-Basically I'm trying to install a new graphic card and people are telling me to ground the charge... how do i do this?
-How do i know if my pc is compatible with the video card im installing?
-How do i know if the video card needs an external power source connected to it?
-Video card suggestion for under 250 bucks?

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Feb 15 2012, 1:33 am by Tempz.

If you're talking about grounding a static charge (most likely), just keep a part of bare skin (such as your knee, your arm or the palm of your non-dominant hand) against an unpainted metal surface (ie, the back of your computer case) and you'll be fine (I love parenthesis).

mmk thanks i added a few more questions

You should post your comp specs (RAM, psu, cpu, etc) so that people can get a better idea of what kind of graphics card your computer can handle. Also, for what purpose do you want a new card? Just for gaming? Or other stuff as well?

• Does your computer have enough spare PCIe slots to accommodate the new card?
  
• Does your current power supply allow for the upgrade?
  
• Is your current case large enough to accommodate the length of the graphics card?
  
• Is this an OEM PC or one you built yourself?
  

Does your computer have enough spare PCIe slots to accommodate the new card?
Does your current power supply allow for the upgrade?
Is your current case large enough to accommodate the length of the graphics card?
Is this an OEM PC or one you built yourself?

I don't know anything of what you said but I'll post the specs tomorrow... about to sleep right now.

Check the motherboard to see if it has slots to fit a new card. Those slots should be labeled PCIe.


Find out how much wattage your power supply has. If it's really old and doesn't have a lot of wattage, you won't be able to get a very powerful graphics card.


That can't be too hard to understand. Is your case really small is everything compacted together inside? Graphics cards are pretty big nowadays, so you've got to have enough room in your case to fit them.

Is your computer prebuilt from a company like Dell or HP or did you assemble it yourself? Judging from your "knowledge" on this topic, I'm guessing it's OEM. >_>

The amps for 12 volts would be important to know, depending on the age of the system. More so than the number of watts.

If he has a proprietary power supply from the OEM, he's going to need to buy a new one. Even worse, chances are the case or mobo might not even take standard ATX power supplies if it's old enough.

Don't want to void its warranty

Bought it almost a few weeks ago

unfortunatly i can probaly only get a small graphics card since my computer is compact about 12 inches whereas my old one was 14 inches.

yea its prebuild by hp... i still kep the box

Hp Pavilion P7-1110 pc

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Feb 16 2012, 11:31 pm by Tempz.

Well Tempz, I'm not sure how you intend to upgrade your graphics card if you "don't want to void its warranty". Upgrading the graphics card requires opening the case. Opening the case is required to see what slots you have on the motherboard. If you don't want to do the latter, then you certainly aren't going to be able to do the former, either.

Assuming this is your computer:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/en/ho/WF06b/12454-12454-3329740-64546-64546-5146449-5156951.html?dnr=1

Then it has a PCIe 16x slot that is unpopulated by a card already. So you should be able to buy any standard PCIe card and put it in.

well i should of been more specific... didn't want to void its warranty until the last possible moment.

Why? What difference would it make?

That doesn't answer the question.

incase it breaks for whatever reason beforehand

Well you're most likely going to have to open the case to see what the power supply is and what connectors it has before we can guarantee any card you buy is going to work in your system. Unless the documentation happens to contain all these details, but I'd be surprised if they did.

Alternative ways to get the information on PSU/connectors:
1. Ask other people online with the same model computer what they have. Good luck finding someone. There's also no guarantee they'll have exactly the same one as you; sometimes different production runs use different parts.
2. Ring up HP support and try and get someone on the phone who can answer your question (good luck). Same "may not be identical" proviso above applies.

Found this: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&docname=c03011622#N69

Looks like it is a 250w power supply. You'll need to buy a new one if you get a standalone graphics card.

250w power supply almost certainly wouldn't come with PCIe power connectors either.

tempz, you should have asked us on this forum first as we could advised what pre-built system to get. Now you're stuck with one that isn't reasonably upgradeable.

some graphics cards don't require a power supply so maybe if i get a special one =/...

If by "special" you mean really shitty and not worth anything, then yes, you can do that. Any mediocre graphics card nowadays is going to require you to connect it to the power supply.

aww in that case crap... however if someone does recommend one that can play skyrim with recommended settings.

how do i replace the power supply.