Good graphics card for a very old pc or solutions

which motherboard you have ??? model and brand

get a new graphics card

and upgrade ram

If the mobo has another PCI slot try moving it to see if it detects it then, or try removing it and re inserting it into the same slot. Its probably broken like you say, but you might as well try the simple solutions first and foremost.

If you have to get a new gpu then the 750ti is right up your line. it's strong and will use about the same power as the 9500. just check to be sure it does not need a 6 pin power connector as you won't have one. about half of the 750ti's need one now due to oc and huge fans and such.

don't know for sure what psu you have but a quick search only turned up one which is weak but if it ran the 9500 it will run the 750 ti.

Uhhhh yeah ignore me, my mistake

OP what MOBO do you have?

i think some of your research is flawed or you still have more to read i am not trying to say you don't know what your saying but your post is not exactly accurate.

all the pcie slots are backward and forward compatible and it has been shown over and over again that pci 2.0 is plenty for ANY 3.0 card out there right now so this is not an issue. also the 750ti only uses 60 watts which the motherboard supplies on it's own with no extra power connector if you get one i suggested. to put this into perspective, may older gpu's use 75w or more and use extra power connectors. the 9500 uses almost the same 60 watts so you know the psu can already support he card. plus as i already stated i looked up the psu he said he has and it will be enough.

the 750ti is designed for exactly the use i explained which is low power older syetem upgrades or new low power htpc builds.

be aware that the manufacturer will always overstate needed wattage to account for crappy psu's that are out there. a quality 450 watt psu will deliver just as much or more power to a system than a crappy 650-750 watt psu!! i'll be happy to explain why if you wish but for now it is enough to just explain this much.

Congratz, you finalized your first week of being a computer geek. ITS FINNALY TIME TO GIVE PEOPLE WRONG INFORMATION OF WHAT YOU FOUND IN GOOGLE WITH JUST TYPING NEW GRAPHICS CARD VS OLD ONES. Shhhhhhhtttt. Please.

i am confused a bit however, if i got this right, you can use the card but not install drivers for it? so with it installed and the vga to the monitor is connected to the card and not the mobo?

if this is a yes, this suggests both the card and slot work but it is a windows issue preventing the driver install.

if you get no video from the card and instead are connected to the mobo, the issue may be that the onboard video needs to be disabled in the bios which is normal for older systems with mobo graphics. if the slot is turned off in the bios, windows won't see it as an option and force installing the driver will produce the error you described since it sees the mobo gpu and not the extra card's gpu

try connecting the video card to the monitor, disabling the onboard video in the bios and booting up. the bios setting is usually under "integrated peripherals" or something like that and will either be a specific "turn off integrated video" setting or possibly a setting that says "graphics" and allows for choosing between onboard or pci video.

you stated you were in the bios already but i have no idea what you were adjusting.

Thanks mathgeek, I looked up the cards on the manufacturer's web site and saw in its specs. I wasn't sure, thats why I said I would double check. And to Yoann, no need for the rude sarcasm.

is what i posted to you not clear enough? what would you like to know? i am here to help others understand and will be happy to elaborate on any piece that is not specific enough

just ask the question and the answer will be provided. we all have to learn somewhere and this forum is just as good as any place.

You may have seen my post before I edited it, I only saw Yoann's answer and not yours at first, and noticed after that you explained. My apologies for the misinformed post, I'll make sure to stick to what I know for sure. I don't want to complicate things for anyone looking for help. Thanks for being polite about it

no trouble. there is a lot to learn and i still make mistakes myself. i know what it feels like to make one and someone comes along and calls you a moron. i try not to do that myself (though i have gotten a little rude lately due to some serious disrespect from some users).

remember that we only get to read what you type not what you were looking at or thinking. if your unsure try to make that very clear to avoid confusion. i start out with "so i'm not 100% sure on this but...." or "though i have never done this myself, this link says you can......."

stick with it and don't be afraid to look up something new to try and help. this is how we learn.

Appreciate the advice, I'll be sure to do that. I used to build pcs with my dad when I was a kid, and only recently got back into it so I've been playing catch up. To help date how long its been, I still have some intel pentium 120mhz cpus, and intel i486 DX2s. Been a while since the ceramic cpu days lol

Sorry OP I'll stop mucking up your board with unrelated posts

lol your dating yourself there. my first pc was a 286 system running at 16 mhz but it did have turbo mode to 20 mhz so we was rocking.

I am running a pcie 3.0 on a 2.0 slot, there is no noticeable performance drop, so there is no issue for compatibility. the 750 ti requires no power pin, so it will be a fine match. in terms of wattage draw, I have never heard of diablo tech, so perhaps, you should spend thirty dollars on a corsair 450 watt power supply, and be able to worry about other things than power supply failure. also, there are some amd radeon cards that are very affordable.

I know don't remind me xP I replied without thinking, and the power consumption of the card was just me being dumb. I read the PSU requirements instead of the gpu's max wattage by mistake. I'll be more careful

Its not a good idea to wake old threads up but nevermind. It is not closed, problem still no solved, we continiue.

So, those red lines on your GPU absolutly doesnt sound good. Those vertical red lines are normaly showing up when your GPU is dying. There is something you can do if your GPU absolutly dies ( not really recommended [havent done this personaly] http://lifehacker.com/5823227/save-dying-video-cards-with-a-quick-bake-in-the-oven )

Since your GPU is old and this may be your last hope you can try this if you want to. I have to say that this could, in theory, work, but I would rather think that you destroy more than you fix. If you apply the wrong level of heat for to long chips can be affected.

@Tomshardware - RandomTox :

Try to test your video card, it could be artifacts. Even if it is running at good temperatures.
If so, your card is dying and soon will be completely dead.
Here you can find some test tools....

http://unigine.com/products/heaven/
http://www.evga.com/ocscanner/
http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

If it isn't your GPU, test your memory with Memtest86.

http://www.memtest86.com/download.html

Burn it to CD and boot your PC from that CD.
Run Memtest86 for a whole night. 1 or 2 hours is never enough.
Red lines from left to right will appear if an error is found. Watch at witch MB the error is found.
1 to 1024 is your 1st stick, 1025 to 2048 your 2nd stick, etc.

You could test your Hard Disk with CheckDisk. E.G. :

Click on start. Type in the search box CMD. At the top you will notice a black icon will appear with behind it cmd.exe.
Right click on cmd.exe and then click "run as administrator"
That opens a black screen, and type in there chkdsk C: /r/f
Then hit Enter. You probably will get a message that the drive is locked and your computer can check the
drive at startup. Confirm all with Y (yes) and Enter.
(the C: stands for the C partition on which Windows usually is installed. If you have more drives, do
the same but replace the C for D, E, etc.).

How to find the results of chkdsk from your C: partition, go see this web page.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/96938-check-disk-c...

If it shows anything else then 0KB in damaged blocks/sectors, your Hard Disk is dying.

Resources :
@LifeHacker
@TomsHardware
@Knowledge

So you're saying that the ASUS GTX 750 Ti OC 2 GB [GTX750TI-OC-2GD5] and the EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti FTW [02G-P4-3757-KR] "requires no power pin" when there is clearly a 75 Watt 6-pin PCI-E power connector on those cards.

NVIDIA stopped supporting the GeForce 9500 GT after the GeForce 340.52 Driver version (Jul 29, 2014).

EVGA makes a 750 Ti card without extra power connector. It's PCI-E 3 card, but it runs fine in my i3-560 pc using a PCI-e 2.0 motherboard.