Computers & Laptops

[vanislander]

I've got a computer with an Asus mother board (ASUS m3n78-emh hdmi) and an integrated GPU that I want to upgrade so that my wife can play online games with me.  It's a decent mother board with a good processor and plenty of RAM for what we want it to do.

I've got a good higher end video card picked out that should last her for a few years, but I've never tried to plug in a new video card into a PCI-E slot on a motherboard with integrated video.  My question is: will this be a fairly simple process or am I likely to be fighting with the computer wanting to use the onboard GPU?

My second question is, is there a way to easily make the integrated GPU essentially "Inactive" so it's not hogging resources from the CPU?

Thanks in advance.

[Tanarus · Accepted solution]

The process is relatively simple: The graphics card slides into the expansion slot, you boot to Windows, and install the driver software that powers the video card. Generally, by installing a dedicated video card, you're telling the motherboard you want to use that, and it'll disable the onboard video automatically.

One thing to note, however: check your current power supply's wattage, and compare it to what your new video card needs. If your new card has a power requirement of 400W but you've only got a 300W power supply in the computer, the video card simply might not work, or components in the system may be damaged as there's not enough power to go around.

[roparadi]

One important point to add is to make sure that the computer is completely disconnected when you try to install the Video Card, then once everything is put back together reconnect the cables(especially power)

[MayA200]

also Power Supplies hold a lot of power, It is always a good idea to discharge the power supply before poking around inside. Do this by hitting the power button after you unplug the power cable

other things to note are: don't do this on a surface that conducts static electricity, Its a good idea to touch something metal before (in case you are carrying a static charge)