"Decent", Inexpensive Video/Graphics Card?

Well here I am again...I have broached this subject a couple of times before -->

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=218524

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=218188

But now I am more certain that I have a dead vid card...my monitor quit displaying anything at all (message is "No Signal"), and the old VGA monitor I hooked-up won't display anything either.

My Question: How do I know what sort of video/graphics card to get? I don't have a clue, and with so many numbers, brands,styles, etc., etc., to choose from, well, it's daunting to say the least.

I was hoping to get away with something for around $25-$30, but it looks like the halfway decent, "modern" cards "start" around $50...does this sound about right?

I am not looking for anything to play (win) any games with - just something fairly modern (to accept an HDMI cable/signal)...something "up-to-date".

Thanks in advance,
g...
PS ~ Looks like the most important thing I need to know is whether I have "AGP", "PCI" or "PCI-E" ... how would I know please?

 

This appears to be a good deal http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...sku=E145-9862&cm_sp=Left Nav-_-fp-_-E145-9862 - but is it overkill? Can I do better price-wise, for what I'm getting here?

I would "sort of" like to stick with Nvidia because that is what is in the PC now...that's what it came from Dell with.

 

Greetings, grc123...

Dead video card - does your machine have onboard graphics? You might try enabling mobo graphics in your BIOS and trying that as a testing procedure...

To see what type of bus your card is using, try Control Panel, System, Device Manager, Display adapter...double-click on the adapter, and the General properties sheet should tell you the bus location...

Or, you could pop the cover of your case, tell us what kind of slots are on the board...

That EVGA card looks fine to me, but you better make sure you've got a PCI-E slot available...and one more consideration: as evidenced in your recent software thread, as time goes by, requirements change - you might want to make sure your power supply can handle the extra load a beefy graphics board will add, and if there are any special PSU connectors necessary...

 

Hello - thanks for your reply

I have no clue about "onboard graphics"...and this is sort of the whole point - I can't see anything now on this computer, because i cannot get any display to function...

Again, no display, so I can't do it this way...

This looks like my only option (and I was afraid of this, but...)...I'll try to get a pic to post up here within the next 15-20 minutes - again thanks for your help !

I'll have to address this last part of your post after I get the pic from inside my machine...I've got way too much info floating around in my head already on this - see ya soon! ......

 

Do you know your motherboard? If you do, you can look up the specs for it, and that will list your expansion slots. It's usually printed on the board itself, near the expansion slots.

 

Maybe this'll help: #2 points to an 'onboard' graphics connector - #12 to an AGP or PCI-E connector...

 

And, here's a link to the Inspiron 531 downloads page...

 

You have an Inspiron 531?

Then you have these:

# One PCI Express x16 card slot (SLOT1)
# One PCI Express x1 card slot (SLOT2)
# Two PCI card slots (SLOT3, SLOT4)

Picture of the system board here: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/inspd531/en/OM/parts.htm#wp1184332

Slot 25 on that diagram is your PCI-Ex16 slot, that's where you want your video card.

EDIT:
The EVGA card you found on Tiger looks like a good balance between price and ability. Plus, EVGA makes good cards.

 

Yeah, that's kinda why I was asking about onboard - I know the 531 has PCI-E slots, but it's also got onboard graphics, so if you are currently only using the mobo graphics, and they don't work, then maybe we should find out why before you grab a PCI board, just in case...

Whew!

 

Thank you both for the help ... I really need you all to (please) "be gentle" with me here...I really don't know much about this stuff, and can't quite make-out the pic that you attached (though I do greatly appreciate your efforts just the same!), but I have attached some here myself...I hope this helps explain things (?)...I think (now) that I don't have a video/graphics card (per se), but rather, the connected wire goes directly to the mobo, where the little "blue" place is in my pics...

 

If the monitor cable connects to the blue spot on the case you are using onboard graphics right now.

Caliban is right, we need to find out if the rest of your motherboard is okay before you start spending money. Can you borrow a video card from someone for testing?

 

Wow. I might be able to "temporarily cannibalize" this PC I am communicating with you now on, but it would likely be very late tonight, or even tomorrow before I could do that...*I MUST MENTION AT THIS POINT THAT I WAS JUST ABOUT TO DO A WIPE AND OS REINSTALL OF THE HARD DRIVE OF THE COMPUTER IN QUESTION HERE - I THINK IT'S GOT A VIRUS (OR SOMETHING??) - HAS BEEN ACTING WEIRD FOR SOME TIME NOW ... COULD A VIRUS SHUT-DOWN MY ABILITY TO GET A DISPLAY ON A MONITOR??

 

No virus I've ever heard of could do that. Also, nothing is ever stored on a video card, so there's no risk of infecting the 531 by moving the card over.

If you try to power on the 531, does the fan come on and do the hard drives spin? If you remove all your memory/RAM and then try to power on, you should get three beeps or buzzes if the motherboard is okay.

 

Well things just got more weird (though I am HAPPY ) after I opened the case to take the pics, I knocked the dust out of it while I had it open, I plugged it back in, and now - lo-and-behold, I HAVE A DISPLAY AGAIN???

How could THAT have happened??

 

Educated guess: The cable was loose. That's good! That means your motherboard is fine and no need to spend money.

Well done! :highfive

 

Thank you - but you guys get the credit!

I mean, I had checked the connections, wires, cables, etc...was one of the first things I did, and I checked `em TWICE, so, it's just really weird.

I wonder if the dust could have been causing it?

 

Who knows? Dust can cause gremlins as well as anything else...

Glad you got it sorted - now, you can again consider the PCI-E upgrade that will handle the HDMI cable in your other threads...good luck!

 

Dust can do really weird things to computers, that's why you want to clean them out once in a while.

 

Thank you both again - A LOT ! And yes, I will be DE-dusting this bad boy before I put the case back on - in just a few minutes, actually.

And yes, thanks too for helping me to know what "type" of card I would get (PCI-"E"), and where it goes (plugs-in) exactly - GREAT info from both of you - have a GREAT remainder of your evening, and a GREAT DAY tomorrow... !

Best,
Glenn

 

Oh, I will. Merlot and Dragon Age, here I come...! :wine

Happy to help. It's what we're here for

 

Well, I don't know anything about Dragon Age, but I know about Merlot...just be careful in there, sounds dangerous...like someone could get HURT ... especially if one has been imbibing ! :-D

 

That's the whole idea. The evil darkspawn must DIE!!

 

Ok...if you say so (and apparently you DO!) ~ DEATH TO THE EVIL DARKSPAWN ! ! !

 

And I thought she said she was going to see Merlin and the Dragon Age...

Never mind...

 

At http://www.tomshardware.com they post occasional (quarterly?) articles about the best video card bang for the buck at different price levels. They did one this month, in fact.