Graphics Card Cont...

[Jockstar]

Ok. Just an update on my purchase of a graphics card. Well i finally bought a Asus Radeon 9600XT for just under 8000 baht. Was so happy to get it home and up and running. So we got home from Fortune. I open up the instructions and realise this is pretty easy to install. So anyway i open up the computer and locate the existing Geforce2 MX400 card and pull it out. Easy! I unwrap the nice new flash graphics card i have just purchased and just about to slot it in. When its doesn't fit. What the ####? So on closer inspection of my AGP slot. It has a piece of plastic that stops it going in. So i check my old card and its got 3 slots to slide in and the new one has 2. #######! So i then check the paper work again and they have a layout of the card and how to connect it to TVS Monitors etc. And theres 3 slots on that card. But the picture on the back of the box has 2. Closer inspection of the paper work doesn't help either. As theres comflicting pics. So basically i'm confused. Gonna take it back tomorrow and see what they got to say. If you can understand all that. Does anyone know of this problem?And what are my options? Will i have to replace my main board just to get a different AGP? Seems a bit extreme. Or is it possibly a manufacturing mistake. Going to Fortune 2morrow and would like any info on a remedy before i go incase they start to Bull####. Cheers. Heres hoping

[igotworms]

Compare the AGP requirements of your motherboard to that of the graphics card. The motherboard is likely incompatible with newer graphics cards. Shitty buzz.

[Jockstar]

Igotworms. What can i do apart from replace my motherboard? And how much is that gonna cost???

[francois]

hi'

agp 2 and 4 X and the "new" agp 8x ...

the first one has two slots and the last three ...

useless to mention the voltage of both ...

you should have better checked this before

so, now have to change your motherboard ...

be careful, what kind of processor have you in?

is it going to fit the new motherboard?

if no one help you out of this, take your com to the shop ...

they may help you ...

beside the AGP problem, the processor problem, there is the RAM problem ...

what kind have you in, sdram? ddr?

if you are not in harware, better let do some professionnal do it for you, this would avoid more problems ahead

be aware that a change of motherbard leads you to format your C partition

make a good backup before if you store some data on it!

I would give a simple advice ... never store any data on the C partition ...

if you have a real problem that leads you to format your C drive, you loose everything!

like your address-book for example

and for most of the case, you can't get anything back before to format it !

and if you have a choice, go for an Intel chipset, some Via gives problem with an adsl usb connection ...

a good motherboard should not cost you more than 5k ... plus the ram if you have to change it ... some 3k extra ...

(good brand name : Asus, Gigabite, MSI)

cheers and good luck

francois

[monty]

Why does a change of motherboard need a format of the c partition? I've changed / upgraded several, with winXP perfectly detecting the new MB and installing all respective drivers. Just make sure afterwards to replace the drivers installed by windows with the drivers supplied by the MB manufacturer as these normally would be more recent versions!

Not sure if previous versions of Windows would be able to do this though...

[Jockstar]

On Saturday when i went. The girl in the shop asked me. What AGP have you got? So itold her that i had an existing Geforce2 MX400 installed and that i had a pentiom3 inside. She and some other bloke said. No worries it should work. If my new card had 3 slots then it would fit in. Its just missing a slot. Gonna go back in a few hours and see what i can do. if i have to buy a motherboard then if i get them to install it. You would think that they will back up any relevent info. Is that right?

[MadFrankie]

Why does a change of motherboard need a format of the c partition? I've changed / upgraded several, with winXP perfectly detecting the new MB and installing all respective drivers. Just make sure afterwards to replace the drivers installed by windows with the drivers supplied by the MB manufacturer as these normally would be more recent versions!

Not sure if previous versions of Windows would be able to do this though...

You have been V.Lucky

[Jockstar]

Ok, ok. all sorted now. Took my new graphics card back, along with my computer. The guy opened it and apparently the new card is a new design. So he says we can upgrade your computer for 10 grand.. #### that. Whats my other options? Buy the higher spec card Geforce FX 5900 as it will fit into the slot and pay an extra 2500 grand. #### and bugger! So anyway i buy the other card and get him to install it there and then a game to show is working. So everything is fine. Though i will have to upgrade my comp in the next couple of months to get the full affect. So thanks everyone for all the help.

[Darknight]

be aware that a change of motherbard leads you to format your C partition

make a good backup before if you store some data on it!

Only tru for linux Francois . Xp should have no trouble recognizing new components. Maybe you'll need to reboot a few times on first startup but that will be it.

[francois]

hi'

Only tru for linux Francois smile.gif. Xp should have no trouble recognizing new components. Maybe you'll need to reboot a few times on first startup but that will be it.

not really true, if the chipset change the entire hardware settings too

with Linux it's always possible to do the check on a non-grafic environment ...

and set it back to a normal working state, this means recompling the kernel and so on ...

with windows (coz I have seen the case many times, even with XP), it always better to reformat the C drive, just to have a good system stability

I might work with some chipset of the same brand, but just try to change from Intel to a Via one .. and tell me about

either with Linux or windows, it's always a question of dependencies ...

cheers

francois

ps; quite happy for you jockstar, if you could sort it out ...

[igotworms]

Ok, ok. all sorted now. Took my new graphics card back, along with my computer. The guy opened it and apparently the new card is a new design. So he says we can upgrade your computer for 10 grand.. #### that. Whats my other options? Buy the higher spec card Geforce FX 5900 as it will fit into the slot and pay an extra 2500 grand. #### and bugger! So anyway i buy the other card and get him to install it there and then a game to show is working. So everything is fine. Though i will have to upgrade my comp in the next couple of months to get the full affect. So thanks everyone for all the help.

Thats the problem with PC games these days....a very expensive hobby. Just when you think you get everything upgraded, something else pops up.

An xbox or PS2 is the alternative I guess.

[jhj2000]

I'd take the card back and get the right one. If you change you're motherboard the chances are that you'll have to re install XP, XP is very bad at coping with major hardware changes.