I'm about to...

[joule]

I'm about to install my first video card. It it this:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-161-109&depa=0
I just received it in the mail today from New Egg. I am excited. It's pretty easy to do, right?
Is there any tips you can give me? This is kinda my first time. Are there any preliminary things I must do before I take out my old video card and install my new one?

This is what I think I will do...
Turn off everything (computer).
Open case and take out old video card
Take new video card and put it in the AGP slot
Close the case and boot the computer back up
Update and install drivers
The end?

Thank you!

EDIT: I also installed and ran Driver Cleaner 3. On the Nvidia drivers I did it. I cleaned them. Now what? Am I good?

 

[Frank]

What card have you bought?

 

[joule]

What card have you bought?

Click on the link provided.

 

[Borealis]

You'll be just fine. Just as long as the old drivers are cleaned out you're good to go. Have fun with the new card, I love how those coolers look.

 

[blahblahblah]

Looks good. Make sure you have the PCI slot directly below your AGP slot available. That partciular 9800 Pro will take up that extra room.

Also, be sure to plug in the molex power connector for it as well. Otherwise looks good.

What was your previous video card?

 

[joule]

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:


I am so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just installed it!
At first, it was very difficult. I could barely get the video card in. It was so big! I tried and tried, and then finally got it snug-fit. I booted up my PC, and voila! It worked! I just have to install the latest drivers and whatnot. I also installed the drivers that came with it on the CD. What should I do now? Can you recommend any good drivers off the net?
My previous card was an NVIDIA GeForce FX5200 128MB RAM.

EDIT: I have this metal switch thing on the back of the video card. Should it be pointing up or down? I don't know.
Also. I couldn't believe it had to take up two of those metal slot things. Not two AGP slots, but those metal ones. In the beginning, I didn't even think it was going to fit. :dozey:

 

[blahblahblah]

Congrats. :cheers:

I always recommend the official ATI drivers. They are using 4.10's right now. I recommend not downloading the version with Catalyst Control Center - it is a rather bloated program right now.

There are also 3rd party drivers (DNA and Omega's) for ATI cards that can increase image quality or increase performance. If you want to check them out, go right a head.

 

[joule]

Congrats. :cheers:

I always recommend the official ATI drivers. They are using 4.10's right now. I recommend not downloading the version with Catalyst Control Center - it is a rather bloated program right now.

There are also 3rd party drivers (DNA and Omega's) for ATI cards that can increase image quality or increase performance. If you want to check them out, go right a head.

So, should I go to ati.com and download the latest drivers? Or go to DNA or Omega's drivers? Sorry, but I am quite new at this and I don't know much about updating/installing drivers.
If you could give me a specific link to the specific drivers I need, I would greatly appreciate it. :cheers:

 

[blahblahblah]

So, should I go to ati.com and download the latest drivers? Or go to DNA or Omega's drivers? Sorry, but I am quite new at this and I don't know much about updating/installing drivers.

Since you are new, go with the official ATI drivers. Once you get used to your video card and drivers, you can experiment with the Omega's and DNA's.

Official ATI 4.10 drivers for Windows XP
Release Notes - tells you about bug fixes, new features and install and uninstall instructions (at bottom of page)

In the future, I would recommend updating your drivers (as according to the instructions in your release notes) once every month. ATI comes out with new drivers every month, they often contain performance improvements, bug fixes and new features in the drivers.

 

[poseyjmac]

arghhh

 

[joule]

arghhh

Why you so angry? I'm so happy!

....


Thank you blahblahblah. I have just downloaded both of those latest Catalyst drivers from the ATI site.
I have questions now...
When I turn on my computer, it gets to the desktop in about 1 minute-time. Then, it flashes kinda and goes to a black screen for about 3 seconds and then goes back to normal on the desktop. It's hard to explain. I hope you can help me on why this is happening. Is there anything I should tweak or adjust with my options of this card?

 

[poseyjmac]

im not angry heh. congratz.

the black screen thing happens when i first install a driver too. be sure to run refreshforce, have it auto detect all your best refresh rates, then reboot.

 

[Gorgon]

Oh yeah plus all what members have said in their posts, I add the following:

Get the AI CONTROL CENTre for the ATI cards it boosts the speed up to 30%

 

[poseyjmac]

Oh yeah plus all what members have said in their posts, I add the following:

Get the AI CONTROL CENTre for the ATI cards it boosts the speed up to 30%

what what what? where is proof of this? are you talking about AI?

 

[joule]

im not angry heh. congratz.

the black screen thing happens when i first install a driver too. be sure to run refreshforce, have it auto detect all your best refresh rates, then reboot.

Nevermind that. It doesn't do it anymore. Also, is there anything I can do to see how my new video card performs? Like a high-end game? I also heard of this thing called Aquamark or something like that. Help me out please.

 

[poseyjmac]

yea aquamark, you could also try 3dmark03 or 05 & compare your score to others online.

 

[oldagerocker]

9800 pro... load up farcry my friend and enjoy (High settings though, not ultra high)

 

[joule]

Ok...thank you all. I will do all of that right now.
I can't wait!

 

[Adrien C]

I'll be like you in a couple of days !

And yeah, Mexico is charching me 100 USD Taxes

 

[bryanf445]

so how much is your 9800 pro coming out to adrien?

 

[joule]

How lovely! I just got done playing through a lot of Far Cry. I. Am. Astonished. The draw distance is just amazing!
I love my new video card! :imu: :imu:

Next thing up...
Processor!

 

[joule]

9800 pro... load up farcry my friend and enjoy (High settings though, not ultra high)

As-a-matter-of-fact, I can run Far Cry at Very High on everything with High AA. I am running 1024x768x32. I love it! No drop it framerates at all! I put very high for everything! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
It looks AMAZING. I have never seen better graphics in any game I have ever played.
I never thought I could put everything on very high, but I can!

 

[Asus]

As-a-matter-of-fact, I can run Far Cry at Very High on everything with High AA. I am running 1024x768x32. I love it! No drop it framerates at all! I put very high for everything! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
It looks AMAZING. I have never seen better graphics in any game I have ever played.
I never thought I could put everything on very high, but I can!

Now you can never go back! muahaha

Glad you got your card safe and have it up 'n running.
Enjoy.

Aquamark3 is a fun program to test your system and graphics card with. So is 3Dmark2005. Don't worry about only getting 1-2FPS in some of the 3Dmark2005 scenes. That's all most people got but it's fun to watch.

 

[joule]

I just did Aquamark3. My score was 35,504. Is this good? That was the first measurement.

 

[Asus]

Yeah that's pretty good. What's your system again?

 

[joule]

Yeah that's pretty good. What's your system again?

P4 2.26Ghz
Windows XP
768 DDR-SDRAM [CORSAIR] PC-3200
This card

 

[poseyjmac]

looks like a beefy cooler on that 9800pro, you should overclock that card

 

[Asus]

Yeah that is a good score. I forget what system it was under but I got a 40,000 with my 9800Pro. I think it was on my AXP 2800+ 1gb PC. By the way, 35,000 means an average of 35FPS and 40,000 means an average of 40FPS.
5 FPS difference, not bad at all.

 

[joule]

looks like a beefy cooler on that 9800pro, you should overclock that card

If I knew how and the right steps to take, then I would overclock. :|

Is it easy? simple? free? downloadable? needed? safe? ok?

 

[poseyjmac]

If I knew how and the right steps to take, then I would overclock. :|

its easy and foolproof. download 'ati tray tools' just google that(this is a good tool to have anyway if you own ATI). go to hardware, overclocking section. and then find max core, find max memory. some people let this go for like an hour or more on each so it can be more accurate.

or you can always manually overclock, edge up your clock speed in 2-5mhz increments, game for a while and see if you notice any artifacting, if you do lower it down, if you don't raise it. theres no way you can damage your card as long as you do it gradually, if you decide to manually overclock.

 

[Asus]

Try Rage3D Tweak or powerstrip. There are others too.

And read this.

 

[joule]

Ok. Thanx guys! Will do that in a bit. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[poseyjmac]

one of your questions, is it needed. well of course not, but personally i like to squeeze every frame i can out of my hardware. if you dont have the desire for more frames at the moment, then theres really no need to overclock now.