| What's a
Videocard? How to tell what kind of video card you have. How to tell how much videoram you have How to install a videocard Videocard recommendations |
Video Card/Chip FAQs by Neil MacQueen, Sunday Software Updated October 2009 |
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and why you might need to adjust the aspect ratio and resolution for
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This page was written for the
non-techie in a church setting who is running Christian education software.
This page will show you how to determine how much VIDEO
RAM is on your computer,
and how to update your video driver.
Basics
Video cards are sometimes referred to as "Graphics Cards" or "Graphic Controllers" or "Video Chips." They are the piece of hardware that gets all the visuals, animation and video to your monitor. The "Video Driver" is the software that comes with the card/chip. It's not uncommon for older computers to need new videocards to run newer software. It's also not uncommon for a new computer to need its video driver updated, even right out of the box.
Adding a new card, and/or updating a videodriver is E-A-S-Y. See my notes below.
SOME OLDER CARDS/CHIPS/DRIVERS MAY NOT BE ABLE TO HANDLE some of the newer "game" style programs in our catalog. You cannot tell if that card/chip can run EVERY program until you try it with every program. But there are some benchmarks. Generally speaking, if you can handle our latest 3D game, such as Exodus Adventures CD, you can handle everything else in our catalog.
Some software runs fine on cruddy cards/chips. Usually it is the 3D style software which reveals a problem with the computers videocard/chip.
Videocards come with their own onboard RAM memory, commonly called "videoram." Videochips borrow RAM memory from the main system memory. Many newer game programs specifically require you to have a certain amount of videoram. See the notes below for determining how much your system has.
How to tell
what kind of card or chip you have...
How to tell how much videoram you have...
There are a couple of ways to access the info. Here's the easiest for all Windows systems: use the DirectX Diagnostics (dxdiag) program that's in your system.
To start DirectX Diagnostics in Windows XP....
1) Click START
2) Click RUN
3) Type these six letters: 'dxdiag' in the RUN field and click OK.
4) Click the SYSTEM tab and it will tell you all about your computer's processor and ram.
5) Click the DISPLAY tab and it will tell you all about your computer's graphic chip/manufacturer and capability and videoram.Dxdiag also has a diagnostic you can run to test your card/chip's 3d capabilities.
You can also print out the DXDIAG results for later reference. For a complete walk-through of using DXDIAG, go to www.sundaysoftware.com/dxdiag
IN VISTA... Click the Start 'Pearl' and type dxdiag in the Search field.
| Videocard/chip Cautions and Recommendations We do NOT recommend videocards or video chipsets from S3, Via, 3DFX Voodoo, or Diablotek. Stay away from them. If you have them, replace them. In particular, some of your low-end clone PCs have S3 and Via chips in them. They're bottom of the barrel and don't have good support. We recommend Nvidia, ATI/AMD, and Intel videochips/cards made in the last two or three years. You do not need to buy their most expensive new versions. Their basic 3D compatible card/chip made in the last two or three years will be quite sufficient for most Christian computing on most Windows machines. Cautions: Some older Nvidia, ATI, and Intel chipsets may not be able to run today's software. If you have Windows Vista you may need to have the very latest cards/chips from these manufacturers, and their very latest driver versions. If you're buying a new card, make sure it comes with the drivers for your operating system. Some "bargain" cards don't come with the properly updated software to install them with. Get a card with the right type of "slot" to fit into your computer. See my install notes below. |
Video Driver
The Video Driver is the piece of software that let's the operating system and program software run the videocard or chip. Not all drivers are the same quality and they are frequently "fixed" by the videocard/chip manufacturer. Updates are free at the manufacturer's website.
Make sure you have the right driver! It's not uncommon for a 'volunteer techie' to find some halfway decent videocard and slap it into an older PC thinking they are making an improvement, BUT FORGETTING to also install the correct DRIVE for that halfway decent videocard. They just let Windows "detect" the new card and assign a driver. This is usually a mistake. Windows often assigns a generic videodriver which can't activate some of the card's video handling capabilities. This "flawed installation" usually rears its ugly head a ways down the road when a program's animation or video doesn't perform like it should.
Always, always, always install the latest video driver created specifically for the videocard, --provided by the manufacturer of the videocard or by the manufacturer of the Computer. Dell systems, for example, require you to get the download for their intel graphic chips from the Dell download site. You can't install the ones from Intel.
If your computer is more than 4 years old, and was "inexpensive" to begin with, then it may have a very basic video chip in it. Updating the videodriver for that basic chip will likely solve potential problems. And it is best to do this ahead of time rather than in the middle of class!
Read the story at the bottom of this page for more on updating your driver.
Windows System Files, DirectX and Video Cards
Microsoft's operating system include a number of system files bundled under the term "DirectX" that work with video/animation/multimedia/game needs. Their DirectX program has been updated several times in the past few years. Many newer programs are written to newer DirectX standards and DirectX is backwards compatible. You can download a free update from their website. Make sure you have the latest version of DirectX installed on your computer.
For a complete walk-through of using DXDIAG to test your system's capabilities, go to www.sundaysoftware.com/dxdiag
It's very easy to do. You may find three types of "slots" on the motherboard of your computer which can accept video cards. They are called PCI, PCI-E, and AGP slots.
In general, PCI slots look longer and are white, AGP slots are shorter and black/brown. PCI-E is a newer type of pci slot seen on higher end new computers in 2005. I suggest you Google the terms PCI and AGP for images of what the cards look like.
When purchasing a new card, you need to know what kind of SLOT you have available in your computer. Almost all computers today still have PCI slots. Many will have PCI-E. But you need to look.
New inexpensive videocards run between $35 and $55. Go to your local computer store and look for an inexpensive recent model videocard. Or shop online at a place like www.tigerdirect.com. Or to go www.crucial.com.
Make sure it is at least DirectX 9.0 compliant.
Please note: I do not advise installing new videocards on computer systems which have or were built to run Windows 98/me/2000. That's like putting mag wheels on a Rambler.
Read our companion article:
How and why to adjust the aspect
ratio and screen resolution of your display to improve the appearance of certain
software.
|
WHY you may need the LATEST Video Driver even for your "NEW" computer...
To find out the DATE of your videodrivers in Windows Me/XP, do this: 1) Click Start, Control Panel, Display. 2) Click the Settings tab on the Display control panel. 3) Click the Advanced button. 4) Click the Adapter tab. 5) Click the Properties button, then click the Drivers tab. Buried it, didn't they! From there you can see the driver version and date. Write those down, then go to the computer manufacturer's website FIRST to see if they have an updated driver. When you get to the Driver Details window there's a button labeled "update driver." I tried that, but Dell's version of Windows XP won't update the driver that way. So I went to Intel's website and downloaded the latest driver for my chipset (a nice little executable file), but Dell Windows XP wouldn't install either. And error message said "go to the computer manufacturer's website." When you own a Dell you must go to the Dell website and look up your computer model and look on their list of available upgrades (under "video" or "graphic" drivers). I can only assume it's the same with some other computer brands. FYI... I tried clicking the Dell Support icon on my desktop, but it's useless. I had to go to the Dell website. (Why is this a goofy process? Who knows. I like Dell computer, but there are some odd things like this.) Dell had the latest drivers, and they worked! If your computer doesn't have an internet connection don't worry. The driver files come an executable file which can be burned to a CD and transported to your computers. So bottom line... GO FIRST to the manufacturer of your computer's website -especially if you have a Dell. If they don't have the updated drivers, then go to the chip/card maker's website. If all else fails because you have an old computer or out of date card/chip, try looking up your chip/videocard at http://www.driverguide.com/ or http://www.windrivers.com Please be careful if you don't know what you're doing. Find someone who does know. |
CASE
IN POINT: In October 2005 I installed Galilee Flyer CD on a BRAND
NEW Dell laptop (Inspiron 6000). It had an integrated graphics/video
chipset (the Intel 915 / 910) with TONS of videoram. But...When I
clicked the "start" button in Galilee Flyer I received the following
message: "insufficient
memory for D3D textures."
Then the program crashed. So I checked the date of the
installed videodriver on my new October 05 purchased computer. The
driver date was January 2005. Sounds new, right? But I knew better.
Developers are constantly "fixing" videodrivers. So I went to Dell's
support.dell.com website and downloaded the very latest
videodrivers for my brand new laptop. They were dated August 2005. I
installed them with just a few easy clicks, and Galilee Flyer now works
fine.