Help

[johnycat]

I need to upgrade the graphics card on my Sony Viao PCV RS 704. My current card that came with the machine is a Radeon 128meg card and is past it now. This was my only concern when buying the pc just two years ago. I was told that upgrading would be simple. The problem is that I believe my machine is only AGP compatible. Most cards are now PCI express and this technology was in most pc's at the time i bought mine. I cant confirm if my pc supports pci express although i suspect not.
I believe to upgrade to pci express would require an new motherboard. Is this right? There does appear to be a solution when staying AGP with the recent Gforce 7800 gs which requires a 500w psu and 8x AGP. How do I know if I support 8x?
Will my PC support a 500w unit? I can't seem to activate the link to e-support and the 35p a minute tel no listed on this site only state 'can not connect your call' Can anyone here advise please.

[seb21__]

Will my PC support a 500w unit

That depends to your PSU. If you allready have a standard ATX PSU in your VAIO, then there is no problem to replace it. Please keep in mind that 500w are fully overcharged. And just used from people who have no idea about the energy consuption of their hardware. If you buy a Quality PSU with max. 400Watt, it is far better than to buy any 500or 600 watts PSU.

I would recommend a Gforce 7600GT for you. It's a little more fast than a 6800GT and need approx 60watts in full load. The chance that you can keep your current PSU is pretty good, if it's a 350watts ATX2.03 PSU.

Please checkout the specification of your PSU.

One example: http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=195&code=015

[johnycat]

Thanx Seb, really appreciate your input. I am having trouble identifying what my psu is exactly. The info that came with the pc states that it is a 295.4w 100-200v unit with ACPI management. I really need to try and get through to Sony again to confirm if it is apx or not. I got the Vaio in Oct 2004 and had it had just come out. I would love the 7600 GT but it is a PCI express card and my motherboard supports AGP only. The fastest AGP card on the market is the 7800 GS which has minimunm requirements of a 700mhz processor AGP 2 compliant motherboard and 400w psu. So its either that if I can confirm that I have that spec or new motherboard which supports PCI Express. What to do?

[seb21__]

There are AGP editions of the 7600GT available too. Take a look for Leadtek.

You will find the specification of your PSU on a sticker on your PSU. Well, you have to open your PC case. If you do that your warranty will be over!

Please disconnect the PSU from the main before you open the case. Anyway, your 300w PSU won't be enough, I think.

I used a PSU like that myself, but the card was just powered via PCIe and my Athlon needed half of the energy of your Pentium in full load.
The AGP editions will be powered via a 4pin connector. (you need a free Harddisc connector) Because the AGP slot does not provide enough Power.

So, it's not compareable to a todays Athlon system with PCIe.

[johnycat]

Thanx again. I have done a little more research on the web and now know that the psu will be ATX and that new units should be backwards compatible. I will be taking a look inside though to see whats what. I will also look for the AGP version of the card that you have suggested.
Trotzdem sprichst du verdamt gut englisch und Ich überlege mich ob du deutscher oder englander der in Deutschland arbeitet bist. (Wenn es auch ok zu dutzen ist.) Vielen dank nochmal für deine hilfe.

[seb21__]

Hmmm, findest du? Es geht halt nichts über learning by doing. [:">]

Danke


Just by the way, Ich arbeite weder für Sony noch für ClubVAIO.