Poll of the Day > need pc building advice

(+) Yeah! (+)

So my pc doesn't have a graphics card but there's this other computer that does have one

Is it possible that I can just gently remove that computer's graphics card and put it into mine?
---

Sure, so long as you're not from the late 90's and trying to put an AGP card into a PCI-E slot ;)

So long as the card doesn't have any additional power connectors it should work fine in any PC it fits in. If it does have additional power connects you need to make sure your PSU can support it.
---

MsDbird posted...

Sure, so long as you're not from the late 90's and trying to put an AGP card into a PCI-E slot ;)

So long as the card doesn't have any additional power connectors it should work fine in any PC it fits in. If it does have additional power connects you need to make sure your PSU can support it.

huh?
---

If the card physically fits in the slot it should be fine unless it needs more power than the slot can provide by itself.

Does your graphics card have any plugs on it? If not you should be fine just plugging it into the PC.

If it does have plugs that means it needs extra power from your power supply unit (PSU), you'll need to first make sure your PSU puts out enough watts to power the card and if it does, connect the graphics card directly to the PSU.

Do you know exactly what graphics card it is? It'll help a lot in making the advice less vague. If you don't you can install GPU-Z (https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz) and it'll tell you the make and model of the card.
---

tell me what the GPU is, and we'l go from there

Is your computer a pre-built? If so, the power supply is probably shit and might not be enough for the graphics card.

CaptainStrong posted...

Is your computer a pre-built? If so, the power supply is probably shit and might not be enough for the graphics card.

It is, but can't I still change it
---

We really need to know the make and model of the card to be of any help, you'll need to know what card it is to find the right drivers for it anyway. Without drivers a graphics card is kinda useless.

Is the PC you're taking the card from a pre-built? If so it's most likely not going to need any extra power and your PSU is probably powerful enough to handle it.

If the PC you're taking it from is a pre-built gaming PC however the card will most likely need extra power. The easy way to tell is to just look at the card and see if it has any ports or plugs.
---

Some pre-builts are picky about new parts so it may be worth checking that.
---

OP, these are the ports I'm talking about...

https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-780-Ti-Classified-Kingpin-635x420.jpg

Does your card have those?

Yes - You need to connect those ports to your PSU (provided it's powerful enough)

No - Congratulations, you should be able to just plug it into your PC and go. Only incredibly poor PSU's can't fully power a card that doesn't need extra power connectors.

As Kyuubi4529 said, sometimes pre-built PC's are picky about the parts they support so if you have any problems we can go from there.
---

MsDbird posted...

Do you know exactly what graphics card it is? It'll help a lot in making the advice less vague. If you don't you can install GPU-Z (https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz) and it'll tell you the make and model of the card.

is this it?


MsDbird posted...

Does your card have those?

IDK I don't know what it looks like
---

Okay I'm afraid you're out of luck, sorry to be the bearer of bad news but that's an APU (Processor and graphics card combined) and therefore can't be removed as it's integrated and not a separate card.

Edit: Well technically it can, if you're comfortable replacing processors and your current motherboard supports it. Honestly though it wouldn't perform well in many games and you'd be better of buying a relatively cheap graphics card with better performance.
---

...is the "other computer" you're talking about a laptop?

because the beema r5 is a notebook apu.

It's a storebought prebuilt computer
fml I just wanna play overwatch with my friends u_____u
---

Honestly so long as your CPU is decent and you have at least 4gb of RAM (6gb really is recommended though) you'll probably be able to play Overwatch with acceptable FPS on whatever integrated graphics your PC has. I'm guessing Intel? The newer Intel HD chips aren't completely hopeless.

You'll have to play on the lowest settings and I wouldn't recommend any resolution higher than 720p but it should be relatively playable.
---

MsDbird posted...

Honestly so long as your CPU is decent and you have at least 4gb of RAM (6gb really is recommended though) you'll probably be able to play Overwatch with acceptable FPS on whatever integrated graphics your PC has. I'm guessing Intel? The newer Intel HD chips aren't completely hopeless.

dude my pc deadass says it can't run it because it can't locate a graphics card. I can totally play it on my other one with extreme lag
---

Hmm well your PC must have some kind of integrated graphics or there'd be no display output to plug your monitor into. Have you downloaded GPU-Z on that PC? Overwatch won't run great on anything integrated but as far as I know it should at least recognise it. The only reason I can think of for why it wouldn't is outdated drivers, if you find out exactly what integrated graphics you're using you can find the latest drivers with a quick google search.
---

It may also just be too old a computer.

I really don't think an integrated chip from 2014 is going to run Overwatch acceptably anyway.
---

Well where can I find a good chip for my computer?
---

Don't really work like that. You're either buying a new processor or a new graphics card. There isn't really a processor that has integrated graphics good enough for any kind of heavy gaming. It would make more sense for you to buy a graphics card.
---

TC - take pictures of both computers insides so we can see what you're working with. Upload to imgur.
---

ok how do I take it apart? is there any guide I can watch or something?
---

Well one is a laptop/notebook so that's a no go.

For your PC the side of the case should be easy enough to take off, depending on the type of case there'll either be some screws that need to be unscrewed or it'll just have some kind of clipping mechanism.

There are a lot of decent used cards out there for not a lot of money and chances are we'll be able to recommend one for your PC so don't worry, you'll be playing Overwatch with your friends soon enough ;)
---