Video Card Help... <Can I Have It?>

I currently have a ATi Radeon HD3200

and im looking at a GeForece 9600GT

my question is.. will the GeForce be compatable with my PC which came with the ATI Radeon 3200HD.

more over, im running:

Windows Vista 64Bit (SP1);
4 GIGs RAM (DDR2) {{Dual-Channel}};
AMD Phenom 9600 Quad-Core Processor;
640 GIGs (2x 320GB Hard drives);

Im looking to see if the GeForce will install to my PC w/o other modifications, or if i need to stick with ATi Radeon..

as of NOW... my computer is all OEM... =(

i don't see the problem at all. I went from an ATI to a GeForce on my pc and i didn't have to purchase anything more to make it work.

Video Cards are very generic though, just gotta make sure if it needs and AGP or PCI slot.

Just need to make sure it uses the same port as what your motherboard can hold. PCI-E or AGP. Other than that you should be good. Also make sure your drivers are updated and compatible.

Hmm, i think i will bring my PC with me to Frys Electronics tomorrow. i have 3 extra slots on my PC but im not sure if any of them are video err whatever...

but thanks for those tips ^^

As stated before is to make sure whether the card is agp or pci-e. Another thing is you have a 64bit OS, make sure you get the correct drivers. there will be a 32bit version and 64bit version.

yah im on 64 bit.

like i said ima bring my PC with me tomorrow
maybe even have them install it so i have a warranty =D

i vaguely remember that graphics card. i dont think it's APG.. my old 6100something isnt even APG lol. whether you'd need to find out whether you've got PCI, PCI-E, x8 or x16, it'd all make a difference. the only thing you'd have to change is the drivers.

awesome, i can get drivers off the web.

google ads FTL....

Only download from the ATI site, that link will most likely load you up with a nice bundle of spyware.

Oh and:
Adjective
luisant m. (f. luisante, m. plural luisants, f. plural luisantes)
1. gleaming, glistening

well YEAH!....

and wtf is all the luisant ***?

wait wait.... thats actually the searchbar for my firefox plugin, automatically pulls up that in the FFXIAH "item search" =D

He is gonna have PCI-e with him running a quad core phenom. I belive it has been at least 3-5 years since AGP MBs have been used. His build would most likely been built in the past year or so.

=o i feel like such a noob LOL

The real concern, since AGP hasn't been on new PCs for years now, is what your power supply can handle. A Radeon HD3200 is an integrated solution, part of the AMD 780G chipset.
The 9600GT is still a relatively low end card, and the power requirements aren't steep...but still.

I would say to consider dropping another $10-20 for a Radeon HD4770 or 4850, or a GeForce 8800GT or 8800/9800GTS though. Decent bit better than the 9600GT, really not much more expensive unless you're eyeing some significant rebate. 'course, power requirements do go up with things like that too.

The only "compatibility" you could look at is that the HD3200 can be used in a Crossfire type configuration with some of the low end ATI GPUs...but the combined performance still isn't up to par with the single cards mentioned, so no point worrying about it.

well i picked up the ATi Radeon 4850 and a better power supply along with 4 more gigs of RAM (8 total now and all working)

the install guide says to down load "mother board" drivers????

so im about to browse the web for "mother board drivers" so i can install the beast of a video card =D

err maybe not. gateway website has no new drivers for my pc... so im off to install this bad puppy. wish me luck if you see this before im back LOL

well the ATi Radeon 4850 works. but i dont notice any better look of the game except the colors see more defined..

=D im happy i suppose ^^

bwahahahahah my graphics rating went from 3.8 to 5.9!!!!!

i've never found any real amount of difference, unless upgrading from a really ***one, it'll just mean better FPS in areas you wouldnt normally have got them in, and sharper/clearer pictures ect ect.

yah the clearer image is what i like about this bad boy =D

Did you set the settings up in FFXI as well?

As a caveat, FFXI does only get so good, and you will notice a -lot- more of a difference with other games. Night and day. However, look here http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Graphics and set your graphics up. Set your background resolution (via registry) to twice your foreground resolution for one.

Use the ATI driver to force Anisotropic filtering rather than use higher levels of MIP mapping as well.