Well, before I say anything, here are my desktop computer specs: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Dual Core Processor 2.31 GHz 2 GB RAM NVIDIA GeForce 6150LE nForce 430 64MB (I think 64 MB) Graphics Card Windows Vista Home Premium Edition 32-Bit I've been wanting to play modern computer games, more specifically Grand Theft Auto IV, for quite a while. Thing is, my computer is very capable of running most of the games on the market, including Grand Theft Auto IV, at medium-high settings IF I just bought a new graphics card. My lousy office video card is the only thing truly crippling my PC gaming ability. Unfortunately, changing my graphics card is much more complicated than I thought. The card I've wanted to buy is the NVIDIA 9600GT. This card requires a power source of 400W. I found out today that my power source is only 300W. Not only that, my my graphics card appears to be integrated/attached to my motherboard/power source. I've had NO experience in this sort of thing, so I'm at a loss of what to do. Somebody on Yahoo suggested that I buy a graphics card that requires less power, install it, and then disable my old graphics card through a BIOS. While this seems an easy enough solution, Grand Theft Auto IV will most likely not run well on a card any lower than a 8600GT. The 8600GT requires 300W to run, and while someone said they had this little power and were able to run the 8600GT fine, I fear it won't be enough. So, I think I'll have to change my power source. Like I've said, I've had no experience changing power sources and graphics cards and things of that nature, and I opened up my PC and honestly had no idea where to place a new graphics card if I got one. Here are some pics of what the inside of my computer looks like: http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww88/uum7/100_0804.jpg http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww88/uum7/100_0797.jpg http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww88/uum7/100_0798.jpg http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww88/uum7/100_0799.jpg http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww88/uum7/100_0800.jpg http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww88/uum7/100_0801.jpg http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww88/uum7/100_0802.jpg http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww88/uum7/100_0803.jpg http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww88/uum7/100_0804.jpg Well, I've pretty much said all that I had to say. Can anyone help? Thank you!
Your board has a PCI-E x16 slot, there should be an option in bios to boot from this slot first, then you just dissable the onboard video in windows. You will probably need a new power supply, but they are affordable enough. A good quality 500W unit should do everything you need, with some headroom for the future. Before buying the 9600GT, check out the 4850HD. Before buying anything, make sure that it is not too long to fit into that micro-case (add about an inch to the length of the card to account for the 6-pin power connector). BTW: you have two brown slots on the mainboard. One is long, one is short. These are your PCI-express slots. The longer one will hold a video card.
Buy something like an Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU, it will fit in that system and run a decent graphics card with ease. I would recommend either an HD4830 or HD4850 graphics card, better performers and better value than the 9600GT. Be advised though that an X2 4400+ is a bit on the low side for GTA4.
