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Technical News & Discussion => Windows News & Discussion => Topic started by: David on Jan 28, 2010, 09:26:08

Title: Just a teeny question about a graphics card.
Post by: David on Jan 28, 2010, 09:26:08
Now bear with me chaps  ;D At 2 am this morning I had finally finished with getting my hp up and running and connected to my TV upstairs...now since I installed Vista on this machine I noticed kept getting the message Screensaver can't operate as graphics card needs upgrading (something like this) well I finally got around to stripping out my defucnt desktop which has been sitting in a cupboard for ages (self build) so I took out the motherboard,sound card pcu,well everything the Graphics card is a Radeon 9200 64 bit 128MB DDR with TV Tuner......(keep up now

Am I correct in thinking if the bayonets on this card align up in the hp I may have a chance of using this part for the machine ?

Dont ask why I have kept the parts being men you know that ,(they will come in handy )  ;D
I also have the Firewire and I am hoping this may go in..

One thing I will say is taking this machine apart sure takes some of the mystery out of what is insdie  of a pc....
Title: Re: Just a teeny question about a graphics card.
Post by: Rik on Jan 28, 2010, 09:28:56
First check your warranty, David, changing the card might invalidate it. Quite why HP would ship it with a below-par card is another matter.

If the old card and the new fit the same slot type, eg PCI-X, then you should have no problems.
Title: Re: Just a teeny question about a graphics card.
Post by: David on Jan 28, 2010, 09:37:02
The hp is 3 years old Rik and I dont know if you remember I nearly threw it away but instead bought a psu for it ,upgraded the memory and it works fine and has done since I fixed it so no warranty to worry about .....I have,Two desktops atm,three when the new one arrives but the hp will be or is,in the bedroom,then one in the lounge,then the new one in here...then I intend to wire up a network via a switch...prefer it to wireless as I feel it is more secure
Title: Re: Just a teeny question about a graphics card.
Post by: Rik on Jan 28, 2010, 09:38:39
OK, then forget about the warranty, just check the card slots match. How much RAM do you have on the machine.
Title: Re: Just a teeny question about a graphics card.
Post by: David on Jan 28, 2010, 09:48:05
I doubled the existing  to 2 Meg
Title: Re: Just a teeny question about a graphics card.
Post by: Rik on Jan 28, 2010, 09:48:40
Should be OK,  then.
Title: Re: Just a teeny question about a graphics card.
Post by: David on Jan 28, 2010, 09:57:04
 :thnks: I thought it might work but best to ask  :thumb:I will pop it in later

Then you can look foward to the new machine arriving  ;D
Title: Re: Just a teeny question about a graphics card.
Post by: Technical Ben on Jan 28, 2010, 11:43:00
Make sure to unistall the drivers first. Then power down, put in the new card, and install the ati drivers.
Hope it works well.
Most PCI express card slots work if it's a full length one, or even a mini one.
Title: Re: Just a teeny question about a graphics card.
Post by: David on Jan 28, 2010, 11:53:17
Thanks Ben,you read my mind....I have no disc for this card...so I assume I download the drivers for this card ?
Title: Re: Just a teeny question about a graphics card.
Post by: Rik on Jan 28, 2010, 14:03:41
Yes, just make sure you get the right set, David.
Title: Re: Just a teeny question about a graphics card.
Post by: Technical Ben on Jan 28, 2010, 17:29:45
Ati are good in that most of their drivers are "unified" which means you download one driver, and it finds out which card you have, and loads it up for you all by itself.
So just browse over to the AMD website (who now own ATI) and go to the drivers section to find the version  of Windows and card you want.
As it's a TV tuner card I won't link you straight to the driver, as I'm not overly familiar with those, and not sure where it is.  :blush:

[edited out my strange missing sentence]
Title: Re: Just a teeny question about a graphics card.
Post by: Rik on Jan 28, 2010, 17:37:31
That's why it's missing, Ben, you edited it out. ;D
Title: Re: Just a teeny question about a graphics card.
Post by: vitriol on Jan 28, 2010, 19:55:49
You should be able to get the catalyst driver here (http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx)