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If you are replacing a Graphics Card already in your PC, the first thing you will need to do, is remove any programs and drives accotiated with the Graphics Card. You will find these programs in the add / remove section of your control panel. To remove the drivers you may need to go to the device manager.

 

Switch off your PC and remove the power cable.

 

Make sure you have your antistatic wrist band on.

 

Now you can remove the side panel from the PC.

 

If you are replacing an old card, you will need to remove it by loosening the screw holding the backing plate to the case and carefully sliding the card out of the slot. You may also have to undo a clip depending on the design of your motherboard.

 

Alternatively, you may need to remove the backing plate in front of the AGP or PCI-E slot. Simply remove the screw and slide the backing plate out of the case. For some graphics cards, you may need to remove two adjacent backing plates as the size of the heatsink and fan dictates that the card is double the height of an ordinary expansion card.

 

Next, remove the new card from its anti-static bag and line the card up with the slot. AGP slots tend to be brown and set back from the PCI slots, whereas PCI-E slots are longer and tend to be black. Push down on the card until it sits firmly within its slot. Push the plastic catch up on the slot to further secure the card. (if attached)

 

Secure the backing plate by screwing it firmly to the case. Check that the card cannot move and that the fan on the GPU is clear of obstructions such as floating cables.

 

Finally, check whether or not your new card requires an additional power source. Some of the more powerful PCI-E cards have a square four-pin,six pin or even 8 pin power connector slot, so you may need to purchase an additional cable to convert a molex connector if one hasn't been bundled with your graphics card or available from your Psu.

 

Now you fit the side back on the PC, and plug the power cable back in.

 

Boot up your PC and make sure that the POST and Windows splash screens are displayed. This indicates that your card is installed and functioning correctly.

 

If the display does not show first power down and recheck the card connector as this may of become knocked if yhe system case had been moved

 

Once Windows has started, you may be prompted to install drivers for your new card. You may be best cancelling this dialogue and then running the installation program on the driver CD that came with your card. This will install the drivers as well as giving you the option to install other bundled software such as tweaking utilities or DVD playing software.

 

Once you have installed the new drivers and rebooted, you should be able to reset your desktop resolution by going to the desktop, right clicking, selecting properties and then heading to the Settings tab. You should also visit the manufacturer's website and check for newer drivers, as these will offer optimum performance and iron out glitches with previous driver versions.

 

Enjoy your new display.

 

The following link will show you a video to help you install your Graphics Card: