Member Avatar for BullHorn

I'm getting a new PC in three days and I'm afraid the card I order might not be the card I get.

Is there a way I could physically know by looking between, let's say, a GF6800GT 256 and a GF6600GT 128?

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— since you’re getting the machine without Windows, ’s OS diagnostic idea will work later but not right now. Two reliable approaches before an OS is installed: a careful visual inspection, and booting a small live OS to query the hardware. Both are quick and give verifiable identifiers you can check against the order.

  1. Power down and open the case (ground yourself first). Look for a vendor/model sticker on the fan shroud, the metal bracket, the back of the PCB, or a white part-number sticker on the board. Many manufacturers put a clear model string or P/N there — note it and compare with the seller’s spec sheet.
  2. Check the small BIOS/ROM chip or any white sticker near it; those ID strings often map directly to the card model. Do not peel stickers (warranty/serial stickers can void returns).
  3. Inspect the memory chips: note how many chips are present and any markings on them. A quick search of those chip markings usually tells you per-chip density so you can confirm 128MB vs 256MB without guessing.
  4. Note the bus edge and any external power connector. AGP, PCIe and the presence of a 6-pin power lead are visible and narrow down compatible models.

If you’re comfortable making a boot USB, boot a Linux live distro and run a hardware query. The PCI vendor/device ID returned by a command like lspci -nn | grep -i vga gives an exact ID you can look up to confirm the chipset and revision.

Final notes: take clear photos (top, back, sticker close-ups) before resealing the case — they’re handy to email support or the seller if the card differs from what you ordered. Always switch power off and unplug before touching components.

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Member Avatar for goaliemike

Phisically, maybee butyou can do this. Open run and type in (dxdiag) without the brackets. Then hit the display the top, and there you go the name and some specs of your card.

bullhorn ignore the next post he didnt read yours properly

Member Avatar for BullHorn

Phisically, maybee butyou can do this. Open run and type in (dxdiag) without the brackets. Then hit the display the top, and there you go the name and some specs of your card.

bullhorn ignore the next post he didnt read yours properly

I'm getting the new PC without Windows, I'll have to check in the bios or by looking at it.

Is there a way? :x

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