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Vol. 6, No. 45
11-2-06
1 Easy upgrades II
2 Out of control upgrades
3 Vista just a month away?, quad processors, Dell and AMD, MySpace biometrics, Nigerian spammers
4 Batch file copies
5 AVG and spam filters
Last week we covered both a RAM upgrade and the fact that onboard video usurps system memory. You can remedy any video issues with an easy addition or upgrade of a separate video card.
There are four architectures for video card slots: PCI, AGP 2X/4X, AGP 8X and PCI-Express. Most motherboards currently sport the AGP 2X/4X socket even if the board has an onboard video port. Lower end boards just feature the AGP bus for the onboard and only support PCI add-on cards and higher end boards less than a couple of years old usually have an 8X slot.
The newest interface for video is PCI-Express, which is both faster and allows for “teaming” two video cards to share duties for one monitor. That configuration is mainly for new high-end video games and actually splits the screen in half, the top half displayed by one card and the bottom displayed by the second. Obviously this last is the most expensive video system available.
To determine what video card you can use just slide the left side panel or case cover off the PC and examine the expansion slots toward the bottom. You should see 2-5 white sockets equidistant from the back of the machine. These are PCI slots.
AGP slots are caramel colored and there’s only one, located at the top of the row of the expansion slots and offset further away from the back.
It’s tough to identify the actual type of AGP since there are multiple configurations so the best bet to add/replace a video card is to take either the existing card or, in the case of onboard video, the PC into a local computer store for help.
PCI-Express has a few standard PCI slots as well as two or three slots at the top of the board that may be different sizes. Only newer boards will feature this bus and likely there will already be a higher-end video card in place so you can probably ignore that one for a year or two.
Regardless of the type of card needed it’s important to pick the right one. Check any games you may want to play or any 3D graphic or video/photo editing software you’d likely use for minimum requirements and make sure the card exceeds both the chipset and memory listed. For example if a game calls for at least an ATI Radeon 7000 with 64MB of RAM go with a Radeon 9250 with 128MB.
Exceeding the minimum requirements insures that not only the program will run better but also you have some breathing room to handle newer versions of the software.
Even if everything is operating to your satisfaction, if you have onboard video you’ll see a performance improvement by adding even a basic video card with 32-64MB RAM regardless of chipset. That will add the usurped system memory back to the system pool as well as separate the graphic processing duties from the motherboard, which frees up some system resources for use by other processes.
Most average video cards range in price from $50-100 so they make for an affordable upgrade. Many even feature standard VGA connectors as well as the digital DVI for HD monitors and S-Video for televisions. I won’t get into streaming video or multiple monitors but the possibilities are many and varied.
The last step after you install your new card is to load the drivers so Windows knows how to “talk to” the device. In ME, 2000 and XP it’s as simple as securing the card, dropping the included CD into any available drive and allowing the OS to automatically find the files needed.
Do a little research, pick a card that meets your expectations in performance and price range and get to work. It’s easy, inexpensive and will make you feel like a real Guru ;)
Until next week, and don’t forget to vote!
Kevin Mefford, Editor
Tech News of the Week
The Windows
Vista journey is about to reach the end of the beginning,
with the official
launch date of November 30 announced for the
simultaneous launch of Office
2007 and the business version of Windows
Vista:
http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/6820/52/
Who
needs four processors? According to Intel, you do---and you need them
soon:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061102-8135.html
Dell
launched its first notebook PC powered by a processor from
Advanced Micro
Devices instead of an Intel chip:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,127732-c,notebooks/article.html
MySpace
is moving to stop its users illegally uploading music content
by introducing
fingerprinting technology to the website:
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1935830,00.html
Spammers
are using more and more remote locations from which to launch
their
attacks. These guys make offshore casino operators look
like
saints:
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=3442
Copy
us on the good stuff---as long as it doesn't originate from the
Dutch East
Indies ;-)
Matthew Dattilo
thepcgurus@gmail.com
www.mattstodayinhistory.com
Download of the Week
This is a great, but quirky,
file copying tool. It does one
thing I've wanted to do: based on a filter, it copies specific files from
multiple folders to another location.
I know, that doesn't sound
like much of a feat, but imagine you have 80 or so folders, each with one file
that you want to copy to another spot. Opening each folder to copy the file is a
pain in the behind, but StoragePoint does it automatically. The problem is that
the utility is a little underdeveloped. For instance, it copies files yet can't
move them. It's also difficult to designate the target folder. Yet it's free,
and for the time being, serves the purpose. You can get it
here:
http://optionalreaction.com/software/storagepoint/.
Art
Maley
Email Question of the
Week
Q: I have been using the free version of AVG antivirus software for several years and it is great. Today when I updated AVG, there was a notice that as of 1/15/07 the free verison will no longer be supported. Are there any other free antivirus programs out there of the quality of AVG?
A: Actually the support for the free
version 7.1 ends on January 15th. You can get the new version 7.5 from http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1 which
will continue to be both free and supported :)
Hope that helps and keep us posted...
Kevin Mefford
Editor’s Note: The reader who asked this question may not have gotten my answer yet. I just noticed a “challenge” email from the reader that wants me to verify some information, after which his spam filtering software will query the reader about whether he wishes to receive email from me.
While this type of system is certainly an effective way to eliminate spam it can result in many missed messages regarding such things as receipts and unlock codes for goods and software purchased online, automated double opt-in newsletters etc.
The problem is that automatic responses usually come from unmonitored email addresses. Many such messages contain the disclaimer “Do not respond to this email. If you have further questions send email to support@xyz.com” or somesuch. In such a case there’s no one on the other end to respond to the challenge and the newsletter or CD keys are never delivered.
Spam is annoying but undelivered receipts can result in actual financial loss so use such filters with caution.
Contact info and legal
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