OT -Tech question:Video Cards

[Mo.Raider]

Hi and happy New Year!

I have a question about video cards. Can a computer with Intel integrated graphics be upgraded with say an ATI graphics card? I was wondering if integrated graphics were something that made the emachine so inexpensive but also impossible to upgrade.

Thanks in advance.

MO

[hukarez]

You can. Provided that you have an AGP or PCI slot for the type of ATI graphics card you're planning on acquiring. You'd have to disable the Intel integrated graphics within your motherboard's BIOS, however.

[bosshogg23]

I just upgraded to an ATI card from integrated graphics. It wasnt difficult at all and hasnt caused any problems so far. G'luck!

[Mo.Raider]

Thanks for the info guys, and happy New Year.

Mo

[Sweed]

Ok, I'm in the same boat as Mo. Raider as I'm looking to get off my integrated graphics and into a video card. I'll tell you also the most "tech" work I've done is put in memory sticks so I have a couple of questions.

I've looked in my motherboard book at the bios setup program. I assume this is where I go to disable the integrated grpahics chipset. Looking at the menu options it looks to me like I go to

"Advanced chipset features" ->"On-Chip VGA"->"enable disable"

I would then hit "disable" and then f10 to save the current settings and exit the setup program. Or escape back to main menu and use the "save and exit" option there.

Is this the correct procedure or am I missing something?

When is the best time to disable the integrated video?
Do I put in the card and let windows boot and see if it detects the new card and then go back and disable the intetrated video? Or do I disable the integrated video, power down, install the card, and boot after that?


With regard to the card I"m looking at three at newegg.

gforce fx5500 256mbDDR $74.99
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-164-017&depa=0

radeon 9600 256mbDDR $92.00
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-164-021&depa=0


radeon 9600 128mbDDR $72.00
http://www.newegg.com/app/searchProductResult.asp?Submit=Go&Range=1&DEPA=0&bop=and&description=rosewill&InnerCata=48

This one has reviews claiming it overheats so I'm a little leary of it.

They also have a radeon 9600 128mbDDR with a slightly different version number for $79.00 that doesn't have the overheating mentioned in any of the reviews but of course it's out of stock.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-164-022&depa=0

I do have my email on the notify list it they get any in but I plan on ordering sometime next week so this one may be out of the running.


I'm not looking for a high end card and want to stay under a 100 bucks. I play mostly ootp,fof and fbcb. I'm just looking for something to upgrade the occasional game like Rome Total War or Combat Mission. Is the radeon worth the extra $18 or is the gforce good enough?

I appreciate any opinions on what I should do, thanks.

[sterlingice]

I've never tried because the thought of integrated graphics makes my skin crawl on anything but a laptop so I can't help with the first stuff.

But for the cards, I'm definitely partial to the Radeon cards for their performance. And it's worth the extra $20 for the memory upgrade just on the grounds that if you do decide to actually play a decently graphics intensive game, you'll be very glad you had it. Then again, it's easy to spend money when it's not your own :)

SI

[dacman]

You will probably quickly wish you'd spent a few more bucks on a video card if you want decent performance in a game like RTW. Otherwise, you'll have to live with lower graphics settings to get good performance. YMMV.

You don't really NEED 256mb video ram unless you run resolutions above 1280 * 1024. The extra may not help at all if you don't have at least 512mb system ram.

If you go with the Radeon 9600 -- get the PRO model. Is not much more, but performes significantly better than the base 9600 model.

[Glengoyne]

set your graphics mode to 'Standard' in the video properties screen
apply the change
reboot
disable internal graphics in the bios
save the bios
power down
insert new graphics card
power on

[sterlingice]

If you go with the Radeon 9600 -- get the PRO model. Is not much more, but performes significantly better than the base 9600 model.
Or the XT model.

SI

[dacman]

Or the XT model.

SI
Word, but those are over his $100 mark.

[sterlingice]

So are the Pro's, when I was looking at them before Chsitmas. And they give similar performances with the XT only slightly better than the Pro.

SI

[gstelmack]

You don't really NEED 256mb video ram unless you run resolutions above 1280 * 1024. The extra may not help at all if you don't have at least 512mb system ram. The second part of your statement is true. The first part is false. Games are using larger and larger texture sets, and 256MB will help you down the road. Do check clock speeds, though: some cards will have slower memory in the 256MB version vs. 128MB to keep costs down, so can run a bit slower.

[Sweed]

Thanks guys for the opinions and Glengoyne for the steps I need to take.
With regard to RTW I've been playing for awhile now on my 64mb chipset so I'm probably about as low as you can go now for graphics. It's hard for me to justify spending too much on this project as about 90% of my game time is spent on sports text sims. My only interest other than these had been strategy war games like Talon Soft's CS series and now Combat Mission. Shogun and Medeviel Total War didn't really interest me but Rome did seem a little more up my alley and after reading so many good things here I bought it.

I probably should have put some of my machines specs in the first post.
P4 2 gig
512 ram
60 gig HD with probably about 45 free space

Nothing great but at least new enough it has the agp slot and runs my text leagues without any slowdowns.

So no takers so far on the gforce fx550? I know it's only 20-25 bucks to go higher, hardly a night at the movies. But I've always been a guy that looks at how much return I get on my investment. Like ootp or fof if you look at hours of fun compared to dollars spent they are both cheap though my wife would argue that point:) I'm just trying to justify in my mind that I'll see enough difference for the $25 when it's only going to be for a couple of games.

Thaks again for the info and if anyone else wants to chime in I"m still interested in your opinions.

[Ryan S]

Unless you are going for one of the new generation ATI X800s or Nvidia 6800s, you probably don't need to bother with more than 128mb video memory.

[dacman]

Sweed,

Your machine is good enough to utilize all but the newest generation cards well. The FX5500 is not a bad card, but that $20-25 to step up to say a 9600Pro or FX5700 is quite a bit more bang. Not a ton more, but enough to notice. Check the core and memory clock speeds. Check here for benchmark comparisons. (http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041004/index.html) That's not the whole story, but it's enough to get a good idea about performance vs. price.

I always try to think longer term. Who knows what game will come out in a year or two you absolutely have to have, but now you need to spend that $100+ all over again to get yet another video card. You lessen that risk buy buying the best card you can afford. JMHO. "It's your world, boss."