Adding a GPU to an older computer

TheCollector

Baseband Member
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Location
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Hi, there I'm looking to buy a couple of Video cards for 2 of my computers.

Computer 1
Pegatron IPMEL PRC Motherboard
Intel Pentium dual core 2 processor 2.6GHz
4GB Ram
Running Linux

Computer 2
MS-6787 (v1.X) M-ATX Motherboard
Pentium 4 Processor 2.5GHz
2GB Ram

Could anybody recommend me on what GPU's are best for these. I'm thinking about a 2GB Graphics card for the first computer but I'm not sure if 2GB graphics would be to much or to little. Even though the video output is very good on the built in video chip I'd still like to get the best video card or something close so that it will have plenty of life for the next coming years.

The second computer is an old Pentium 4 so I'm limited to what I can put in that one and it has to be a low profile Graphics card. The video output on this computer isn't that great when your online and watching a youtube video on it just isn't going to happen so I'm hoping I could improve that with a better video card and also just to extend the life of the computer a bit more.
 
You should read the sticky on this sub-forum. There is not much more than that to say about graphics cards. If yo have doubts about compatibility, post the model you are thinking of here and we can help you out.
 
Do they have built-in video on them? For what do you want to use them?

The first comp supports modern video cards so just get the cheapest PCI-E card you can get as it is a dual core comp and can't get along with med or high range video cards. That will only help with high definition videos and with 2D and old and very low detailed 3D games. More than that and you will need a quad core CPU. Being being with Linux, I don't think you have much of video game uses here.

The second comp supports AGP 4x and that's gonna be hard to get now since it got discontinued way back. Not sure if even the best AGP 4x card can play high definition videos.

With the limitations you have, 1GB is the best you can make use of.
 
What slots are available and what monitor? VGA right?

Like SG says, 1 gig video memory is plenty. Both my i3 and i5 systems have 1 gig video cards and I do fine.

I'm not into heavy gaming though. My i3 has the HD6670 and my i5 has the HD 7770 cards.

They're both 128 bits though. Much better graphics than 64 bits like the onboards.
 
After some time of waiting for a cheap Graphics card to come up on ebay I found a 256MB AGP 4X Video card for the Pentium 4 computer which was 12 pounds, I was hoping to get a 512MB AGP video card but those seem to be way to expensive and hard to find so I just got the 256MB video card instead. I'm not planing on gaming on this computer its mainly for watching things like YouTube and BBC iPlayer in full screen.

My other computers are dual core machines and have got a few good deals on 1GB Graphics cards for those.
 
Let us know how that works out. I'd love to know what quality plays on youtube with the agp video card
 
Let us know how that works out. I'd love to know what quality plays on youtube with the agp video card

Hi I installed the GPU I took a risk with it as it was sold as untested but it works under Windows 7 however finding the driver for this GPU has proved to be a nightmare and Windows only sees it as a 16MB video card under the windows 7 generic driver despite that I can still watch youtube videos in full screen ok but it will struggle on BBC iPlayer HD programs.

The video card is an ATI Radeon 9256R 256MB card but drivers for this seem to be non existent otherwise it would have been perfect for HD video and having the aero theme as well on Windows 7.

Under the hardware the video card shows as a Radeon 9200 series.

I'm going to see if there is anyway to find this driver but its looking unlikely...

If I can't find the driver then the next step for me is to upgrade the motherboard and PSU either a used dual core or quad core motherboard bundle and then at least then I can add a better GPU with available drivers.

I've enjoyed the project so far.
 
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