PCI, PCI-E, or AGP?

[tomshardwoodie]

Around June of last year, I had a local guy install my graphics card for my PC. This year I want to do it myself, but I'm stuck in a grind because I don't know where to start.

I tried to find the guy from last year to ask him what type of graphics card did my PC have, but he is no longer in buisness. So my question is, do I need to buy a PCI, PCI-E, or AGP card? And for around 60-80$ what would be my best choice?

Current Specs:

Current Graphics card: nVIDIA GeForce GT 220
Motherboard Name:Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 / K8NF9 Ultra
Expansion slots: 3 PCI, 2 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x16

 

[refillable]

Obviously not AGP. You don't have the slot itself. You need to replace your system in my opinion, it is just too old. The option you might have is replace your GT 220 with a card that your computer can support well.

 

[rajyohanson]

A GT220 is a PCI-E card, it's the best, most current technology you can get in video cards so stick with it.

 

[Rockdpm]

You need to get a PCI Express 2.0 Video card. Its the best card you can get for your system... What CPU do you have and we will recommend what Video card you get. SInce your running a pretty old system.... I am kinda afraid to ask since most stuff may bottle neck.... But a 7750 is considerable...

 

[bucknutty]

Any pci-e video card would work in your board... An AMD 6670 would be a good fit for your budget and your board. Check this one out, it would be like 5 times faster than your current card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102988

Keep in mind that larger video cards use alot of energy and need a quality powersupply.

 

[drwho1]

Around June of last year, I had a local guy install my graphics card for my PC. This year I want to do it myself, but I'm stuck in a grind because I don't know where to start.

I tried to find the guy from last year to ask him what type of graphics card did my PC have, but he is no longer in buisness. So my question is, do I need to buy a PCI, PCI-E, or AGP card? And for around 60-80$ what would be my best choice?

Current Specs:

Current Graphics card: nVIDIA GeForce GT 220
Motherboard Name:Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 / K8NF9 Ultra
Expansion slots: 3 PCI, 2 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x16

I took a look at your board, you have a Pci-e x16... NOT a Pci-e x16 2.0 not 2.1 (notice the difference?)
Worst your memory (ram) is DDR400 ... not much that you can do there.

I would SAVE your money and build a new one when you can.
Otherwise it will be a waste of YOUR money.

 

[tomshardwoodie]

People saying that my system is old, how do you know? Is the motherboard old? Should I buy a new PC entirely or should I look into buying a new motherboard and new parts?

 

[tomshardwoodie]

Best answer selected by TomsHardWoodie.

 

[tomshardwoodie]

I took a look at your board, you have a Pci-e x16... NOT a Pci-e x16 2.0 not 2.1 (notice the difference?)
Worst your memory (ram) is DDR400 ... not much that you can do there.

I would SAVE your money and build a new one when you can.
Otherwise it will be a waste of YOUR money.

Thanks for the help. Do you know any custom built pc's that I could buy online? I was looking at this one, what do you guys think of it? http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadc70.asp?id=676721

 

[drwho1]

People saying that my system is old, how do you know? Is the motherboard old? Should I buy a new PC entirely or should I look into buying a new motherboard and new parts?

I'm going to try to explain to you in a simple way.

first your main question was about your video card.
The slot on your motherboard is a Pci-e 16 - first generation, currently most users have either 2.0 or 2.1 (second/third generation)
which will be soon enough be replaced by Pci-e 3.0 (fourth generation)

In technology years this is a dinosaur.
When I mentioned "worst your ram is DDR400, again it reflects its age, since then we have DDR2 and DDR3 (present).
There are already talks about releasing DDR4 in just about 1-2 years.

 

[drwho1]

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2268#sp

this are the specs on your motherboard.

 

[Thomas_89]

Your Gigabyte board is an K8 series, that means you have an AMD Athlon 64(FX) or Sempron processor. And those are old. Very old in tech-years

 

[drwho1]

Thanks for the help. Do you know any custom built pc's that I could buy online? I was looking at this one, what do you guys think of it? http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadc70.asp?id=676721

I never buy pre-built computers.
But the question is... how comfortable are you with building one yourself?

If you were thinking about changing your video card... then you shouldn't be afraid to build one yourself.
(is actually fun, rewarding and you can save some money too)

If you are a beginner there are some "DiY combos" that include most or all of the parts that you need to build one.
if interested you could try to look here first: http://www.newegg.com/Store/MasterComboStore.aspx?StoreID=7&name=DIY-PC-Combos

 

[tomshardwoodie]

I never buy pre-built computers.
But the question is... how comfortable are you with building one yourself?

If you were thinking about changing your video card... then you shouldn't be afraid to build one yourself.
(is actually fun, rewarding and you can save some money too)

If you are a beginner there are some "DiY combos" that include most or all of the parts that you need to build one.
if interested you could try to look here first: http://www.newegg.com/Store/MasterComboStore.aspx?StoreID=7&name=DIY-PC-Combos

I would not know where to start. Which parts to go where, ect.

 

[seroism]

I say build your own! Don't be intimidated. It's NOT as hard as you might think. If you lived in the San Francisco Bay Area I'd give you a hand

 

[seroism]

Stupid work computers.....

Sorry for double post.

 

[seroism]

Really should be some 'Remove Post' option.....

Sorry for triple post.

 

[tomshardwoodie]

I think I am going to go for it! Is this a good choice? http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.864960&cm_sp=DIY_PC_Combos-_-864960-_-Combo

 

[Sunius]

It's a good deal, however, it doesn't have a graphics card . Of course, you could always buy one separately.

 

[drwho1]

I think I am going to go for it! Is this a good choice? http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.864960&cm_sp=DIY_PC_Combos-_-864960-_-Combo

I would stay away from micro boards.
Look for something that you can upgrade in the future.

Example an ATX motherboard has more slots than a micro board.

I would also suggest to stay away from motherboards that still have Pci slots (unless you absolutely need it)

What is your target price/cost?

(you might always go up/down about $200 give or take) but I need a base number to be able to know how to help you look.

note: is really not that hard to put one together.

 

[tomshardwoodie]

I would stay away from micro boards.
Look for something that you can upgrade in the future.

Example an ATX motherboard has more slots than a micro board.

I would also suggest to stay away from motherboards that still have Pci slots (unless you absolutely need it)

What is your target price/cost?

(you might always go up/down about $200 give or take) but I need a base number to be able to know how to help you look.

note: is really not that hard to put one together.

$650 is my desired price, that would be awesome if I could find a good gaming PC for that price. However, I know that is highly unlikely. My max price is $900 but I really would hate to spend that much.

 

[drwho1]

$650 is my desired price, that would be awesome if I could find a good gaming PC for that price. However, I know that is highly unlikely. My max price is $900 but I really would hate to spend that much.

$900 is a more realistic number that would allow for both (a) a good pc with enough power to last and (b) with realistic room for upgrades down the road.

Note: when doing your research (I mean research) do NOT rush, take your time to READ every little detail and understand about all the parts and what you will be able to realistically get out of that system (what programs / games etc will you be able to run)

Note 2: One reason that your total might fluctuate a bit is the OS, anything that you build now make sure that you account for a Windows 7 64bit version of your choice. 32bit should not be an option. (this will limit your RAM and overall performance)
8GB of RAM should be your initial memory target, then you will have the option down the road to upgrade if you like to 16GB or more,
but for most users 8GB is "enough".

I will start making a list using Newegg.com as an example (feel free to compare prices/parts everywhere)

For this I'm going to assume that you have nothing. (you might still want to use your mouse/keyboard.... )
but I'm going to forget about that for now.

certain parts like a DVD vs a BD drive I might list them both, does not mean that you have to get both. (1 is what you need)

I will post again....

 

[drwho1]

This is NOT a final decision, this is a guide:

(all parts are separate)

case: Sentey Arvina Extreme Division Tower Case 6x Fan LED/ 4 x USB / Multi Card Reader / 4 x Fan Control / E-SATA / 6 x Removable Aluminum Bays / Screwless
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811322007

$100

motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128544
$160

Processor
Intel Core i5-2310 Sandy Bridge 2.9GHz (3.2GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I52310
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115089

$180

Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 997055
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226316

$115

Power Supply
PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 750W High Performance 80PLUS Silver SLI CrossFire ready Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703027

$100

Video card
EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1463-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130664

$180

Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840

$100

DVD drive
SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA Model SH-222BB/BEBE - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151244
$17

mSATA
OCZ Strata Series STR-MSATA-60G mSATA 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227750

$100

Note: some of this numbers are BEFORE Rebates
Note2: some of this items are a bit overboard (to get you an idea)

example the memory I put 16GB rather than 8GB.

There are a few things that you could "trim" your cost.
There are other things that I didn't look for like: monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers...

hope this helps.