The most effective way to improve your PC's graphics performance is, unfortu¬nately, also one of the most expensive: Buy a faster graphics card.
Inexpensive PCs with their graphics processor built onto the motherboard can slow to a crawl when running fast¬action games or editing videos and other big graphics files. Since many of these computers use your system RAM for both graphics and general processing, installing a graphics card into one of your AGP or PCI Express slots-if you have one in your PC- can vastly improve your video experi¬ence. To find out what kind of graph¬ics your machine uses, look at the back of the case: If its VGA or DVI graphics port isn't located in one of the expansion card slots, your PC has integrated graphics.

Before buying a graphics card, make sure the system-board graphics can be disabled. On some PCs this happens auto¬matically when you install a graphiCS card, but on others you have to change a setting in the PC Setup program. If you can't disable your machine's on¬board graphics, consider buying a new system, or at least a new motherboard, to make the most of your favorite applications.
A two-year-old graphics card will choke on the latest games, especially at high or even moderate screen resolutions. You should spend as much on your new graphiCS card as your budget allows.



See "The Ultimate PC Power Boost" at pcworld.in/ featureS/index. jsp/artld=4554826 and "How to Buy a Graphics Board" at pcwo rid. in/bu yingguides / viewGuyingindex. j sp/artld=33 7 5120 for additional information.

Graphics card notes: Some AGP cards are still available, but that technology is on its last legs. Even if you find an AGP board you like, you probably won't be able to transfer it to your next PC, so consider buying a new motherboard that comes with the newer PCl Express slots. If the specter of Windows Vista hovers in your immediate future, make sure that the new graphics card has Vista drivers available, and that it sup¬ports DirectX 10.

Many gaming PCs include two SLI or CrossFire graphics cards-usually dual boards¬that operate in tandem. Cost¬conscious upgraders, however, are better off purchasing a sin¬gle SLI or CrossFire card first (as long as their motherboard supports the technology). If your motherboard does not support dual SLI or CrossFire, upgrading to one that does will permit you to add a sec¬ond such graphics card when prices drop.