Vista graphic upgrade problem ????

[EAMON]

Hi hope someone can help, I am hoping to upgrade to Vista Home Premium. I seem to have all the right specs except for the graphics. I have an ASRockK7S41GX MOBO : Athlon 2800+ 2GHz Socket A CPU : 2GB DDR1 RAM PC3200 : Chipsets, Sis 741GX, FSB@333MHz, AGP 8X/4X (North Bridge)-SiS 963L USB2.0 ATA 133 (Southbridge), and a PATA 250GB HDD (not Utra DMA-I think?). The problem seems to be my 1.5V 8X/4X AGP graphic slot. I have been informed several times it can't support DirectX10 graphics needed to run some Vista features. So I cant buy the appropriate card unless I have a PCI Express slot, which I dont have. Is there any way around this ? I would rather buy a card and the disc to upgrade rather than a new MOBO, new DDR2 RAM 2GB, new CPU etc. I posted this problem on a local site and one answer I got was "not only will your graphics won't work, but your CPU can't handle the VHM" what is VHM???? I googled it using the AND function with, CPU, MOBO, Graphics etc, but came up blank. Can I find a solution please, I really can't afford the 2nd option. Thanx,
Eamonn.

[TheNNS]

although your system specs are a little on the low side, you could run vista ok. the only cards that support directx 10 are the geforce 8 series which require pci-e. And i'm assuming your card doesn't support aero, what's is your video card again? if you can get the vista drivers, you'll be able to use all of the vista features, except directx 10, which is required by only the newest games like halo 2. I'd look into getting an nvidia card geforce fx 5500 or higher, as those do support aero.

but in the long run, it might be good to just buy a new comptuer.

[EAMON]

although your system specs are a little on the low side, you could run vista ok. the only cards that support directx 10 are the geforce 8 series which require pci-e. And i'm assuming your card doesn't support aero, what's is your video card again? if you can get the vista drivers, you'll be able to use all of the vista features, except directx 10, which is required by only the newest games like halo 2. I'd look into getting an nvidia card geforce fx 5500 or higher, as those do support aero.

but in the long run, it might be good to just buy a new comptuer.

I have no graphic card, just onbard graphic chipset, specs in my question. I never play any games, but my local PC stores all tell me Vista HP needs DirectX10 to run some features. No PCI-E slot, just an AGP 1.5V slot. Thanx Eamonn.

[jbennet]

The only difference between HB and HP is that HP has media centre and the Aero graphical effects.

Your PC WILL NOT run the Aero graphical effects as it has a crappy graphics card and unless you really want Media Centre then I recommend you get Home Basic, which will run just fine on your PC and is cheaper. You wont be able to play games but your PC should run Home Basic just fine for surfing the net, making spreadheets/presentations, listening to music etc.....

[TheNNS]

on the other hand, if you do want media center and aero, you can get an nvidia geforce fx 5500 or higher, and those are capable of aero, and aero does not require directx 10.

[jbennet]

the 2ghz CPU might not be enough for aero though, it runs kinda slow on my 2.6 amd64

[TheNNS]

if he had a good video card, then aero would use the gpu, not the cpu.

[jbennet]

but he wont fork out for a good video card as he doesnt play games and has a AGP slot

[TheNNS]

some of the nvidia geforce 6 series are agp, and they're good.