Hi. My daughter and I went to Best Buy today, while there, we looked at graphic cards. She bought me a VisionTek Radeon HD 4350 to replace my GeForce 9100. It was on sale and she paid $70.00. My question is, which is the best card, Raedon or GeForce? I think this one might go back, she overpaid about $35.00. Also, it seems that GigaByte is better rated than VisionTek, but VisionTek is more expensive.
Any opinions?

Is this a PCI-E card?

The HD 4350 might be an improvement over the Geforce 9100 (which is similar to the old Geforce FX 5600), but it's still a slow card and IMO is not worth $70.

Instead of asking whether Radeon is better than Geforce you should be looking at the capabilities of the individual cards. Both Radeon and Geforce make low end cards suitable only for Office work. They also both make mid to high end cards that would be suitable for gaming, and those are the ones you should be looking at. You can get much better deals and selection online at Newegg than you can at local shops like Best Buy.


I think that will vary with the individual card.

They're both entry level graphics processors. The GF 9100 is integrated, the 4350 PCI-E x16 (but it also has a very low memory bandwidth -- 8 GB/PS).

What PC are you purchasing it for?

Inland, I'm purchasing it for my HP p6115y with Vista 64bit os. I think the power supply is only 350 watt.
I was afraid I didn't ask that correctly. It was a general question as to which was better a Radeon or a GeForce graphics card.
It says HD gaming and video on the front of the box. The young man that helped us said that one would be just as good as the other one we were looking at for $90.00, since I only play adventure games. Nope, dont' remember what it was.
Jenny, I agree with you, you can get better deals at Newegg but we were at BB and I came home and checked the price.
As I'm sure you know, I have no idea what any of this is or what it means. I see that the more questions I ask the more I realize that I'm an idiot and the more this stresses me.
I think I should just stick with WebKinz. My pc and I seem to be able to handle that. lol
Thanks,
Terri

See if you can locate something like this - the minimum power requirements are under 350 watts.

ZOTAC ZT-20203-10L GeForce GT 220 1GB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16

Compare the cards side by side -

GT 220 versus HD 4350

The GT 220 has 3 times the memory bandwidth.

Thanks ever so much Inland. I was afraid I was going to have to stick with only WebKinz! lol
I see what you're saying about the bandwidth, I can certainly see the difference. It appears that some of the numbers on the Zotac are higher and some of the numbers on the GT are. So, you just have to know what is the most important! (and we know that I don't have a clue)
Now my big question.... Is this just a random example/comparsion or will these work in my pc? , fingers crossed.

Another question, perhaps directed at MaG. Have you ever thought about adding a forum for the beginners, a teaching/tutorial forum? I would certainly tune in!
Thanks,
Terri

No, Terri.

Terri, do a Google search for "Computer forums for beginners" and you will get a lot of hits. There are some very good ones out there where you can ask the most basic of questions. Sometimes just lurking and reading other peoples questions and answers can teach you a lot!

Ok, MaG. I should have elaborated and said tutorial for gaming, like installing saved games etc. Ok, nuff said.

Draclvr. I will give it a whirl. but thinking I should go to my Endo first before I try to really absorb anything. I wake in a brain fog every morning and it's evening before it clears a bit!
Thanks,
Terri

Terri,

I was just kidding you. The mods and the other experts can guide you through any problem.

It's ok MaG. I have no doubt that they can help, but it does feel good to be able to help others, at least that's what I've been told. lol

Now........ if Inland would be kind enough to answer my question, I will be ordering my graphics card tonight. I asked a question earlier but have decided to ask it this way instead. If you were fortunate enough to have purchased my pc, which card would you replace it with?
Thanks,
Terri

The card that Inland linked to in his previous post should be fine. According to the specs listed at Newegg it only requires a 300W power supply, so yours should be OK. I assume you have a PCI-Express slot for the card and not the older AGP slot.

Jenny. I hope I do too. It supports a PCI EXPRESS 16 graphics card. I understand that I will not be removing one but only adding. I've never opened the CPU to give it a look.

Just so you know, the CPU is this part --> ***here***.
The pins normally face down.

And ***here's*** the CPU being placed in the motherboard before being covered by the heat sink.

You don't want to open a CPU.
You can open the computer case.

Ya know darlin, I can look at all of these pictures and I still don't have a clue what's what. This is starting to look so complicated that I'm not sure that I even want to now. lol
All I was saying is that I have never removed the cover from the tower and taken a peek at the insides. Is there a slot, who knows, guess I will find out if I replace the card.
Thanks for your input on the graphics card issue. You are so kind to help.
Terri

If you give us the brand name and model number of your computer, we can try to find a picture of the motherboard so we can point out the PCI-E slot for the video card.

I'll bet you find a bunch of dust bunnies in there! Will your daughter be installing this for you? There will be some steps to take in the BIOS with the integrated graphics chip after installing the new card.

If this is your PC, it has one PCI-E x16 slot available -

HP Pavilion p6115y Desktop PC

Inland. Yes that is the PC.
Draclvr. I bet you're right about the dust bunnies. I keep the outside dusted but no telling what the inside looks like.
Well.........now I don't know. I had thought I might get my husband to give me a hand, we replaced the memory sticks in this pc, and if we messed up the pc he would feel bad and tell me he was sorry and I should buy a new one. lol Is this step going to be a difficult thing to do after installing a new card? I thought it would be like the sticks, pop them in and it's good to go.

Terri, it's ALMOST that simple! You will just have to tell your computer in the BIOS to use your new card, not the old integrated chip. The new card will also come with some drivers on a CD you will need to install. But that's it. I'm sure Jenny or Inland can give you step-by-step directions on how to do it.

You will be so happy once you get it going... I remember when I upgraded the video card on my old HP computer - it was almost like having a new one! And I love your idea of letting hubby help - you know just in case it gets messed up.

Hah, with my first computer I was too chicken to install the card so I had the CompuUSA shop do it, was free since I bought it there. I don't know if they did anything in the BIOS or not. When I got home and put all the wires back on, I turned it on and had a really ugly screen so called back in a panic. Have to remember to plug the monitor into the new graphics slot, duh!! I felt sooooo stupid!

With your new PCI Express card you will probably have another piece of cable that connects directly to the power supply wired, if you existing wires don't have it already. It is just a little jumper/adapter kind of thing and should be in the box with the new card, mine was stuck in the blind end of the box so open both sides. There are also a number of how to videos on You Tube, just do a search on the site there.

Hi. Thanks everyone for your help!

New issue.............I got side tracked looking for a Pulse Oximeter ( new medical issue) and missed the sale at NewEgg on the graphics card. Do they run sells on same items fairly soon or do I need to look around?
You have no idea how embarrassed I am to have to post this one. Didn't even pay any attention to when the rebate ended.
Thanks ever so much.
Terri

Don't know what you mean.
The Zotac card is still available at Newegg.
***link***.

Yes Ma am it is. However, the other day they offered a $20.00 rebate that I had hoped to take advantage of. Sorry to have posted needlessly.
Thanks,
Terri