Graphics Cards

[seemore907]

Well, about compatibility there are two factors as far as I'm concerned for graphics cards:

1. Graphics Card Slot:

There are mainly two variants for this: One is AGP, and the other is PCIE 16 (Note that you are looking for PCI 16 as the graph in the wiki page will show) Just take your Motherboard's box, manual, or anything like that, and look for the the name of the one you have. Or if you have none of those you could always open your computer, and see for yourself.

All this being said though...unless your computer pre-dates something like 2005-6, it's very unlike y you have AGP as it's a very old model which has pretty much already died out.

2. PSU Power Supply

This is a box which is typically located on the back-top of your computer case. You can easily identify it as the box where you plug your computer's main power into.

PSU's are most generally measured in power by their watts (W), and although there are other factors this is mostly the most important one to look out for especially if you're a newbie. The watt number is typically on stickers on the side of the PSU.

The higher tier the graphics card, the better power supply you'll need to support it. For instance some mid-tier graphics cards can run nicely on 400w-500w while bigger ones may need up to 650w at least to be safe. It all depends on the card, and you should look out for the minimum requirement before purchasing.


EDIT: Oh and the GeForce GTX 660 Ti is a fairly powerful card (Even better than mine lol), and it'll serve you well for gaming as long as you're not into insane stuff. 650 is quite awesome too. You can run Amnesia on max no problem with either of them.

Thanks for all the info! On the motherboard box it says Inspiron and there are stickers towards the back of it. All of them just say information like bar codes and computer codes like Product Service Code, Service Tag, Express Service Tag, Product Key, etc. I wasn't able to find the watt number here. Where else would I be able to find the watt number for the computer?

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If you're really as un-tech savvy with computers as you say you are then I'd think it might be easiest to caryy your computer to the nearest store, and ask them to do all the necessary things for you. Also considering the fact that the graphics card needs to be installed after buying it which involves plugging in the card properly as well as attaching external power supply cords. This may be a simple task for computer builders, but might be daunting for someone like you.

Would be much more direct, and information would flow much easier than asking a bunch of random people on the internet lol.

Ya I assumed I would have to call someone to help me out with this, haha. Though I'm starting to think my computer is too much of a piece of junk for any top-tier graphics cards like the nVidia GTX 660. Are there any other ways I can make sure it's compatible with my PC?