Help me with my new video card :)

[CelticLady]

I just got a new video card today and I will be attempting to install it over the weekend. Since I currently have integrated Intel chipset, I'm not entirely sure how to go about it. I've asked some friends, but I get a lot of conflicting information or 'I dunno'. So, hopefully I can get it a bit more clear by asking here before I try and do this.

 

My main question is: When I put this new card in, will my pc automatically disable the onboard Intel chipset and start using the new card, or do I have to go into the BIOS and disable it manually? (I've never been in the BIOS for this or any other PC I've used...hence, my apprehension). I know from talking to people that the answer is "That depends". I'm not sure how old my PC is. I got it from work when they upgraded. It's either 2 or 3 years old. So, this is the computer I have and the card I bought and hopefully someone is familar with this model and can tell me

 

My PC:

Gateway 838GM Gateway Component List for 838GM

I've upgraded the RAM and changed the DVD burner, but the rest is stock as listed at the Gateway site. I'll be installing a new PSU at the same time of the video card.

 

This is the Video Card I bought:

GeForce 7950 GT OC by BFG Tech

Info

 

Now, even if you don't know if I can just put it in and have it work, could you list the procedure I should follow to find out? i.e. 1) Install new card and plug in monitor to it 2) Boot up PC and see if you have video 3) If not then do X or Y next.... etc. That would be a great help. Thanks for any responses and hopefully this little adventure won't keep me away from EL if I can get it working

[sirdan]

you shoulden't have to do anything in the bios. its very very simple to put in a card. make sure you unplug your pc so you dont get shocked or killed or anything, open up the side of ur computer find the proper slot take out the little metal thing on the back so you can like get to the plugs to plug your monitor in, and basicaly just put it in the slot be very gental if it does not want to fit dont make it, you might want to get one of those static discharge ground things that go around your wrist to keep any static shock from happening, well anyway once its in plug everything up and get all the newest graphics drivers and stuff and you should be good to go,

[Nintenduh]

Which operating system?

[CelticLady]

Thanks for that sirdan, however, I am already familiar with the procedure to install the harware itself. I've swapped out video cards before, but not installed one on a system that had onboard video. It's if (and how) to disable the onboard video I am not certain of.

 

I don't know if any of the following is relevant, but I was asked about it in connection with this so...

 

I have:

Windows XP SP2 Media Center Edition with all updates

Intel Pentium 4 3.0 Ghz with HT

2 gig DDR 400 Dual Channel RAM

and I'm replacing my existing PSU with higher wattage, higher amperage unit as mine doesn't meet the recommendations for this card

 

So, I've heard two different things from people I've talked with

1 - Just put the card in, plug it in, load the driver and play with setting...you're now good to go

2 - You'll have to disable the onboard video in the BIOS for the new card to work.

 

Situation 1 is great and I'll be back in game when I get tired of playing with the card settings. Situation 2 is... Well, when do I disable it? Before or after I install the new card? Is it fairly obvious in the BIOS where I need to navigate to in order to disable it?(yes, I know that there are different BIOS versions etc. and the exact method is dependant on the version and such) This is the part I don't know. Do I just install the new card and if I don't get video on my monitor from it then plug the monitor back into the integrated plug and reboot to get to BIOS to disable?

 

Hope that adds any info I missed in my first post and clarified what I'm asking about.

[freeone3000]

After you install the new card, otherwise you won't have video *at all*, which might not even let it boot. It's sorta-kinda easy to find, look for what sounds good and eventually you'll find it, since BIOS are *very* different, but usually somewhere under hardware. This is if you have no video.

[ttlanhil]

Well, we've talked about this already, but I'll add my comments here...

 

I would imagine that the computer can automatically change things over for you when it finds the new card. I'm pretty sure mine did when I put in a graphics card, but I guess mine is newer and all.

Plug it in, put the monitor cable onto the video-out of the new card, and start it up.

If no good, power down, put the cable onto the motherboard's video-out, start up, go into bios, find the option, toggle it, power down, move the monitor's cable back to the card's video-out, and restart.

If still no good, you should still be able to swap the monitor's cable to the old video-out and do everything like that... That'll allow you to get more help

If you didn't get anything on the monitor from either the motherboard or vid card's video-out, then check for anything not being connected right or all the way plugged in, other video-out connectors to try (even if it's a different type, analogue vs digital, for example, which the card should be able to do)

 

One thing is to watch the monitor right when you turn the computer on, as if there's any signal at all, it will likely tell you which video card it's running from. Even if you don't get any picture later on, that can tell you whether it started with the card or not.

[CelticLady]

And the answer in my particular case was:

 

Just put it in, plug in the monitor, boot up, load driver, reboot pc, adjust resolution and it all seems to work So it automatically disabled the integrated Intel garbagechipset.

 

Thank you to those that posted here and to the people that pm'd me in game to try and help out. Now I can get back to my regularly scheduled EL playing...after I'm done with the work I neglected earlier to install this card.

 

You can close this topic now if you wish.