I need to upgrade my computer to play new Civil War game, needs to be min. 64MB video card, compatible to DX9c. I bought ATI9600PRO w/ 256MB, yet it does not appear to fit in my computer. Have I bought too new technology for my machine, or am I missing something obvious? Any info would be appreciated! NealG

That is an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) video card that needs a certain type of slot to fit into. Perhaps your motherboard doesn't have this type of slot. If it does it will be between the PCI slots (usually white) and the CPU.

This picture shows an AGP slot (in the white box) and a PCI slot (in the blue box).

If you can give us the Series and Model number of your Compaq maybe we can come up with some alternatives for you. System specs always help

My computer is a Compaq Presario 5080US, 800MHz w/ 128KB integrated L2 Pipeline Burst Cache, and a 20.0GB Hard Drive. It states that it has "Direct AGP 3D Graphics w/ up to 11MB Allocated as visual memory" on the sticker on the side. This new game requires as a minimum 64MB Video Card.

In the image you directed me to, I have 4 of the PCI slots shown. One appears to have my modem connection, while the other 3 are vacant. The connections on the new video card do not align with the PCI slots. I did not see an AGP slot on my motherboard.

Once again, if you have any advice on what type of alternative Video Card would fit, I'd greatly appreciate it!

Thanks again!


NealG

By the way, welcome to BC, NealG, I just noticed you are a new member.

Your new video card needs an AGP slot so its not compatible with your motherboard, as they say.

What you need is a PCI video card that will fit one of your available slots. As this is fading technology the price of this type of card is becoming much cheaper as compared to AGP (also fading) and PCI-E (the emerging new standard).

Not knowing where you live I went to Newegg.com to find a couple of cards you could compare and that will work in your machine. I'm not recommending these cards as I have never had the particular brand I'm just illustrating what type of card to get. See the XGI V3XT 64MB PCI and the XGI V3XT 128MB PCI Volari's. Note that in their specs they both mention DirectX9 and that you can 128MBs for only five dollars more than a 64. Also note they are both Retail rather than OEM. An OEM part is supplied without accessories as opposed to Retail that gets you accessories, in this case a driver CD and an S-Video cable.

Your current video setup is incorporated into the motherboard and uses 11MB of your installed ram so that will be freed up for your game. You will need to go into the bios and disable that on board video when installing a PCI card. This is not as difficult as it sounds.

Thanks for all the great info on this. By coincidence, the AGP video card I bought was through Newegg.com. I think I'll return it and swap it out for one of the PCI video cards, and maybe add some RAM with the difference in cost.

I will definitely keep this site on my "favorites list" for all of my inevitable future problems!

Thanks again!

NealG

Your welcome NealG. Hope to see you in the forum in the future.

Neal make sure you don't get a PCIx or PCI-Express that is different than a PCI slot. They should have come up with a different name. For a reular PCI slot I believe the most video RAM is 128mb. Check out the eNvidia MX400 PCI. I have used it a lot. It a good card, not the best but good. About $50.