looks AGP to me

NO! the card you are looking at is for PCI-E ONLY. AGP and PCI-E are NOT the same physical connector (its not a usb 1.1 vs. 2.0 type of thing)

you HAVE to get the SPECIFIC AGP version, such as this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814140067

PS: you can also help tell its AGP by the little lock at the end of the slot

Ok, I hope it goes over well with the parental units. I don't see why not because I am paying for it, but we will have to see

Thanks a bunch you guys. You saved my a. I thought I could just get any card and it would work. I now know differently. Thanks again

Edit: Is there any other reason why this card would not perform optimally?

Which one? The PCI-E or the AGP one?

The AGP. I don't see why it wouldn't, unless your bus speed is horribly slow.

of course. You could be CPU limited, RAM limited, have a crappy chipset (which it sounds like you do), etc...

You shouldn't have too many problems though, as long as you do everything in THIS ORDER!

1) Uninstall display adapter software (vender control panel, utilities, etc...) - you MIGHT not have any
2) install new card
3) Boot and go to the BIOS
4) Disable integrated graphics
5) switch default video (sometimes called init display first) to AGP (might not have this setting: some bios's w/ intergrated w/ this option will sometimes try to init first the intergrated even though its disabled - changing this prevents that)
6) install NEW drivers from www.nvidia.com - DO NOT USE THE ONES ON THE CD!!!! the reason is they are OLD, and are more than likely slower than the new ones

that should all be correct and in the right order (minimal chances of conflicts and such this way)

Very detailed.
I look forward to hearing how this goes.

quick question on video catds. I am going dual monitor soon on the desktop, and am installing a older card for the moniter. The card I am using is PCI and the old one is AGP (in fact, it was the one I orginally had in this comp), but when I boot the comp, the AGP card is seen as the main one. Can I change that? Windows does it right thogh.

If you want to know

PCI: nVidia GeForce mx4000 128mb RAM (got it for free)
AGP: nVidia TNT2 32mb RAM (only need it to display some stuff, like firfox if I am in blockland)

Not sure, but I'm gonna guess yes.

Thanks for the walkthrough, but I'm a little confused. At which point do I install the new card? #6 or #2?

What do you mean by "the main card"? Is this under display properties, or...

you have 2 options. I'm ASSUMING windows isn't picking the right monitor to be your primary

option 1) look in the BIOS for the init display first setting, and change it
option 2) in the display properties, select the mon you want as your primary (which also makes the card powering it the primary) and check the "This is my primary display" checkbox



heh, oops, typo #6 shouldn't be there....(so #7 should be #6 - i'll edit it in a sec)

I got the OK to buy the card, but stupid New Egg's server is down I guess I will have to wait a bit to get it.

newegg's running fine for me...

No, it's running fine normally, but when I submit the payment it says that the server is having difficulties.

Edit: It's working fine now. I just bought a new Graphics Card WOOT

Edit2: Do I put the card in the brown slot or one of the white slots?

The brown one.

And which card did you buy?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814140067

Brown slot. Good choice.

I'll keep you guys posted when I get it. I may require more help on the installation, not that Kllrnohj's explanation wasn't thorough, in case something goes wrong (which I don't forsee).

Sure, that makes sense.