Installing A New Graphics Card

[Intro]

This shit is NOT as easy as you guys said it would be.

I currently have an ATI X300 in my Dell Dimension 8400. I'm trying to install an ATI X850 Pro and I've ran into some problems. The first thing I hafta do before the actual installation is update my AGP motherboard/chipset drivers. I have no idea what that means. The manual told me to browse through my System Devices list under Device Manager and find the AGP Controller. Thing is, I don't see anything about AGP in the list so I have no idea which one it is.

From there I'm supposed to download and install the latest AGP drivers and uninstall all the old card's software. Then I can actually plug in the new card and set it up. But I'm stuck already at Step 1. Can any of you that have installed AGP ATI cards give me some tips here?

I'm gonna try searching around on ATI's support shits and see if I can figure it out. Thanks in advance for any help you folks can offer.

 

[slick]

the motherboard/chipset drivers should be on the motherboard CD or the CD's that came with the Dell. If not you can get them at their website.

The videocard drivers are on the CD that came with it.

 

[DeathCorpse]

i would put my old card back in and then uninstall all drives and control panels for that card. then turn off your comp install new card and then install the drivers. if the windows auto detect thing starts giving you problems jsut cancel out of it and install you drivers manually from the cd. but you should be able to do it through the windows auto detect, you just have to find the right directory to point it to from the cd.

 

[Intro]

OK, I've been reading up and I've come to realize that AGP and PCI Express are two different versions of the same thing. I'm starting to worry that I may have bought an incompatible graphics card - is that possible?

This is my motherboard chipset [with PCI Express bus architecture]:

http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/925x/index.htm

This is my computer:

http://hardware.gamespot.com/Dell-Dimension-8400-2929-S-1-2

And this is the card:

ATI Radeon X850 Pro - which requires an AGP 4X/8X graphics slot, whereas my motherboard has a PCI Express graphics slot.

So does that mean this card is useless to me?

 

[blze]

It appears you need a PCIE gfx card but some boards have both PCIE slots and a single AGP slot. I couldn't find where your mobo had an AGP slot but that doesn't mean it's not there. If not, it should be a straight swap for the PCIE card.

 

[slick]

On the PC spec list doesn't it says that you have 2 PCI-EX slots and 3 PCI slots....I don't think you have an AGP one...
Just get a PCI-EX card.

 

[keisorsoze]

heavyX just bought the same card (pci express). All's he did was put the card in and let plug and play do it all. He did not have to disable or take any drivers out. Then he just put the catalyst disc in and installed the drivers.

 

[TonyMontana135420]

it is a good idea to uninstall the old drivers first then install the new drivers. and never use the xp drivers for vid crads as they do not support open gl.

 

[keisorsoze]

HeavyX has no problem with his the way he did it.

 

[blze]

...btw, we decided like 5 post ago, that is not a driver/software problem but a PCIE/AGP compatibility problem...

 

[keisorsoze]

stuuuuuuuuuuupid

 

[blze]

 

[CuRRyINaHuRRy]

]-[ /\ }{ 0 |2.

 

[TonyMontana135420]

stuuuuuuuuuuupid

geez keisor, you sound like my mom

btw i did see that, just wanted to point out that fact. not everyone knows it.

 

[MeanMugginFool]

Tony, please refer to the IQ test thread, but don't take the test, I don't want you to embarrass your mother