Help - Sound/Video Card Install?

Darkcobra

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I just bought an Emachines computer as I was happy with my last Emachine computer. It pretty much has all the bells and whistle for my basic computer needs of checking E-mails and word processing needs. Its got a P4 processor and 512M of Ram. I'm now wanting to play PC games once in a while and find that my video card is getting bogged down (I'm assuming its the video card). I think the video and sound card on the Emachine is built into the motherboard?
My question is? Can I easily install a new Video and Sound card? Will installation of the new cards just override the ones on the motherboard? I really apologize as I am not that computer savy. I can open up the case, insert a card and that pretty much is the extent of my computer skills.

Can you guys help me on which one I need? PCI or AGP?
Comp2.jpg

The "purple" box is where the monitor plugs into.

009faf0f.jpg

That open socket seems to be the only open socket on the motherboard...
 

mvnsnd

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You have to check that the motherboard will accept a video card. Most do, but open the machine and look for a brown colored connector on the board at the top of the card connector area. If one is there, you can put a video card there. It is the AGP port. Now you need to determine the type of AGP port, 4x, 8x, etc. Then get the proper video card and plug it in. Then you will need to go into the machine BIOS and turn off the integrated video and enable the AGP video.

Then boot and install the video drivers. That's it in a nutshell.

--
Jeff
 

Lynx_Arc

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If it doesn't have an AGP port don't expect to find a screaming PCI video card for cheap because they cost more and have less variety typically low end types. As for sound wait till after the video card upgrade because sound has less of an impact by far on gaming than video. I am guessing going to a better sound card may make a 5% difference if that.
 

Darkcobra

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You guys are the best! I waited around Fry's and Circuit City for 30+ minutes trying to find someone who could answer my question.... Thanks!
I'll open up the case, hope and wish that I have an AGP card as that sounds pretty simple.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif
 

Darkcobra

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Added pictures, hoping for more help from my fellow CPF'ers. Went to Fry's again hoping that they could help, but they just seemed to care less about the "village idiot".
 

Sinjz

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I only see two PCI slots. And four openings at the back of the case. Is there another slot hidden somewhere around there? AGP should be brown. If you don't have one, you'll have to look for a PCI video card.

What kind of video games are you looking to play? The games will determine how fast your video card needs to be. However, even a basic one would probably help if the game doesn't require a lot of processing power. I think you get bogged down because your intergrated video probably shares the ram with the rest of your system. Also some graphically intense games allow you to tone down the graphics a little so as not to tax your system as much....

BTW, you sure it's not an AMD system?
 

Lynx_Arc

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Get a PCI video card with 64 megs of ram on it, I don't think a 128 meg card would be worth the extra money having to push the data over a pci slot. Personally I wouldn't spend more than 100.00 on a PCI video card since your PCI bus bottleneck will hamper anything above that price.
I got a PCI MX440 64 meg video card and it helped but my processor is an ancient K6.
 

Lynx_Arc

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It has been awhile since I shopped for a PCI video card looks like 128 megs is about the same price range as 64 was. I would be tempted to go with an FX5200 or FX5700 geoforce card, if I remember correctly they are faster than the 9200 and 9250.
The 100 dollar price mark is a fair range although you could pay more unless you plan on not replacing your computer in the next few years it wouldn't be a bad option.
 

Darkcobra

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Again, thanks for all the help guys.
I'm not much of a "gamer", just bought a game at Fry's because it was on sale for $5.00, pretty fun too when it works right. I may just try toning down the graphic's, didn't know you could do that, but I just read that option in the manual.
The computer is only a few months old, so I maybe investing the $50+ so that I can play and finish the game one day /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 

DarkLight

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Kind of sickening to see blank spots where an AGP slot should be huh..Typical of corp pcs to make them cheap...
I would get a card with the most ram I could...at least 128...but then again I am a gamer of sorts..
 

Darkcobra

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Off I go to Ebay. Hopefully, I can find someones unused, but in good condition PCI card. Thanks for the information as to what type of PCI card to look for. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif
 

Darkcobra

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Off I go to Ebay. Hopefully, I can find someones unused, but in good condition PCI card. Thanks for the information as to what type of PCI card to look for. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif
 

Darkcobra

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Off I go to Ebay. Hopefully, I can find someones used, but in good condition PCI card. Thanks for the information as to what type of PCI card to look for. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif
 

Lynx_Arc

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My advice is get at least a 64 meg card preferably a nvidia MX4 or radeon 9xxx series or better if you can.
 

markdi

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I would get a different motherboard processor and memory
case power supply etc
getting somthing with 8x agp is not that exspensive these days
 

Lynx_Arc

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It is cheaper for what he wants to do to buy a pci video card. You are talking $50-$100 vs $200-$400 + labor if he cannot do it himself.
 

binky

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Before you install a new card, give a quick check of the BIOS to see that the settings are compatible with your new card.

For example, on a Dell motherboard I had I couldn't get the new AGP card to work until I reinstalled the old card, saw that there was a setting in the BIOS named something like "AGP Window" which meant the amount of video RAM it'd try to see. Before changing that setting and with the new card in, all I got after pressing the power-on button were error beeps, no bootup, and a blank screen. I needed to increase that "window" value so that the motherboard would "see" all the VRAM on the new card. Then I put in the new card and was humming along normally in basic VGA until I went through the normal required driver installation.
 

Darkcobra

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The computer is only a few months old, I'm not much of a "gamer" so a large investment to play games is not practical for me. I'll stick with my PCI card install which shouldn't be more than $30 on Ebay or $50 from a retailer.
Maybe on my next computer, I won't be so cheap and I'll get a better computer /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/broke.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Again, thanks for all the tips and suggestions! It is all very much appreciated!
 
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