re: Can I get a new video card?
      « Reply #20 on: November 15, 2006, 12:19:39 PM »
      IBM, until recently has made whole PC's by themselves. This means that they manufactured pretty much every piece of that PC. They moddled each part onto the inside of the case as they saw fit.
      The wierdest thing that came out of this were the motherboards - http://www.westworldcomputers.com/images/A20/systemboard/12P3288.gif
      Because they werent mass producing these motherboards for seperate purchases, the motherboards only the design on the PC they were building.

      Not only is IBM's hardware "deformed" but also, there is no markup of it anywhere. Since the motherboards were specially made, they are not registered on any motherboard database and so werent the PCs themselves. I have searched for IBM components before and found little results, even on Wikipedia. IBM's site no longer features anything but servers but some time..

      In wich case, i cant make head or tails of what i see in the picture. The motherboard extends to more than one surface and so the PCI slots are vertical and not horizontal as in all PCs.
      There is no sign of the CPU (wich dosent make much sense to exsist in an IBM PC) and since there is no order to the way the PC is put together in the case, there is little i can understand from that picture.


      However sure i may be that ur PC is build with the Intel 865G chipset, what i can see from the "Everest" diagnostic, the picture, and the fact that IBM creates their motherboards to their liking (and so even though every other 865G motherboard has an AGP slot, this one might not), that u do NOT have an AGP slot. The manufacturer can TAKE OUT anything they want, its putting stuff in that is hard because the chipset dosent support.
      At first i thought the only way to rule out the AGP slot, was if we were looking at the 865G's evil step brother, the 865GV wich has all the exact same features but WITHOUT an AGP slot, but since IBM is it's own god, who knows what mosters it could cook up..

      This is what my AGP system looks like:


        [ System Slots / PCI 1 ]

          System Slot Properties:
            Slot Designation                                  PCI 1
            Type                                              PCI
            Usage                                             Empty
            Data Bus Width                                    32-bit
            Length                                            Short

        [ System Slots / PCI 2 ]

          System Slot Properties:
            Slot Designation                                  PCI 2
            Type                                              PCI
            Usage                                             Empty
            Data Bus Width                                    32-bit
            Length                                            Short

        [ System Slots / PCI 3 ]

          System Slot Properties:
            Slot Designation                                  PCI 3
            Type                                              PCI
            Usage                                             Empty
            Data Bus Width                                    32-bit
            Length                                            Short

        [ System Slots / AGP ]

          System Slot Properties:
            Slot Designation                                  AGP
            Usage                                             In Use
            Data Bus Width                                    32-bit
            Length                                            Short


      As u can see, there is mention of the AGP slot.

      The ONLY thing that would have me think that u DO have an AGP slot is this:
      Expansion Capabilities                            PCI, AGP, USB

      That is what MY PC says.. same as urs.

      So now, my theory is that u do NOT have an AGP slot, but Everest thinks u do, because of the chipset that is supposed to have it. Even though this makes little sense to me, its all i have for now.

      If u could, take out the SMC wireless adaptor, wich is on the 1st or 2nd PCI slot and take a picture of the inside again (making sure to put aside any cable blocking the view of the "wall mounted" expansion slots) and a picture of the case from the outside.
      « Last Edit: November 15, 2006, 12:20:46 PM by Track »
      That's Right, I am a Graphics Card Expert!

      GX1_Man

      • Guest
      Re: Can I get a new video card?
      « Reply #21 on: November 15, 2006, 03:57:22 PM »
      This is kind of like the philosophical debate about how many teeth a horse has without anyone just looking in the horse's mouth.  :P

      If this is an IBM, then what is the machine ID #? It is on the case AND in the BIOS (F1 at boot)? It is a 7 digit displayed as xxxx-xxx. Then we can figure out what we are dealing with.
      « Last Edit: November 15, 2006, 03:57:53 PM by GX1_Man »