Installing a graphics card is one of the easiest upgrades you can make. The procedure should be straightforward, but, as with any upgrade, problems can occur, so we've offered a small troubleshooting guide to help with these. Whether or not you need a graphics card upgrade depends on your current system configuration and what you use your PC for. If you want to play the latest 3D games and your PC is more than three years old, you may find that only a new one will do. On newer machines, the latest card will pep up performance, provided the CPU is up to speed and you have enough system memory to match.
Business applications can also benefit from an injection of graphics power.
If you feel the redraw on your PowerPoint presentation, graphics package or Web browser is slow, then replacing your graphics card with one that boasts more dedicated RAM and a powerful video processor could save valuable seconds while you wait to regain control of your system. The likelihood is that you'll be installing a new AGP card. Most PCs sold since 1998 have motherboards featuring an accelerated graphics port, which feeds data from processor to graphics card faster. Older systems will only have PCI slots, so any video upgrade you make won't be as dramatic as if you were to install an AGP card. Nevertheless, after a year or two of being out of fashion, card developers are now selling powerful PCI cards featuring the latest graphics chipsets.