Finding the Video Card

[divya14_cool]

hi guys,

I am new to this forum.I hope itz very intersting here.. :) .ok let me come to the point.my friend has a computer and he does'nt know how to know thw capacity of the video card.how can i find that details.i tired looking in the control panel but i could'nt find it.can anybody help me...certain games and software specify the video capacity required..so i want to know that.plz help me...

thanks
Divya

[saphalline]

Welcome to the PC Guide Forums!! :D

Well, you could run dxdiag but it's sometimes difficult to decipher that on certain systems. So the best way is with a powerful yet free app called... *drum roll* Everest Home Edition (http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en)!! It's the best & cheapest utility around for finding out tons of info on a system. It will probably tell you things you never knew existed...

[odannyboy000]

download that program it's awesome. it tells you everything you need to know about your computer.....especially for computer noobs. if your friend doesn't know what his video card is it probably is worth replacing.

[Jason1971]

You might also try and running DirectX Diagnostic tool. It's very easy to use. Click on Start. Next click on Run. When the run box opens type in "dxdiag" without quotes. After the program run you should be able to click on the display tab and find out video card info. Let me know if this helps....

Jason.

PS. Welcome Divya :cool:

[Paleo Pete]

Hmm...why did everyone forget Device Manager? It's useless for an unknown new card, but one that's installed and working should be listed correctly. DXDIAG will give you more information, but it's harder to find and basically what you need to know is what specific card is installed. From there it's quick and painless to find specs on it, usually how much RAM is on the card is the main consideration, a quick Google search will turn that up in 10 seconds, typing time and all...

Right click "My Computer", then click "Properties" then the "Device Manager" tab if on win98; then click the "Hardware" tab then "Device Manager if on XP or Win2000. Scroll down to Display Adapter, right click and click Properties. With XP if My Computer is not on the desktop it shoul dbe in the Start Menu, works the same from there. No need to install software for that. If you need more detailed system information then something like Everest might be a good idea, or for identifying a new and unknown card with no drivers installed yet. In that case Device Manager is useless...

[rond36]

How about Windows System Information:
Start-->All Programs-->Accessories-->System Tools-->Click on, System Information. Expand Components-->Click on Display and it should give you something like this in the left pane:

Name ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 SERIES
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E48&SUBSYS_4F721002&REV_00\4&1A99067F&0&0008
Adapter Type RADEON 9800 PRO AGP (0x4E48), ATI Technologies Inc. compatible
Adapter Description ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 SERIES
Adapter RAM 128.00 MB (134,217,728 bytes)
Installed Drivers ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version 6.14.10.6571
INF File oem41.inf (ati2mtag_R350 section)
Color Planes 1
Color Table Entries 4294967296
Resolution 1600 x 1200 x 75 hertz
Bits/Pixel 32
Memory Address 0xE8000000-0xEFFFFFFF
I/O Port 0x0000B000-0x0000BFFF
Memory Address 0xFE8F0000-0xFE8FFFFF
IRQ Channel IRQ 16
I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB
I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\ati2mtag.sys (6.14.10.6571, 1.27 MB (1,333,760 bytes), 4/21/2004 11:11 PM)

Name ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 SERIES - Secondary
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E68&SUBSYS_4F731002&REV_00\4&1A99067F&0&0108
Adapter Type RADEON 9800 PRO AGP (0x4E48), ATI Technologies Inc. compatible
Adapter Description ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 SERIES - Secondary
Adapter RAM 128.00 MB (134,217,728 bytes)
Installed Drivers ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version 6.14.10.6571
INF File oem41.inf (ati2mtag_R350 section)
Color Planes Not Available
Color Table Entries Not Available
Resolution Not Available
Bits/Pixel Not Available
Memory Address 0xE0000000-0xE7FFFFFF
Memory Address 0xFE8E0000-0xFE8EFFFF
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\ati2mtag.sys (6.14.10.6571, 1.27 MB (1,333,760 bytes), 4/21/2004 11:11 PM)

[saphalline]

I've seen both Device Manager and DXDiag give false representations before. The reason is that they use the driver software to determine their results, and if the drivers are messed up, well...

Everest, on the other hand, actually goes into the API's and polls the hardware. It's not perfect, but it's much more reliable in my experience, especially when it comes to older hardware running newer OS's. Like a PIII w/WinXP.

[Jason1971]

Saphalline is that progarm free?

[poppy]

Jason1971, if you're referring to Everest Home Edition, yes it's free.

Download here (http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en).