needing a new video card.... help on how to know what to buy

[ohiocutie]

I recently bought a new video game for my daughter for our computer.. at first the game told me I need more memory, so I bought a new stick, installed it,,, it is fine.. but now,I get a message saying I only have 8mb of video memory and I need 16mb w/3d. now my question is.. do certain kind of video cards work in certain kinds of motherboards?? or are they kind of universal?? My motherboard is an Advance 10f Apollo pro 133a chipset. any help would be greatly appreciated, cause Im lost!!!

 

[sleepdeprived82]

Here is the specs for your motherboard.
The graphics card will use the AGP slot on your motherboard. The slot is x4 so a x4/x8 graphics card should work on your motherboard.
The only problem I can see is if newer cards will work on an old motherboard (some one else maybe able to clear that up). By the looks of it your requirements are not that great so something like:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=87758 says it works with pIII which im assuming you have.

That is an example if your in the US look in new egg, either that or ebay you could get an older card for £5.

Just look for a AGP x4/x8 interface graphics card

 

[angry_ducky]

Or how about a new computer?

 

[rochin]

I recently bought a new video game for my daughter for our computer.. at first the game told me I need more memory, so I bought a new stick, installed it,,, it is fine.. but now,I get a message saying I only have 8mb of video memory and I need 16mb w/3d. now my question is.. do certain kind of video cards work in certain kinds of motherboards?? or are they kind of universal?? My motherboard is an Advance 10f Apollo pro 133a chipset. any help would be greatly appreciated, cause Im lost!!!

I looked up your motherboard specs it says that you have an AGP card slot. If that is in fact true, you can purchase a AGP video card for your system. Most video cards have 128 mb of ram now days. Check out your local store or visit www.newegg.com. Just make sure the card is a 4X agp. So a 4X/8X should work on your system. Looks like on newegg you can get a 64MBcard for about 25 bucks. A 128MB one for about the same. Since you have an older system try to go for a nvidia MX series or a ATI 7000 series if you can. If not just pick one. Make sure its either a ATI or Nvidia.

 

[Anoobis]

Like the others said, as long as the card is an AGP 4X/8X you should be fine. If you're not looking to spend much, take a look at this GeForce MX4000. If you're willing to spend a little more try this Radeon 9250. Both are a bit of overkill but should easily handle the simple gaming you wish to do with it and as long as you're not running Direct X 9 (which I suspect is not the case).

If you want to spend even less, I would suggest searching via Pricegrabber or Pricewatch for a 16 or 32MB AGP RIVA TNT2 card. Just BE VARY WARY of the places that list their prices. Pay a lot of attention to the customer ratings of the seller.

 

[ohiocutie]

actually the game does use directx 9.0 or later,,,, so this means what then???

 

[rochin]

actually the game does use directx 9.0 or later,,,, so this means what then???

He means if the game is a directx 9 game. Not all games require or use directx 9. The cards mentioned should run what you need.

 

[Anoobis]

It means that the cards I spec'd earlier may not work because they're only DirectX 8 cards. In fact several of the reviews (which I take lightly) on Newegg listed as not to play DirectX 9 games with those cards.

Before we go any further, what game are we talking about? 16MB must be the absolute minimum requirements for it.

 

[ohiocutie]

haha

I bought the zoo tycoon game for my daughter,,, says it needs 16mb/3d w/directx9 or later.. and yeah yeah I should have read the box,, lol,, and I dont want to take it back,, my puter obviously needs updated anyway,, so Ill just get what I need to make it work... is directx a screwed up program or something or what?? ty again

 

[sleepdeprived82]

I would just get a fx5200 then as that is the most basic dx9 card, they normaly come with 128mb memory.

Something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127181

Dx is nothing to worry about all computers use it for pretty pictures and graphics. The later the version the more advanced the graphics can be. DX9(can remember current revision) is the latest, DX10 is on the way.