I need to upgrade the Video Card and RAM on my Emachine W3507 any tips?

Question

I have no Idea what kind of card or where to get them as for the RAM it's the same situation. Please help! here are the stats of my computer

http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=W3507

And I also have Windows Vista Home Premium if this matters

Please help when it comes to this kind of computer stuff I am totally cluless!

Answer 1

Make print out and take it with you to computer store like Staples or Best Buy they will give you exactly what you need.

Answer 2

ATI Radeon® X200-based integrated graphics

Up to 128MB of shared video memory

PCI Express (PCIe x16) slot available

This is already a good video card. It's only drawback is that it uses system ram called shared memory which takes away from ram to run programs. If that is why you want to upgrade then do so. There is no other real reason to upgrade video unless application or game requires it. Vista does explain a lot.

You need to get to at least 1 gb ram but 2gb is recommended and they should be of this type -

512MB DDR2 (1 × 512MB), 533MHz (PC4200)

Specifically Kingston Technologies with the following part no.

KVR533D2N4K2/2G 2GB 533MHz DDR2 Non-ECC CL4 DIMM (Kit of 2)

These carry a lifetime replacement warranty.

Your system is Expandable to 2GB

This is good

Now to move shared ram to video (faster) ram which is indepenent of the system ram. You are looking at more of how much you want to spend when it comes to video cards. The main difference in price is how much ram is on the card. 64 meg ,128 meg, 256 meg, 512 meg, and most recently 1024 meg. Ati Radeon series have 64 meg cards going for about $45 and a 1024 card going for $1695. The other big name out there is Nvidea and any of their cards are good too! The main thing to remember is memory is speed and speed costs. Do these and your vista will be very happy.



Hope this helps

Tekkiefirst

Answer 3

Emachines W3507

Answer 4

do you know anybody who is into computers? These things are pretty simple to do and computer shops charge way too much for how simple it is. You can upgrade up to 2 GB of dd2 ram. the max speed of ram you can use is pc4200 or 533mhz. The good news is that DDR2 will work reguardless of speed. If you buy faster than 533 (which is the slowest of ddr2) then it will slow down to 533. all ddr2 will work in the same slot. What you have now is 1 stick that is 512MB. the good news is that a memory upgrade will speed you up greatly. DDR2 ram should really be ran in pairs. They run faster that way. My advice it to look for some sales. You have a couple of routes. You can buy one 512MB stick for a total of 1GB, or you can buy larger sticks up to 2GB total. I think your best bet for value right now is to go the full shot to 2GB. ram prices are very cheap right now. It also depends on how and where you can buy. best buy, circuit city, comp usa are all pretty overpriced compared to online and stores like fry's. To give you an idea in todays fry's ad here you can buy 2GB of name brand (corsair) ddr2 ram, 2 sticks of 1GB, for $70, but there is a rebate for $40, so after the rebate you only pay 30. If you want to buy online, use newegg.com. they are hands down the best out there, very reliable, and their customer serice is outstanding. Only get DDR2 type though. there is DDR and DDR3, they all use different slots.

If you are intimidated by changing out memory then you'll probably have to pay somebody to do it so figure that into the cost. It's generally $50-$100 depending and will only take about 5-10 minutes, with no software or drivers to install.

as for video card that is your choice, make sure it is pci-e. I would go with something from nvidia in their 8000 series.

I am worried about the psu in that computer though. adding a video card can tax a power supply. You'll know if you add the card in and you suddenly get instability like restarts. the best bang for the buck video card out there is the nvidia 8800GT which runs around $225, this may be a but too much card for you though. If that's a bit too much for your budget then there are plenty of options in the $70 range that can do most modern things. If this is for a game, make sure that the game isn't direct x 10. DX10 is a set of instructions used by video cards to render games. If it is dx10 then you'll need to get a DX10 compatable video card and those are the newer ones and will cost a bit more than DX9 compatable cards. DX10 cards are compatable with previous versions of DX, but you can't upgrade a DX9 card to run DX10.

Good Luck.

Answer 5

Not sure what kind of chipset used on that motherboard.



To run vista with decent speed, you need > 1GB of memory.



You need DDR2 memory. You can buy a single 1GB DDR2 desktop memory ( PC4200 or PC5300 ) to add to your empty DRAM slot on your motherboard. Or you buy two 1GB DDR2 modules. Take out the module you have on your computer, and install the two new modules.



If you add 2GB of memory, you should see much better performance on your computer.



Typically, you can get 2GB of ddr2-667 ( PC5300 ) memory for 20 dollars after rebates.



For the PCIE video card, that typically runs from 40 dollars to hundreds of dollars.



Having that will help your pc a lot too. But it will be relatively expansive.



If you are in US, you can go to a place call www.dealnews.com to check what is good sales going on.



If you want to shop the stores, you can go to Fry's, compusa, microcenter, officemax, office depot, bestbuy.

Answer 6

you do no longer improve a video card, you purchase a sparkling one. The RAM question relies upon lots on your working device, which you do no longer point out. uneven video additionally makes your information superhighway connection suspect. you may save your previous computer screen, keyboard, mouse, and so on., and in basic terms get a sparkling "field" for a pair hundred greenbacks. Your issues would be solved. If that isn't available, start up with including RAM. What you will discover nevertheless, is older RAM is costly and you do no longer incredibly get the "bang" to your dollar. do no longer even evaluate PAYING somebody to do this artwork for you. the cost of components and stressful artwork will exceed the "purchase a sparkling field for a pair hundred" concept reported till now. ultimate of success to you. OH, I seek for suggestion from on the element for people paying for desktops. I build them. i'm a gamer. I spend way too lots funds on my computer that i'm consistently including to. I continually have the quickest video card, RAM max'd out, quickest processor, and a committed 768k line to my domicile. I nevertheless get the occasional uneven sign from google, youtube, and so on. you will by no ability fix which will the kit you very own. the subject concerns there upward push up interior the WWW oftentimes, issues your information superhighway provider provider, and an excellent sort of circumstances from the source.

Answer 7

Go to Newegg.com and you can get any PCI-E video card and up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM.