help with graphic card

[i nEeD HeLp]

hi can anyone help me im kinda a noob
i need a new graphic driver but i don't know which one to download the one i have now is

nvidia geforce 6100

integrated RAMDAC

is that any good and to what should i upgrade to?

one more thing i usually just go with the free ware so if you could tell me about anything thats free it'll be cool


(this is important ppl)

 

[erocker]

Did you try Nvidia's website? Download the drivers there, there are dropdown boxes to help you select the correct drivers.

 

[i nEeD HeLp]

thanks man il go check it out

is there any way i can f*** up my computer doing this?

 

[erocker]

No. Just be sure to uninstall your old display drivers before installing the new ones. It's all listed at Nvidia's website on how to do it and what to use.

 

[phanbuey]

erm... all drivers are 'freeware'.

Like erocker said, go to nvidia and just download the 6100 drivers.

The first impression that i got when i read your post is that you were asking if the 6100 is any good.

The answer is no, its not, in fact it's quite awful. Most integrated graphics are tho.

Youre not upgrading anything by downloading drivers, and for the 6100, it really doesnt matter what driver you download - it will still be an awful piece of circuitry. If you wanna upgrade your video-card (not the drivers, but the card) then its a different story. If you were just looking for drivers, then i apologize, as i misundersttod your post.

 

[i nEeD HeLp]

since you ppl know so much and i no nothing what what driver do you suggest i download?

 

[erocker]

The driver that is offered when you input your hardware on Nvidia's website.

 

[i nEeD HeLp]

well when i go to the website i go to download drivers
it then says: product type: Geforce
Product Series: Geforce 200 series
Operating System: Windows XP
Language: English

so do i just go with that?

 

[erocker]

No, under product series there is a drop-down box. Select YOUR hardware.

 

[phanbuey]

well when i go to the website i go to download drivers
it then says: product type: Geforce
Product Series: Geforce 200 series
Operating System: Windows XP
Language: English

so do i just go with that?

it should say :
product type: Geforce
Product Series: Geforce 6 series
Operating System: Windows XP
Language: English

 

[i nEeD HeLp]

ok thanxs

 

[i nEeD HeLp]

how do you uninstall your old driver?

 

[timta2]

Add/Remove in Contol Panel

 

[phanbuey]

how do you uninstall your old driver?

dont even bother... nvidia drivers update themselves, no need to uninstall... just double click the downloaded file and keep hitting 'next.' then reboot.

just out of curiousity: why are you updating ur 6100 drivers?

 

[i nEeD HeLp]

because of crappy gameplay

 

[Phobosphantom]

"because of crappy gameplay"

Yeah dude unless you buy a real graphics card your games are going to look very bad. onboard
is not meant to play games on all highs and stuff. onboard is just so you can see what you need to see on your desktop. aka for people who do not game and do high end graphics stuff. so if you want better gameplay you need to go buy a graphics card. but the good thing is when you buy a graphics card you will see a HUGE jump in your graphics and gameplay.

 

[zithe]

because of crappy gameplay

What games do you play with this PC?

 

[shawnizzzle]

if he plays crysis or something like that than yes you can pick up a nice cad for cheap like the 8800gt there cheap and will get you on any game you want mabee with all the settings on somewhat of a low setting but you can play with is the important part but if its a game that isnt that graphics demanding than i wouldnt reccomend spending that kind of money cuz they could start to get expensive.

 

[a_ump]

i thk this guy is uuber confused on what drivers do, yes if you get newer drivers it may help a slight amount but it's not going to improve performance enough on that display adapter for it to be noticable, if your looking to improve performance in playing games a good bit, might want to invest in a newer graphic card. Course what resolution you play at is important on which graphic you would get should you think of upgrading...which it sounds like you want to.
these is what i would get for <$100
HD 4670
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102792

 

[shawnizzzle]

yeah a $80 card sure would be alot better than what he has now. But i upgraded my fx100(like 64mb of video memory lol) or something like that (agp 4x) to an fx 5200 with was 256mb and my cpu made it so the card wouldnt run much better at all playing fear. And that was with a 1.8ghz pentium4 now he does have a dual core but its only at 2ghz. So just a card might not help him out as much as we all would like i think he is going to be cpu bottlenecked just my opinion though amd seem to run nice with low speeds but im an intel man myself. 4.02ghz of raw power lol. But back on subject i guess we can all agree that it depends on what he is trying to do with his computer if a card would help him out at all or a complete overhaul would be recommended. Nobody wants to hear that you need a whole new computer but in a month from new when nehalem comes out there wouldnt be a better time with all the price cuts.
And you can get a decent computer from like walmart or best buy for $500-$600 that will play all the games you want just not maxed out and they have quad cores in em running at 2.4ghz wich would be alot better than a dual core at 2ghz
But i do agree with a ump about the ati 4670 just make sure you have pci express in your computer or it wont work

 

[spearman914]

Lets just tighten it up for him. Here ya go:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_178.24_whql.html

 

[shawnizzzle]

and if he does have really old driver than he will get more performace out of the chip he does have even tho it might not be that good with a fresh new driver that has had all the bugs worked out of it and more optimized than the old drivers.
So just update your drivers and test em out on what ever game your playing. It might just be enough to make you happy without spending any more of your hard erned cash. And updating your drivers is something that you should know how to do and you stated that you dont. Well here is a lesson for you. When you are done your gunna realize that it aint that hard and mabee now you can keep your drivers up to date it helps out your computer so much its amazing. After your video drivers do your windows updates if you havent already. Always keep them up to date. Then do your motherboard drivers. LEAVE YOUR BIOS ALONE. NOT FOR THE UNEXPERIENCED. IT can leave your computer a huge paper wieght if not done properly its not hard to do but trust me if you dont know how to update your video drivers than dont touch your bios. Keeping your drivers up to date is very important it. There updated to fix bugs or errors that shouldnt be there.
For now i would just recommend updating your video driver and see how your computer runs now you might be surprized.

 

[Black Panther]

Hi there, I know where you're coming from because like 2 or 3 years ago I didn't know much about computers either.

because of crappy gameplay

The first thing that springs to my mind after reading this is:
1) What games do you play?
2) What resolution (or size of monitor) do you play on?

The thing is that the 6100 is a crappy chipset to game with (sorry for being blunt but it's the truth) and it will remain crappy no matter how much you update the drivers.

My brother has a pc which is much worse. He has a 2Ghz processor like yours but his is a Sempron not an Athlon (ie very much inferior technology). He also had a 6100 nvidia. It's really an integrated chipset, i.e. part of the motherboard and not an independent graphics card per se.

Now depending on which games you want to play, you should consider upgrading your graphics card and get a dedicated card. Dedicated means that it is not a chip in the motherboard but a card which you (or your tech) plugs in himself.

My brother used to play Oblivion on the lowest settings, and with awful framerates on a 17" monitor 1024x768. After I gave him my 8600GTS 256MB he can play it on high with awesome graphics minus some shadows (on 1024x768).

As regards Crysis, he can play it on medium settings with texture and water detail on high, at the same resolution. I doubt Crysis would even load on a 6100 though...

The 8600GTS isn't expensive. Newegg quotes price as $79.99 ($39.99 after $40.00 Mail-In Rebate) -- which honestly I don't know what it means, I never bought from Newegg because they don't ship to Europe.

For slightly more you can get a 9600GT 512MB which is much much better.

You'd be surprised at the difference a little upgrade can make.

However, if you decide to upgrade, before you buy anything download a small program called CPU-Z because it will tell you the name of your motherboard and whether your graphics slot is pci-e or agp.

That way we can guide you so that you don't buy a graphics card which won't fit.

One of the disadvantages of the 6100 chipset is that since it's integrated it takes up from your system RAM to run the graphics, and this will slow everything down and make gameplay even worse.

[Which brings me to the point pls do check your system specs... it says you got a fantasmagorically-whopping 120GB of RAM... ]

 

[zithe]

yeah a $80 card sure would be alot better than what he has now. But i upgraded my fx100(like 64mb of video memory lol) or something like that (agp 4x) to an fx 5200 with was 256mb and my cpu made it so the card wouldnt run much better at all playing fear. And that was with a 1.8ghz pentium4 now he does have a dual core but its only at 2ghz. So just a card might not help him out as much as we all would like i think he is going to be cpu bottlenecked just my opinion though amd seem to run nice with low speeds but im an intel man myself. 4.02ghz of raw power lol. But back on subject i guess we can all agree that it depends on what he is trying to do with his computer if a card would help him out at all or a complete overhaul would be recommended. Nobody wants to hear that you need a whole new computer but in a month from new when nehalem comes out there wouldnt be a better time with all the price cuts.
And you can get a decent computer from like walmart or best buy for $500-$600 that will play all the games you want just not maxed out and they have quad cores in em running at 2.4ghz wich would be alot better than a dual core at 2ghz
But i do agree with a ump about the ati 4670 just make sure you have pci express in your computer or it wont work

Any dual core puts a 1.8ghz pentium iv to shame. A new video card will show a large improvement.

I went from a Celeron D at 3.4ghz (About as strong as a P4 2.3ghz ish) to an e2180. The difference is massive.

 

[shawnizzzle]

As black panter stated
1. you have to find out what kind of a bus your motherboard has so you know what kind of card you can buy
2. once you find that out we also need to know you resolution or monitor size. What card we recomend depends on the size like if you have a 30" which i doubt you do i wouldnt reccomend a 8800gt but if you have like a 17" than a cheap card like black panther would be perfect .
But first we have to figure out what bus your motherboard has and being a Emachine I would think that you have a pci express 1.0 You system specs is almost identical as my stepdads computer and he had integraded ati graphics with a amd 2ghz cpu. I put a 8300gs video card in it and he plays crysis, oblivion, painkiller overdose, UT3 all the new titles just with low graphics settings.


That card goes for about $28-$40 and its a great card slow but it works day after day with no problems at all. Once i put it in for him i havent touched it yet.