Graphics Cards

[seemore907]

Well, about compatibility there are two factors as far as I'm concerned for graphics cards:

1. Graphics Card Slot:

There are mainly two variants for this: One is AGP, and the other is PCIE 16 (Note that you are looking for PCI 16 as the graph in the wiki page will show) Just take your Motherboard's box, manual, or anything like that, and look for the the name of the one you have. Or if you have none of those you could always open your computer, and see for yourself.

All this being said though...unless your computer pre-dates something like 2005-6, it's very unlike y you have AGP as it's a very old model which has pretty much already died out.

2. PSU Power Supply

This is a box which is typically located on the back-top of your computer case. You can easily identify it as the box where you plug your computer's main power into.

PSU's are most generally measured in power by their watts (W), and although there are other factors this is mostly the most important one to look out for especially if you're a newbie. The watt number is typically on stickers on the side of the PSU.

The higher tier the graphics card, the better power supply you'll need to support it. For instance some mid-tier graphics cards can run nicely on 400w-500w while bigger ones may need up to 650w at least to be safe. It all depends on the card, and you should look out for the minimum requirement before purchasing.


EDIT: Oh and the GeForce GTX 660 Ti is a fairly powerful card (Even better than mine lol), and it'll serve you well for gaming as long as you're not into insane stuff. 650 is quite awesome too. You can run Amnesia on max no problem with either of them.

Thanks for all the info! On the motherboard box it says Inspiron and there are stickers towards the back of it. All of them just say information like bar codes and computer codes like Product Service Code, Service Tag, Express Service Tag, Product Key, etc. I wasn't able to find the watt number here. Where else would I be able to find the watt number for the computer?

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If you're really as un-tech savvy with computers as you say you are then I'd think it might be easiest to caryy your computer to the nearest store, and ask them to do all the necessary things for you. Also considering the fact that the graphics card needs to be installed after buying it which involves plugging in the card properly as well as attaching external power supply cords. This may be a simple task for computer builders, but might be daunting for someone like you.

Would be much more direct, and information would flow much easier than asking a bunch of random people on the internet lol.

Ya I assumed I would have to call someone to help me out with this, haha. Though I'm starting to think my computer is too much of a piece of junk for any top-tier graphics cards like the nVidia GTX 660. Are there any other ways I can make sure it's compatible with my PC?

[Kreekakon]

For the watt number I think you'll have to open your computer...

Here are some links to help you ^^
http://www.ehow.com/how_5004614_check-po...ttage.html
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000800.htm

EDIT:

Ya I assumed I would have to call someone to help me out with this, haha. Though I'm starting to think my computer is too much of a piece of junk for any top-tier graphics cards like the nVidia GTX 660. Are there any other ways I can make sure it's compatible with my PC?

Actually as long as your computer fulfills the two requirements I posted above, it doesn't matter how junky your computer is. You can very much have a crap computer with an awesome graphics card installed, although it wouldn't do you too much good since the CPU, and such would still be running slower than the graphics card resulting in software not being able to make all that processing power apparent anyways.

[seemore907]

For the watt number I think you'll have to open your computer...

Here are some links to help you ^^
http://www.ehow.com/how_5004614_check-po...ttage.html
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000800.htm

Oh great, that sounds like fun. I'll wait till my dad gets home to help me out with this. I assume I'll have to open my computer too to check for things like, if I have express-compliant motherboard with 1 dual-width x16 graphics slot; two 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors;30-amp system power supply, etc. Thanks for all the advice everyone!

[Kreekakon]

Sounds great! Also...

two 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors;

In case you don't know these are cables which are coming out of your PSU in your computer. There are usually unused cables which are used to plug into whatever hardware you decide to install like with what you're doing now. After you plug in the graphics card, you have to plug these two into matching slots on your graphics card as well.

I don't really remember what 6-pins look like, but frankly speaking all you need to know is that if it fits in the plug its probably where it goes lol


EDIT: Oh, and almost forgot one more crucial element! This won't matter if you're buying anything short of high-tier cards, but if you are make sure it'll fit in your computer case as the best graphics cards are usually very big!

[Googolplex]

The graphics cards will fit to your computer, don't be worried about compatibility. You have a PCIe x16 slot, that's enough. The PSU should have at least 450W.

When you also have intel integrated graphics, that means you have a modern CPU and at least 4GB of system memory.

Buy a new graphics card and you can play all modern games at full details.

Yust a little hint to the graphics options:
The "SSAO samples" are extremely dropping the FPS. Set this only up to 16.
And let "V-Sync" always disabled.

[Sampyli]

630 is waaaay enough for Amnesia : P

[Googolplex]

630 is waaaay enough for Amnesia : P

No. That wouldn't be a good experience to play on medium details.

But the GTX 650 Ti would be enough.

[Statyk]

Perhaps they are on a budget Googol.

[seemore907]

The graphics cards will fit to your computer, don't be worried about compatibility. You have a PCIe x16 slot, that's enough. The PSU should have at least 450W.

When you also have intel integrated graphics, that means you have a modern CPU and at least 4GB of system memory.

Buy a new graphics card and you can play all modern games at full details.

Yust a little hint to the graphics options:
The "SSAO samples" are extremely dropping the FPS. Set this only up to 16.
And let "V-Sync" always disabled.

So the NVIDIA - GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 Graphics Card will be compatible for my computer? Or do you have another one in mind?

[Sampyli]

630 is waaaay enough for Amnesia : P

No. That wouldn't be a good experience to play on medium details.

Well, my girlfriend's computer has a 530 and it runs Amnesia on full settings just fine. Oh well ..