Resolved Instal a Video card for first time.

My computer HP Compac Presario video is part of the mother board. I decided to instal Nvidia GeForce video card as this will improve picture quality and performance. I read sometime ago that installing a new video card required to disengage the mother board connection prior installations of video card. Other information stated this was carried out when the card was insterted into the slot connector on the motherboard. I did not disengage the video out on the motherboard, was this correct? or was it automatically done when installing new video card?

 

Thank you for prompt answer. Computer and monitor working satisfactory after inserting the video card and installing provided driver software. I visited the Nvidia Web site for any driver upgrade, I note that the software listed for my card Geforce GT630 has a lower reference number than the driver supplied with the PNY card inst0235.

 

Got to agree with Steve on this.

Another thing, leave it alone if you have a newer version. Just remember, if it ain't broke don't fix it or you will really be fixing it later.

 

It sure might. Depending on the motherboard/chipset/BIOS, when you install an add-in card, the integrated graphics may, or may not automatically disable itself. Not all are automatically disabled. And that matters because if the integrated does not disable, it will still steal some of your valuable system RAM. Not good!

So you need to now see how much available memory you have and see if it aligns with how much you have installed. If you are still missing a large chunk of RAM, there is a good chance your integrated graphics is still enabled, even if not used.

Unfortunately, you did not say which Compaq you have but note HP does provide instructions on line for upgrading to a graphics card and I note for this one it says,

 

Bill, thanks for detailed information. My computer is a Compac Presario CQ5115uk, 2009. Video integrated on mother board, now fitted a Nvidia GeForce GT630 (PNY). 8Gb of memory installed, how to check if motherboard video still using memory.

 

How much RAM does it say you have when you right click on Computer and select Properties?

 

Bill, checking as you suggested.

Installed 8Gb. Lowest Subscore 7.1 5.9.

 

In looking at a couple integrated systems here, I am not sure that is the correct place to get the information as they both are reporting the full amount of RAM installed. Nevertheless, if you only had 4Gb or less, I might worry about it. But with 8Gb, you are almost swimming in RAM - a good thing.

 

When I did this, assuming plug & play functionality for the AGP board, everything worked just fine. About a month later, I upgraded the RAM on my box from a sinlge 512m to dual 1G.

Everything turned to junk. The computer wouldn't boot up all the way. The display was full of random letters and symbols. Nothing would work.

I took the two memory sticks to a local computer store and they checked out just fine. I went home, took the AGP card out, and with the original single 512M memory stick, the display recovered. Unfortunately, the OS and a lot of the data was scrambled.

I reloaded Win XP, which of course deleted all the data and the various software programs that had been installed after the initial factory set-up. Thanks to my regular routine, I was able to recover the data from only three days before the blow up. I had most of the software installation disks in a folder and was able to re-install all of them except Quicken. I'd done an on-line download of Quicken, hadn't saved it to disk and the clock had expired on getting another download.

Resolved in future not to do on-line software purchases - get the disk!

I still haven't had the courage to re-try the AGP card. Maybe in the next couple of weeks, after my next scheduled data dump. I'll let you all know if the AGP card works in its second installation.

 

Bill, I tought best to check the BIOS entries. Primary Video Adaptor is shown as PCI.

 

You might be able see how much is snagged in the BIOS. The Primary Video Adapter just means any graphics card installed in one of the PCI slots will be treated as the primary monitor - so the BIOS and Windows know where to toss up the boot screens.