Thread: Graphics card upgrade

I was very interested to read Computeractive's review of the HCL desktop computer. 1 have an older HCL computer with 1GB of memory. It's only one year old but I had trouble with the screen changing resolution when playing games and HCL said it was the graphics drivers. I notice that in the review you recommended installing a graphics card in the 3364-2354.

Would be able to install one in my computer and would it improve the screen resolution? If it would, which graphics card would you recommend and how much would it cost?

If you're into games, then a graphics card is always a worthwhile addition to your computer. However, you don't specify whether yours has one already. All computers have some sort of graphics output, Lut most cheaper ones use a graphics chip on the motherboard, rather than a more expensive add-in graphics card. If you don't have a card, or if you have an old card, upgrading it can make a huge difference to games performance, and even to Vista's performance (it's very graphics heavy).

If you don't know whether you have a graphics card, look at the back of the computer, to where the row of slots are (see picture above). If there is a card in one of the sockets and it has a VGA or DVI port (where the monitor connects), that's a graphics card. If your VGA or DVI port is attached to the main part of the case, not to a separate card in a slot, you don't have a graphics card.

Before you think of upgrading, though, the first step is to make sure the graphics drivers are up to date. PC Nextday should be able to tell you what kind of graphics card you have, and who the manufacturer is - you can then check the manufacturer's website for the latest drivers. Installing those may make a big difference to performance. A card such as the ATI Radeon HD2600XT or the Nvidia Geforce 9600GT will be a huge improvement over onboard graphics.

Just to complicate things, there are two kinds of add-in card in common use: PCI Express and AGP. Since your computer is recent it will probably use the PCI Express format, while older computers will use AGP cards. Make sure you buy the correct kind for your computer.