What graphics card is right for me?

I've added a pic of the back of my computer to the first post. I've ordered an HD Radeon 4670 but I don't know how I'm going to install it. Can someone take a look at the inside of my computer and give me instructions on how to install it? Pic is in first post.

Use the red slot above your motherboard's battery. Looking over your board, you appear to have 2 mis-matched RAM kits. What's in there? And is that an old P4 board..?

Captain Zero said:

Use the red slot above your motherboard's battery. Looking over your board, you appear to have 2 mis-matched RAM kits. What's in there? And is that an old P4 board..?

512 MB x 2 and 1G x 2 and I have no clue about the board.



Where do the ports at the end of the card go?

^^ You will have to remove one of the slot covers at the back of the case. This should use either a thumbscrew or use a conventional Phillips for the job.

And, for the record, it would be a good idea to determine what kind of board you have prior to purchasing any peripheral.

Captain Zero said:

^^ You will have to remove one of the slot covers at the back of the case. This should use either a thumbscrew or use a conventional Phillips for the job.

And, for the record, it would be a good idea to determine what kind of board you have prior to purchasing any peripheral.

Is that good enough to determine if this card is compatible with my machine?

You appear to have this model motherboard;

Foxconn MCP61SM-AM
Processor: AMD Sempron™ , Athlon™ 64, Athlon™ 64x2, Socket AM2 Chipset: NVIDIA MCP61S Front Side Bus: 2000MT/s HyperTransport™ Memory: Dual channel DDR2 800 / 667 x 4 DIMMs, Max 4GB VGA on Die: Integrated Expansion Slots: 1 x PCIe x16 (signals at x8),, 1 x PCIe x1, 2 x PCI IDE: ATA133 x 1 Serial ATA(SATA)/RAID: Serial ATA II x 2 with RAID 0, 1 Audio: 5.1 channel, Realtek ALC861 (HDA) LAN: 10/100 M LAN, Realtek RTL8201CL (Phy) IEEE1394: 1394a x 2, VIA VT 6308P Back Panel I/O Ports: 1 x PS/2 keyboard
1 x PS/2 mouse
1 x 1394a (reserve)
1 x VGA Port
4 x USB 2.0
1 x RJ45
1 x Parallel Port
1 x Serial Port
1 set 5.1 channel Audio jacks (3 jacks)
Internal I/O Connectors: 2 x USB 2.0 headers, support 4 ports
1 x Intel Azalia Header
1 x COM2 header
1 x Speaker
1 x Front panel
1 x Buzzer
1 x 1394a
1 x CD-in
1 x IRDA header
1 x SPDIF out header
1 x WOM(reserve)
1 x RM
BIOS Features: LPC-4Mb, ACPI 2.0b

And that the card you pointed out will fit into your 1 x PCIe x16 slot. Remember to disable the on-board video card when you install the new one. You will need to enter the BIOS to do this.

Captain Zero said:

You appear to have this model motherboard;

Foxconn MCP61SM-AM
Processor: AMD Sempron™ , Athlon™ 64, Athlon™ 64x2, Socket AM2 Chipset: NVIDIA MCP61S Front Side Bus: 2000MT/s HyperTransport™ Memory: Dual channel DDR2 800 / 667 x 4 DIMMs, Max 4GB VGA on Die: Integrated Expansion Slots: 1 x PCIe x16 (signals at x8),, 1 x PCIe x1, 2 x PCI IDE: ATA133 x 1 Serial ATA(SATA)/RAID: Serial ATA II x 2 with RAID 0, 1 Audio: 5.1 channel, Realtek ALC861 (HDA) LAN: 10/100 M LAN, Realtek RTL8201CL (Phy) IEEE1394: 1394a x 2, VIA VT 6308P Back Panel I/O Ports: 1 x PS/2 keyboard
1 x PS/2 mouse
1 x 1394a (reserve)
1 x VGA Port
4 x USB 2.0
1 x RJ45
1 x Parallel Port
1 x Serial Port
1 set 5.1 channel Audio jacks (3 jacks)
Internal I/O Connectors: 2 x USB 2.0 headers, support 4 ports
1 x Intel Azalia Header
1 x COM2 header
1 x Speaker
1 x Front panel
1 x Buzzer
1 x 1394a
1 x CD-in
1 x IRDA header
1 x SPDIF out header
1 x WOM(reserve)
1 x RM
BIOS Features: LPC-4Mb, ACPI 2.0b

And that the card you pointed out will fit into your 1 x PCIe x16 slot. Remember to disable the on-board video card when you install the new one. You will need to enter the BIOS to do this.

Thank you for all the help Captain Zero.

stormy13 said:

Specs on Nikolay's computer,

Acer Aspire T180-UA381B AMD Desktop PC - AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz, 1GB DDR2, 160GB SATA, DL DVD±RW, Gigabit LAN, Flash Reader, Windows Vista Home Basic, 17" LCD AST180-UA381B in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

Only thing that concerns me is the 250W power supply showing in the list. It should be OK with the 4670, but be prepared to have to upgrade the PSU. Something like this,

Newegg.com - Rosewill Stallion Series RD450-2-SB 450W ATX V2.2 Power Supply - Power Supplies

would be more than enough.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep that in mind.