Some Tips for Purchasing and Installing your New Video Card
As you have a wide variety of video card manufacturers nowadays, choosing a video card can make you go dizzy.
It is essential that you buy a video card that is compatible to your computer’s hardware configuration and the connections available for the video card, otherwise it will all go waste.
Finding the right Video Card
Usually computers have PCI, AGP and ISA type connections. AGP (Advanced Graphics Port) is currently the standard for the latest motherboards.
AGP is directly connected to the computer memory, so it can store 3-D elements in the computer’s memory rather than using the video memory.
The PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) is one of the most frequently used Buses in computers today.
You should also consider the amount of memory the video card you choose has. The higher this memory, the better is the resolution that you get. You should also consider aspects like video acceleration.
This is especially important if you want to use you computer for the latest gaming. The options you have are OpenGL, 3DFX GLIDE, or Direct3D Software API. You can use 3DFX GLIDE only on a card developed by 3DFX.
After you have researched various possibilities, you can go on and purchase your new video card. However you should be careful to buy it from a trustworthy vendor.
Installing your new Video Card
While installing the new video card, make sure that you have a site available for connecting it, or you can remove the previous card before connecting the new one.
If the PC already has on-board video, you should find out if any issue will arise if you install a new video card on it.
Next you should get the drivers for your video card ready. Make sure this is the latest one. If you don’t have it, you can very well download it from the internet. But see that it is free from malware.
Next you should uninstall the driver for your old video card. You can do this by going to the uninstall option through your Start Menu.
There is something called Device Manager where you can remove your current driver. Once you have done that, you can shut down the computer.
You should now take out the monitor cable from your video card and remove the card from its slot. You can then insert your new video card and screw it in position. Restart the system and give the exact location of the driver to your OS.
Your OS will automatically install the new drivers and request you for a system restart. Once you restart, you will find that the graphics settings have changed a bit.
All you have to do is adjust the resolution accordingly and your new video card is ready for action.
The most important part here is buying the right brand of Video card and getting it from a genuine seller who can give proper warranty.
If you have accomplished this, the other aspects like the installation, setup etc is just child’s play.
