Buying new PC.... New Video Card Will Work??... (1 Viewer)

[Christopher Chung]

Hey guys,

Okay, I'm just a novice at the whole computer thing. I tried doing my Homework at the whole "build your own PC" but didn't want to dive in just yet. So I decided on buying the Sony VIAO RX741.

This has 2 available PCI slots for me to use, and I plan to put a new Video Card, and Sound Card in them.

Now for my question: Will I be able to "override" the interrgrated video card the computer comes with a new higher-end video card, or am I stuck with the video card Sony gives me.

I'm guessing I can put in the vid/sound cards in since they are giving me 2 PCI slots, but I just want to make sure.

Thanks for any help!!
Chris

 

[Dave E H]

You probably can, but are going to really limited on what you can use for a video card - most top end video cards now only come in an AGP version.

What _IS_ the best PCI card now days? A Geforce2 MX PCI is about the best I know of...

 

[Joe Hsu]

There are GeForce 4 MX's in PCI format, I believe, and depending on the trade-off, he can try using a PCI to AGP riser card.
Now Chris, as for "overriding" the onboard video, you probably can, but there are often times of freeing up the memory...make sure you try whatever you can in Windows, but don't forget to look through the BIOS. A lot of times, onboard video has the memory size-allocation dictated in the BIOS (8 megs, 16, 32, 64), but for a lot of new chipsets, people are having difficulty successfully freeing up that memory.
Good luck.

 

[Kelley_B]

man do not buy a Sony PC...they are very integrated, go with a nice Dell machine like the Dimension 4500 line.

 

[Julio De Luis]

I recently looked at the specs for the sony computer your are planning to buy.
http://www.sonystyle.com/vaio/popup/specs_rx741.pdf
and from what i can tell you, if you are going to buy a sony computer that you look into getting a different model.
One that does not use integrated graphics, but instead uses an AGP slot for the video card.
It is a better alternative than getting a PCI video card, which aren't as fast as an AGP video card.
I personally have a sony vaio PCV-RX570 and i am very happy with it, the only down side to the computer for me was
the video card which was an nVIDIA TNT M64. But because my sony computer used an AGP slot for the video card, I was easily able to upgrade my video card to an nVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti 4200.

 

[Christopher Chung]

Awsome guys, that really helps me out a lot! I guess I'll do some more hunting for an AGP slotted computer rather than the intergrated. Appreciate it!

Chris

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

Two free PCI slots is also not optimal, you really want a couple more than that - just in case you ever want to put something else in there like a tv-card or whatever.

Since you're buying new, why not just get a model with a decent graphics card right off the bat, that way you don't have to worry about buying parts immediately. Most PC's come with built in sound too now.

 

[Kelley_B]

If you have a Best Buy around, take a look at their new Matrix brand of PCs and the MicronPCs that they sell. You can do better than that Sony, We all know it.

 

[Juan Castillo]

In case you do buy an integrated POS , I mean PC, matrox makes some of the best PCI video cards. I had a millenia in one of my older PC's and it rocked. You are by far not out of luck without an agp slot, just need to find the right replacement card.. hey, I have a second graffix card to complement my agp in a pci slot.. dual monitor output is necesary in my case, but i could live off one I guess.

 

[Brian Bowles]

I would stay a way from the sony computers. The ones that I have seen are very proprietary and the price they charge is generally too much. I built my computer and that is the best deal. If you do not want to do that try Dell. I dont think the graphics card is integrated on most of their models. Also try Bens Bargains They usually have the scoop on the deals at Dell.

 

[Christopher Chung]

Kelley,
I do have a Best Buy near me and have checked out some of the Matrix PC's and they really do look good. I don't know why I've been looking at the Sony PCs, I guess I got caught in the hype. My price range is right around $1000 so if anybody knows of a good computer at that price (with the specs imilar to the Sony) that'd be cool. Otherwise, if I were a wiz with the computer stuff, I'd have built a PC a LONG time ago. I know exactly what I want, just scared of doing it alone!!