Upgrade Graphics Card: Step-By-Step Guide

Wondering how to upgrade graphics card?

Your computer needs an upgrade to boost its performance and make it run faster. You must be certainly aware of it if you are running a lot of multimedia, complex games, graphic design programs etc on your computer.

If your PC is performing poorly or if you need faster video performance, replace your old graphics card with a new one which can give your PC the considerable speed you require.

And you might be wondering which one to select for your PC, considering the fact that there are numerous graphic cards available in the market. It all depends on how you would like to use your PC. For example, if you are a gamer working on PC that has is showing up its age, you would definitely need to shift to an upgraded card to play the latest games. Here are the step by step instructions to help you out.

Though graphics hardware provide good performance from latest models, it is always best to afford a graphics card which suits your needs. If you are a professional gamer or work designing graphics, go for a graphics card which enables you to work with larger graphics, play high definition videos and more realistic PC games. There is a wide range available too, so you can choose among them to have a pocket-friendly card, just in case you are tied to your budget.

Graphics card upgrade

1. Assuming that your computer is performing well and you are experiencing slowdowns only while working on graphic programs, I would suggest you to upgrade to either ATI Radeon or NVidia GE Force FX cards. The prices are reasonable and provide good speed and performance.
2. Get the right information before you zero in on a particular card. Do check with your manufacturer’s specifications and video capabilities of your PC. Many modern PC’s come with PCI X16 Express slots offering faster data transfer. Older models had AGP support connection. Remember that a PCI Express card cannot be put onside AGP slot or vice versa.
3. Once you are done with choosing the right graphics card for your PC, disconnect the power and open up your computer’s case. Remove the old card and install the new card at the proper video expansion slot. Always hold the chip at the edges alone as it may damage the circuits on the face of the card.
4. Read the detailed instructions about your graphics card properly. When you are done with that, close off the case and connect your monitor’s cord with the ‘video out’ before restarting.
5. Uninstall the older graphics program from the PC. Have your disk installation disk and the manual ready and run the disk on for installation. Once the installation gets completed, you will have to restart your PC. Click on the new pop-up dialog of a new hardware installed.
6. Power consumption may be a concern now as it may require more power. Make your PC ready with additional power connectors and adapters. Sometimes, you may also need to upgrade the power supply too.
7. You can also try upgrading your CPU or installing more RAM to have a good computing experience.

Hope these steps helped you. Did you have a chance to upgrade your graphics card? Share your thoughts in the comments, please.