Video Cards

[Chazumi]

The other day I purchased a Geforce 6600 and brought it home to install it when I realized it wasn't compatable with my motherboard. Exchanged it for a 6200 OC and that worked, anyways what I was wondering is for the next time I upgrade, what should I be asking for in terms of compatability? When I mean that it's mostly physical problems (it does not physically fit into the motherboard), kind of like certain types of memory.

The way the video cards that are compatable with my computer look (on the part you plug it in) is:


________|________|________|L


With the | being holes and the L as the front hook thing, the one I bought that wasn't compatable the 6600 looked like this:

________|____________

I don't think it even had that "hook" at the front either...so basically what should I ask for in a video card? Also, is my current video card slot on my motherboard about to obsolete any time soon? or is it just a different format..

 

[superslug]

Great questions, and good ones to ask, but difficult to answer without knowing exactly what slot you have.

There are three possibilities:

• PCI
• AGP
• PCI-X, sometimes referred to as X16 or PCI-Express 16.

If your slot is PCI, you'll have a very hard time finding a decent video card. Actually, you'll need to replace the motherboard (maybe even the whole PC).

If your slot is AGP or PCIx16, then you've got a lot more options. AGP is slowly exiting from the market, but there's still new cards occasionally coming out for it, so you may be able to use the PC for a while.

What would really help is if we know your PC stats-processor, operating system, amount of RAM, etc. To find out these, you can go START>RUN and type in "dxdiag". Once you do that, switch over to the display tab and you should see what kind of slot you have.

Actually, it'll probably say on the box you bought.

 

[FriendlyFire]

PCI (all Mb have pci slots)
AGP 1.0 is old (max 2x)
AGP 2.0 is 8x
PCI-E are 16x

go into your bios and look at information on what slots you have