New Video Card

smglbrth
smglbrth Posts: 1,473
edited December 2006 in Video Games
I was wondering if I bought a decent video card recently. It's a Radeon X1600 Pro 512 MB AGP.
I really know next to nothing about the inards of computers but I had to do something for my kids games, besides throw them away since they couldn't play a couple of them. Myself, I'm not into "gaming" much but do, from time to time, mess with the kids' stuff.
The computer I have has an Athlon XP2800+ with, soon to be, 1.5 GB of memory. I'm really glad to be getting ahold of the extra 1 GB memory.
Oh yes, both brands are Crucial. I imagine the video card just has the Crucial sticker on it but their "system scanner" looked everything up.

Any comments on the card or what to look for once it's installed?
Remember, when you're running from something, you're running to something...-me
Post edited by smglbrth on
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Comments

  • dudeinaroom
    dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
    edited December 2006
    that card should do you good and the extra gig of memory will not hurt rither
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  • smglbrth
    smglbrth Posts: 1,473
    edited December 2006
    Thanks for the reply, hopefully everything will work ok. Man..., things are different then when PacMan was new... Amazing what those old Atari machines go for now in mint condition.
    Remember, when you're running from something, you're running to something...-me
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  • Systems
    Systems Posts: 14,873
    edited December 2006
    Hello

    Make sure before you put the card in to uninstall any drivers or software associated with the old card. Just go to add/remove programs and see if theres anything in there that has to do with the card. It will ask you to reboot the computer after the uninstall but don't reboot. Then go into your device manager and select your display adaptor, right click on it and click on uninstall. Then power down your computer and put the new card in.
    Testing
    Testing
    Testing
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  • smglbrth
    smglbrth Posts: 1,473
    edited December 2006
    Finally got it all done with no problems whatsoever! I only had the onboard graphics before so installing a new card was easy. Not as easy as installing the memory but good none the less.

    Funny thing about the video card was that it came with a power "jumper" cable. I hooked it up just like it said, directly from the power source then branching off to the other stuff. The card needs 300 watts to run, so it states in all the directions. Wow..., weird.

    Anyway, thanks for the input!
    Remember, when you're running from something, you're running to something...-me
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited December 2006
    how tough is it going from an onboard card to a AGP video card? I plan on getting one soon..
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • jdhdiggs
    jdhdiggs Posts: 4,305
    edited December 2006
    DB: Not very hard at all...

    smglbrth: the 300W is probably a minimum for the power supply to the whole PC unless you spent $500+ bones on the card.
    There is no genuine justice in any scheme of feeding and coddling the loafer whose only ponderable energies are devoted wholly to reproduction. Nine-tenths of the rights he bellows for are really privileges and he does nothing to deserve them. We not only acquired a vast population of morons, we have inculcated all morons, old or young, with the doctrine that the decent and industrious people of the country are bound to support them for all time.-Menkin
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  • smglbrth
    smglbrth Posts: 1,473
    edited December 2006
    DB-As for installing my video card. I didn't do much anything. Shut the computer down, installed the new video card, turned the computer back on. As soon as everything loaded up the new hardware wizard showed up and I installed the new drivers from CD. The computer pretty much took it from there. The computer naturally uses the new video card. I didn't have to uninstall any existing drivers for the old "on-board" card since I had the CD to install the new drivers.

    JD-Thanks for the input on the wattage. The whole outfit does work well but gets quite a bit warmer than what it used to! Nice card however, seems to do the job well. Graphics are much better!
    Remember, when you're running from something, you're running to something...-me
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,728
    edited December 2006
    smglbrth wrote:
    The card needs 300 watts to run, so it states in all the directions. Wow..., weird.
    That's probably an approximate requirement for the PC to be able to run that card ALONG WITH all your other hardware. 300 is actually below standard for most power supplies these days, so if anything I'd be surprised that it's that low. if there's a separate power connection on the card itself, then it may be using a decent amount of juice and you may want something even bigger than 300 watts. As you get into higher end cards and more devices, you'll also want to make sure that your card has dual 12v rails and a decent amount of amps (I'd say 15ish minimum) on each rail.
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