How do I know if a video card will fit in my computers slot?

Question

Someone gave me an old video card last year and it didn't fit in my computers slot and now im looking into buying a new mid range card that won't cost me more than 80 but it obviously needs to fit in my computers slot. It's a hp pavillon a1640n. Stores don't give refunds on video cards so it's important that I get it right the first time!

Answer 1

Pcie video card, they go from 30-600 for a single card.

Answer 2

Okay, 80 is not a midrange card for one. Most midrange cards cost between 150 to 250 or there abouts. You need a PCI-E compliant GPU. Most $80 and under cards are only capable of supporting DirectX 9, maybe DirectX 10 if you're lucky. I would honestly save your money for a bit longer, and go buy one that is in the 120 to 150 range due to the capability of DirectX 11 on said cards.

Answer 3

About the fastest video card you can get for that price is...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150504

BUT you will need a minimum of 400W PSU ..which your computer doesn't have. a 450W would be better...like...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153138 so in essence you need to add another $70 to the $80 video card. even if you wanted a top performing video card capable of serious gaming you would still have to account for the proper PSU. Since your machine is older, your CPU and ram may bottleneck a high end video card, thus forcing you to get more ram and possibly a better CPU...you may find just building a new machine to the spec you want would be better/cheaper in the long run.

Answer 4

AGP slot is for agp card and PCI slot won't be able to take agp card I found out it the annoying way i attempted to get it bypass interior yet something broke , my leg coz it became into my brothers laptop ha ha ha

Answer 5

according to the specs i found for your computer on Google, You will need a pci-express graphics card.

Answer 6

U Need to Buy A "PCI VGA" card.. it is very cheep