Well before you start looking for the right Graphics Cards to compliment your existing system you need to understand what these cards are and what they do.

How Old Is Your Games Collection?

Inititally it is a good idea to take a step back before making a purchase and ascertaining the level of upgrade that would be most suitable i.e. are you an ardent games player. Find out whether the majority are in 2-D or in 3-D

If most are older games then it could be a waste of money buying a mid to expensive card for a variety of reasons. Remember that the CPU speed is the variable that you’ll need to consider the most. Do your homework before purchasing. Getting the latest upgrade when you’ve got an older chip in your computer will be a waste since the two won’t be compatible.

Does Your Motherboard Support The Card Type?

You may not be aware but people are often caught out by the different card slot types available, simply put if you get the wrong one it will not fit in your system. Depending on your mainboard there will be a choice of suitable card types; AGP – Pci, and Pci-e

Is There Enough Memory In Your Computer?

Most of the time upgrading a graphics card will also mean a system memory upgrade too!

Graphics cards have different amounts of memory and the better (in most cases) the card the greater the memory, and if your computer system only has a small amount of memory then you are bound to have issues as there will be insufficient memory to allocate to your system hardware and installation will either fail or your system will suddenly get much slower than it was before the card upgrade.

Is Your Power Supply Good Enough?

Newer cards drink a lot more power than their older counterparts so you need to be aware of this as well, older power supplies may only be around 200w give or take, so depending on if you have already added additional hardware to your system, this may lead to excessive power drain which can cause system instability. Also take note that many of the new breed of graphics cards may need an additional direct power connection so check your cabling before purchase and buy a splitter if your need one.

Is There Enough Space In My Case?

This is one aspect that is often totally forgotten about but some cases will be quite small or the motherboard configuration may be such that a newer card will simply not fit!

Typically newer cards are much longer and much deeper than older less powerful cards. Equally many will have larger fans to keep then cool as they work harder so check in your case to make sure there is enough space above and below the graphics slot.

A graphics card upgrade is worthwhile but does need some planning, but if you have an older AGP based motherboard and want to play the latest games then you may be better investing in a new computer.

For more great advice about computer upgrades visit our computer support website.