# Getting a new graphics card

## BrandonF

Right now I have an Intel Extreme Graphics chipset which is apparently incapable of running Pong, and I was planning on eventually getting an Nvidia card. I need help with two things.

First, what card would you recommend? Something around or below $100 would be nice, I don't want to spend too much. I'm going to be playing games like Doom 3 and Quake 4.

Second, how do I switch cards? I don't want to yank out my old one and put in the new one only to not be able to run Gentoo. Is there something I need to do before changing them? Actually, I don't know the first thing about changing cards so I'm going to need all the help I can get. Also, I'm going to still need Windows so if there's anything special I need to do for that, I'd appreciate it if someone let me know.

Edit: I forgot about RAM. How can I figure out how much RAM I have? I know there's some way to do it on Windows but my computer runs so slow on Windows it would save time to wait for a reply here to see how to do it on Linux.

----------

## whig

Check out the VGA card game benchmarks

http://www.tomshardware.com/graphics/

Set your setup to use vesa (for Linux) and standard VGA (Windows) before swapping cards.

Memory usage:

```
free -m
```

----------

## CptnObvious999

I run Quake 4 and the Doom 3 demo on my GeForce 6200, keep in mind I'm not using very high details/resolution with those games though. I think it was around $70 when I bought it. Also something that you should keep in mind, you need a PCI-Express slot (or AGP but it's getting hard to find newer cards that use AGP anymore) and chances are if you have and integrated graphics chip, you probably don't. If you know you have a PCI-Express slot, then do some research on a few cards that are in your price range and you can compare them using this site. If you are using Xorg 7.0 or greater make sure you have the nvidia xorg module installed (xf86-video-nv) and then pop in the new card and it should pick it up, then you can install the nvidia binary drivers (nvidia-drivers) for a speed boost and you can tweak the Xorg.conf. Good luck!

----------

## BrandonF

I get this from free -m:

```
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached

Mem:           249        194         54          0          2         66

-/+ buffers/cache:        125        123

Swap:          494         45        448
```

I'm guessing that the Mem line is my RAM? If that's so, is it good or bad? I don't know much about it. I do know that a lot of games recommend at least 256MB. This computer isn't a very good gaming PC (at least with the defaults, a Dell Dimension 2350). My other computer is a beast (an eMachines, not sure which model) but my dad won't let me put Linux on it (thinking it'll break the computer, but there's no arguing with him).

What's PCI-Express? I've never heard of it, I just know that I had a hard time getting AGP to work (my screen wouldn't go above 640x480 without it).

----------

## CptnObvious999

You might want to consider getting more RAM than 256MB before upgrading video cards, 256MB is OK for simple stuff but I think Quake 4 and Doom 3 would want at least 512MB. Maybe not.. but RAM is pretty cheap, you can pick up 1GB for under $100 now.

PCI-Express is the new fast slot that is used for graphics cards (well it can be used by anything but graphics cards are mostly the only ones that use it because the speed makes such a difference with them). It is replacing AGP so if you have a AGP slot you might be able to find a few cards for it but for the most part they are all PCI-Express now.

----------

## BrandonF

Are AGP and PCI Express in the hardware or are they software? If it's hardware, is it part of the card or the computer itself? This is confusing me a little bit. Oh, where can I find RAM to buy? I looked on newegg.com, but I don't see anything there. I guess I'll buy 512MB, which should be enough on top of my 249MB I already have. Or do I replace that with the 512MBs?

Last thing, which Nvidia card do you recommend? I don't want to spend my life savings, something around/below $100 would be nice. I want at least medium settings/1024x768 for most games with  like Doom 3/Quake 4, if I can get it in that price range. I don't know what you meant by not using very high details/resolution so I'm not sure what a 6200 can do.

----------

## CptnObvious999

 *BrandonF wrote:*   

> Are AGP and PCI Express in the hardware or are they software? If it's hardware, is it part of the card or the computer itself?

 

AGP and PCI-Express are hardware slots build into the motherboard. You can find more information here although it's all pretty technical.

 *BrandonF wrote:*   

> This is confusing me a little bit. Oh, where can I find RAM to buy? I looked on newegg.com, but I don't see anything there. I guess I'll buy 512MB, which should be enough on top of my 249MB I already have. Or do I replace that with the 512MBs?

 

Can't find any RAM on NewEgg?! ... maybe try here  :Razz:  And most motherboards have at least 2 slots for RAM so (assuming the 256MB is a single stick) you can keep the 256MB and add the 512MB stick thus giving you 768MB of RAM.

 *BrandonF wrote:*   

> Last thing, which Nvidia card do you recommend? I don't want to spend my life savings, something around/below $100 would be nice. I want at least medium settings/1024x768 for most games with  like Doom 3/Quake 4, if I can get it in that price range. I don't know what you meant by not using very high details/resolution so I'm not sure what a 6200 can do.

 

My crappy (now) $40 GeForce 6200 can do low details at 800x600 with Quake 4. In all honesty anything above $60 should play those games fine, but to get the most bang-for-your-buck look at the Core speed, Memory speed/technology (ex: 400MHz or GDDR2 or DDR, etc), pixel pipelines, and the memory amound (onboard, don't buy any of the shared memory cards since it will lack performance and steal RAM storage) the higher of those specs the better (this is a real simplified way to judge them but graphics cards are extremely complex so bare that in mind, for the most part you get what you pay for though).

----------

## BrandonF

Alright, a few more questions and I'll be on my way. How can I tell if I have PCI-E? If I don't, what would I have to do to get it? And what would happen if I put in a card that needed it and I didn't have it?

I've already decided on what RAM to buy, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141424. As for a video card, I think I'm going to get this, but I won't get it without first seeing what you guys think. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130270

----------

## CptnObvious999

 *BrandonF wrote:*   

> Alright, a few more questions and I'll be on my way. How can I tell if I have PCI-E? If I don't, what would I have to do to get it? And what would happen if I put in a card that needed it and I didn't have it?
> 
> I've already decided on what RAM to buy, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141424. As for a video card, I think I'm going to get this, but I won't get it without first seeing what you guys think. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130270

 

here is an image of the slot. It's hard to see but maybe you can make it out. Or you could find out the motherboard model you have and search to see if it has the slot. I'm going to guess it doesn't since it seems somewhat low-end. To get it you would have to buy a new motherboard (make sure it uses the right CPU slot and check the specs!) and it would have to have a PCI-Express (probably a 16x). As for the RAM and video card it looks good to me.

----------

## whig

Be aware there are different types of RAM: SDRAM, DDR, DDR2. In Windows run the freeware cpu-z to find out which.

----------

## BrandonF

Alright, I did that and I have DDR RAM on my non-Gentoo computer (which I'm actually on right now), but that's irrelevant. I'll get on the other computer later and see what it has. The graphics card I have here is a Geforce4  MX Integrated GPU, which I'm guessing is actually not that great (it seemed like it was when I got the computer back in 2004). It runs UT2k4 perfectly on the highest settings although that's not quite as good as Quake 4 graphics.

Anyway, that card will work with Linux, right? I just download the Nvidia driver from their site? But how will I install it? I have to put the card in first and then install it, otherwise it won't work/it'll screw up X. Some sort of step-by-step instructions would really help, I'll look on the Nvidia site.

----------

## CptnObvious999

 *BrandonF wrote:*   

> Anyway, that card will work with Linux, right? I just download the Nvidia driver from their site? But how will I install it? I have to put the card in first and then install it, otherwise it won't work/it'll screw up X. Some sort of step-by-step instructions would really help, I'll look on the Nvidia site.

 

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/nvidia-guide.xml

----------

## BrandonF

I asked this question on GameFAQs to people that actually play Quake 4 and they said that card would have a hard time handling it on low settings, and they recommended this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150152

Now, I just noticed that it only lists Windows 2000/XP as supported OS's, but I assume that's just talking about the CD included in the box since there IS an official Linux driver (I'm just a little paranoid about it since it's $100).

Off topic: why is everything having to be "Vista ready" now? Is Windows Vista going to be such a different OS that nothing old will work with it? Or will it just be such a resource hog that it needs a supercomputer to run? Or, is it just a bunch of hype to draw attention to it?

----------

## suicidal_orange_II

That was a high end card - make sure your power supply is up to it (I think it recommends a 400w minimum).  It  will play games nicely though  :Smile: 

Yeah, vista will be a resource hog, and to get the transparant windows to work you will need a fairly new graphics card.  The 6800 will cope fine with it, if you care.

No cards will ever be released suggesting you can use it in anything but windows, as too many n00bs will send them support requests and it will cost too much.  Be assured that card will work fine in Linux.

HTH

Suicidal_Orange

----------

## BrandonF

Alright, just wanted to make sure it would work before I spend 100 bucks.

And I don't plan on buying Vista, what would be the point? When I move out and buy a computer for myself, if it comes with Vista I'll keep it on there and dual boot with some Linux distro though.

Edit: Oh and about the RAM...I do have DDR RAM on the Linux computer so, I just open up the CPU and shove it into the slot, right?

----------

## whig

At least poweroff and earth yourself first.

----------

## BrandonF

Obviously I'd turn the computer off. What do you mean by earth?

----------

## whig

A buildup of static electricity on you can damage a chip if you point your finger at it. Even the smallest spark can cause damage. Touching the metal exterior of the PSU removes the charge you have, as it is earthed.

----------

## BrandonF

Oh, I feel dumb now. I was thinking it was some technical term, but I learned what that literally meant in Earth science, in 6th grade. Now, I just need to know where my PSU is located >_>.

----------

## atgnwt

 *BrandonF wrote:*   

> [...]This computer isn't a very good gaming PC (at least with the defaults, a Dell Dimension 2350). [...]

 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news (hah! just kidding, I love it.), but I don't think the Dell Dimension 2350 has an AGP slot, so you're basically limited to (non-express) PCI-cards, which lands you quite a few miles from quake4&co. Here's the manual which outlines where things are, if you're interested. (Power supply == PSU, by the way).

If it really is this computer you're talking about, I think, to put it bluntly, you should give up on getting any decent d3/q4 performance.

Frankly, if you really want play the aforementioned games, your best bet would be to ditch your current computer and buy a new one, as it really doesn't have any upgrade potential. (It's a dell.) If you want to stay on the budget side of things, a used athlon xp with a geforce4 TI 4xxx, and five-hundred-something MBs of ram should be enough to play d3 on low quality settings. Such a rig probably won't lighten your wallet by much more than a geforce 6800. Ebay, local geek, and newspapers are all valid places to start.

Cheers

----------

## comprookie2000

Something like this, just watch out for ebay, it can be addictive.

Athlon XP

----------

## BrandonF

How about this computer? Ebay URL shortened

I don't know if I can get that exact one, but I might look for one like it later. That's just from a quick searching, I'll look more extensively later.Last edited by BrandonF on Wed Sep 06, 2006 11:16 am; edited 1 time in total

----------

## BrandonF

Actually, I might save up some money and order a custom PC from cyberpowerpc.com. That'll be a good while though...

----------

