How do you know what graphics card is compatible with your PC?

Answer 1

In a PC made in the past 5 years there are two kinds of video cards, AGP and PCI-E. If you have a manual for your computers motherboard, or if you can look it up on the factory's web site that might be the easiest way.

If that doesn't work you can open up the side case and If you do a Google search for "agp slot" or "pcie slot" it will display pictures of each type.

If you are still clueless you may have to ask a geek friend. Worst case, you can take your computer to a computer store and they will charge you an arm and a leg to upgrade your card.

There is also a website called www.canirunit.com that will (with no viruses, spyware or malware) scan your system to see if it can run certain games (which is a good system check tool whether you want to play a specific game or not). Once the scan is complete, it will tell you what on your system passes and what doesn't. There is a 'Recommended' tab right next to the 'Minimum' specs tab that will offer accurate upgrade suggestions. This is a good place to start looking for graphic card upgrades.

Answer 2

Primarily by reading reviews. You can't really evaluate graphics cards based upon underlying technical specs unless you're comparing cards from the same manufactuer, because ATI and Nvidia use completely different design approaches. Price is a rough guide, but keep in mind that some merchants like Best Buy are horribly overpriced. If you're comparing prices from a single source like NewEgg or Tiger Direct, you'll find that $80 cards are generally better than $50 cards, $120 cards are better than $80 cards and $199 cards are better than $120 cards etc. The keys to understanding Nvidia GeForce and ATI/AMD Radeon card model numbers: 1) The first digit simply indicates how new a card is, not how good/fast it is. 2) The 2nd digit and beyond tell you the card's performance level. So a Radeon HD 5450 is newer than a Radeon HD 4850... It's a series 5 card, compared to series 4- the first digit tells you that. But the 5450 is much, much slower... 450 compared to 850. By the same token a GeForce 8800GT is older than a 9500GT, but much faster (800 vs 500). So it's not simply 'higher model number is better', but rather "higher model number from the 2nd digit onward is better". Of course Nvidia complicates matters by frequently changing their numbering scheme entirely- for example the 9800GTX+ was renamed the GTS 250, and everything fell in line around that. The GTX 260 is better than the GTS 250, while the GT240 is slower (equivalent to a 9600GT). In general, newer cards are improvements over earlier versions but it's just like cars. A 2010 Ford Fiesta isn't better than a 2008 Ford Mustang just because it's newer. Every year graphics card manufacturers introduce models ranging from budget $50 cards to high-performance $350 cards, and ALL of those new cards will have higher first digits. If you want to know how Nvidia and AMD cards in various price ranges compare, you'll want to read reviews from sites like Hothardware, Xbitlabs, Techspot and Tom's Hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best… Here are performance results: http://hothardware.com/Articles/ATI-Rade… http://www.techspot.com/review/240-ati-r… http://www.techspot.com/review/359-nvidi… Real in-game results are the most useful- not passmark rankings because those are just synthetic benchmarks that don't reflect how cards actually perform in games.

Answer 3

First off, the box generally has specific requirements (X bus, this size hd for drivers etc.), then the manufacturer often has more extensive descriptions of what is needed, then there are websites like Tom's Hardware page that give info about exactly what people have tried and found on loads of hardware.

Answer 4

Well it depends on what your going to use your desktop/laptop for. If you like gaming, then i suppose you should get a Nvidia Geforce 7800GT which costs range from $150-$250 and depends on how much memory it has will range the cost. If you want a extremely good graphics card, the Nvidia Geforce 9800GT will do for any situation and is the #1 gamer's choice! Geforce 9800GTs are new and they cost around $400, if you want a smooth and good graphics card but also affordable, try the geforce 7800gt. Unfortunately, you can't buy laptop graphics cards nower days but you could actually buy a laptop online and customize the graphics card.

IMPORTANT: I do not recommend you buying a Intel graphics card as many lag your computer and also have common problems.

Answer 5

Well, the better the graphics card, the better the monitor should be(just compare how good it is according to it's size), and you need a good enough CPU. You can go to tigerdirect.com and see some specs on different video cards. You could also ask the professional at logan@tiger.tv .

Answer 6

You have to determine how you use your computer.Unless you're a really dedicated gamer you shouldn't spend a ton of money.If you want to play the latest games you'll need a capable card.