Computers & Networking

[bjyoung1407]

ok. I have a desktop that is fairly old. got it from a buddy of mine and i have no idea how to find out what kind of video card is in it or where its at for that matter. how do i find all the specs for my computer? also, i recently purchased Call of Duty Modern warfare 2 for the pc and i cannot play it due to my video card being old. would a small, cheap one due the job or would i have to go all out just to play the game??

[Neihn Valued Contributor]

Post here with make and model and the people here can point you in the right direction. Chances are it's either going to be AGP or PCIe. A cheaper might allow you to run it at reduced settings but if your computer is PCIe you will have plenty of options that could run the game smoothly. If it's AGP your options will be limited as AGP cards is rarely produced anymore

[Falco]

Also, look at your power supply and see what is the max output in watts that it can support as most graphic cards also need a certain amount of dedicated power to run.  You don't want to blow up your computer because you put in a card that the machine cannot support.

[Justice_AA]

Your monitor plugs into your graphics card, if you have one.

[bjyoung1407]

k heres what i found.

System:

              Microsoft Windows XP

              Home Edition

              Version 2002

              Service Pack 2

Computer:

              Intel (R)

   Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1700 MHz

   1.79 GHz, 256 MB of RAM

I also found something under my display adapters. it says NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200.. im assuming that is my current video card..

[Nokia]

Yes, it is.

I hope you didn't buy it from the guy, because the thing is a POS. It cannot be salvaged. To even begin to run any games made within the past four years, you'd need to replace pretty much the entire computer. Graphics, proc, mobo, RAM, most likely the PSU. Throw it away and buy a new computer. You may be able to sell it for $20.

[Nokia]

BTW, that $20 estimate is with the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Without those, it isn't worth selling, even for free, unless you already have all those things.

[Neihn Valued Contributor]

I agree with Nokia. It does not make any finacial sense to upgrade that computer. Just using the game you want to play you need atleast a P4 3.0ghz yours is only a P4 1.79ghz, these processors are no longer made but while still can be found the wild their prices are more then their actual worth. Chances are you would need to upgrade your power supply which let's just say for a decent one you will pay 75 for, say another 150 for a new videocard you are up to almost half the price of a new computer. That's still not including the cost of the new processor and the cost of more ram. All factors combined you are most likely looking at around 500 to upgrade that system. It's just not worth it

[Entropy]

It'll be next to impossible to find a significant upgrade video card, best you'll do in AGP is the Nvidia 7800 series.  It's not worth the money in a system that old however.

[Neihn Valued Contributor]

Entropy just wondering where you got it was AGP? There were P4 PCIe boards and the GeForce FX 5200 was released in both AGP and PCIe versions. Thats why i made me post the way I did. If its AGP like you said op will be having a near impossible mission of finding the last best AGP card that was produced. If its PCIe the op could use just about any video card but they would most likely have to upgrade their PSU and now their bottleneck would be the CPU then you would ahve to upgrade your CPU which is even more expensive now that the production of them have ceased.