Dummy needs graphics card help

[sovereignstar]

I documented some computer issues I was having a couple of months ago and ended chalking it up to being a graphics card problem. I've got an old HP Pavillion (2001 model I believe) which has an nVidia Riva TNT2 Model 64 card in it. This, along with an old-school lug of a CRT monitor from 1997 I think. Um.. cutting to the chase, I want to head over to Best Buy and pick up a cheapish LCD monitor and a cheapish graphics card.

I don't play many (if any) graphics-intensive games, so I just want something that works. I'm sure that I could get something cheaper and get away with it, but 60-~100 won't break me here. So my questions are:

1) Are there compatibility issues I need to be aware of?
2) Any comments on any of the cheaper of these cards? (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid=OYF1OQTFTAK21KC4D3HFAFY?id=cat01151&type=category&_DARGS=/site/en_US/catalog/fragments/product/olslinelistingsortfilter.jsp)

Thanks for helping out a dummy

[stevew]

Make sure you actually have an AGP slot first, would be the thing i can think of.

[PackerFanatic]

The Radeon 9550 on that page will be more than enough for you. You don't need to worry about compatibility with graphics cards and monitors, you will be good :)

[rkmsuf]

Make sure you actually have an AGP slot first, would be the thing i can think of.

how would a dummy know this?

[sovereignstar]

Make sure you actually have an AGP slot first, would be the thing i can think of.

How does this look?

http://www.turlockcomputers.com/sales/7955.htm

Video Integration Plug-in card
Installed Video Memory 32 MB
Included Video Card Graphics card - AGP 2x - nVidia Riva TNT2 M64 plug-in card

[sovereignstar]

how would a dummy know this?

Correct.

[stevew]

Yeah, it does look like you have a AGP slot then.

[sovereignstar]

Yeah, it does look like you have a AGP slot then.

Sweet! I wonder if Baseball Pro '98 would finally be fluid on my computer with the forthcoming upgrades.

[Anthony]

i wish there was a site you could go to that would list every compatible part for everything. like you type in "nVidia GeoForce 7800 GTX" and it would tell you which mobo's could support that card. or you type in the name of a mobo and it tells you each part that you can use with it.

man, someone make that website now.

[rkmsuf]

what the hell is a mobo

I'm with dummy.

[sovereignstar]

what the hell is a mobo

Motherboard. Har!

[rkmsuf]

Motherboard. Har!

I'm farther down the foodchain than dummy. A dark day indeed.

[sabotai]

That's an AGP 2x slot on your mobo, not 4x or 8x, so make sure you do not get a graphics card that requires at least a 4x AGP slot.

The RADEON 9550 says it needs a 4x/8x interface. I don't know 100% that it won't work, but it's a possibility that it won't.

The RADEON 9250 says it goes in a PCI slot (that HP site says you have 3, so you should have at least 1 free unless you filled them with other things)

BFG GeForce 6200 OC syas it needs an AGP 2.0 (what you have) so you might want to check that one out too.

[FrogMan]

That's an AGP 2x slot on your mobo, not 4x or 8x, so make sure you do not get a graphics card that requires at least a 4x AGP slot.

The RADEON 9550 says it needs a 4x/8x interface. I don't know 100% that it won't work, but it's a possibility that it won't.

The RADEON 9250 says it goes in a PCI slot (that HP site says you have 3, so you should have at least 1 free unless you filled them with other things)

BFG GeForce 6200 OC syas it needs an AGP 2.0 (what you have) so you might want to check that one out too.I rate this post safe for dummies. Even I understood what he said. :)

FM

[sovereignstar]

That's an AGP 2x slot on your mobo, not 4x or 8x, so make sure you do not get a graphics card that requires at least a 4x AGP slot.

The RADEON 9550 says it needs a 4x/8x interface. I don't know 100% that it won't work, but it's a possibility that it won't.

The RADEON 9250 says it goes in a PCI slot (that HP site says you have 3, so you should have at least 1 free unless you filled them with other things)

BFG GeForce 6200 OC syas it needs an AGP 2.0 (what you have) so you might want to check that one out too.

PackerFanatic is one dead commish if the 9550 doesn't work. :)

Edit: Because I just got home with a 9550 and a sleek 17" Samsung.

[sabotai]

Don't think it would hurt to test it out (I'M LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES CAUSED....just throwing that disclaimer out there. :D )

I'm not an expert on AGP 2x/4x/8s....I dunno if the cards need those speeds or if they take advantage of those speeds if they are there.

[sovereignstar]

Okay, I'm rolling up my sleeves. Time to get serious.

[Buzzbee]

It may be too little too late, but perhaps others will benefit from this. In another one of the many 'computer help needed' threads, someone posted a link to Tom's Hardware.

It was fairly helpful to me when I recently upgraded my graphics card. Here's the link:

http://www.tomshardware.com/graphics/graphicscards/index.html

[sovereignstar]

http://the-dkbl.com/tatanka.jpg
http://the-dkbl.com/tatanka2.jpg
http://the-dkbl.com/tatanka3.jpg

[Desmond]

That is stupendous. Pics of Otis Nixon stealing 3rd base Pls.

[Easy Mac]

I actually have my sister's old HP Pavillion from around 2001, so I assume its the same (its my third computer). The video card is almost shot as well, I just haven't gotten around to changing it. I believe in my research I found that it is an AGP 2x slot. Of course, a normal PCI card would override it, so it probably doesn't matter.