Computer upgrades. Extra memory and graphics card?

[Turgid Girth]

Im looking to upgrade my memory and put in another graphics card along with the one thats already in there. How do i find out what is is my machine. Do i have to match the graphics card i already have?

[p0stiv3paul]

If you look on your computer you should find a model number of some sort. crucial.com is pretty good if you go through their search thing they will tell you what kind you need.

[Ken Adams]

Look at your motherboard, find out what it is and then search for it on the internet and see what kind and how much memory/graphics cards it supports then make your decision based off of that. Make damn sure you don't buy something that's not compatible with your motherboard or it won't work and you'll have wasted your money.

[McDonger]

Have a look inside your PC and see what slots there are on the motherboard for graphics cardsIf it is an old PC, you will probably have an AGP slot, but hopefully you will also have PCI-E slots, preferably a x16. I would recommend putting the card in there if you have it.As for the RAM, check what speed and type it supports (ie 6400, DDR, DDR2, DDR3) I'm just trying to work out how to check this

[Arnak]

Hi,Go to start, control panel,display,settings.The card type should be in there.Why would you want to add another card?If you want to add another card then you will need to have 2 card slots on the motherboard and enough room to get them in side by side but you may not have enough room.Wouldn't you be better to change the card to an SLI type?Arnak

[Kirisute]

your going to hit a couple of problems here...firstly you will need an SLI or Xfire ready motherboard...the only way to tell that will be whip the side off your case and check what motherboard you have..then look it up on the internet to see if its capabale of handling twin video cards.For both SLI and XFIRe to work you need EXACTLY the same cards...so your best buying the same brand and model of your existing card. go here:http://www.belarc.com/free_download.htmland download the free advisor..this will also give you a quick insight into what your pc has installed and what it iscapable of.checking your motherboard will also tell you what memeory you can have and how much it can handle.if your not after SLI/Xfire..then adding another card is usually simply a case of hunting out an old pci video card, slotting it in place and installing the drivers. most motherboards have a free pci slot these days...with using this type of configeration you DONT need to run exactly the same make or model of card..but you will struggle to find pci cards these days anyway.this will allow you to run twin monitors

[mrphiquach]

If you bought a prebuilt machine,(Hp, dell.etc) you can find out the information on the website. If not, usually you can open up the computer and find out! You can look on the memory and it will give you a number like PC 3200 DDR or 800 DDR2. Something similar on the actually memory sticks. For the video card, if its a fairly new computer, it will most likely have a PCI-Express slot. When you open your computer, most video card slots are the first one. If that slot is color brown, it means it is an AGP slot. If it is black, it is a PCI-Express slot. Those are the common colors for those slots. So if you have a PCI-Express slot, you can buy any kind of PCI-Express card and it will work for your computer.Now if you get a real high end video card, you might need to also get a new power supply to accommodate for the new video card.

[Blue Limbo]

Check out CPU-Z, a user friendly program that tells you all the ins and outs of your set up.TigerDirect.com is a good place to start shopping once you figure out what kind of memory your system supports, check out all the user reviews to get a good idea of what is worth your money.Video card wise...if you are talking SLI or X-fire there are too many different options to consider, but it usually comes down to buying something that fits your budget!

[Wes M]

Check your PC manufacturer's website and try to find the model you have. It should have the exact specifications listed for your computer, including motherboard model, graphics card model, max amount of RAM that can be installed, type of RAM to use, etc. Just make sure you buy the right type of RAM and don't go past the max amount your motherboard can handle. As for the graphics card, they're pretty much universally compatible since they're installed in of your free PCI slots, so you shouldn't have to worry about which model you get. All you need to do is download and install the driver for whichever card you get before you install the card.