I just got an HP m7760n multimedia pc to replace an aging falling apart home box I made years ago, the hp here has an ASUS P5LP-LE motherboard according to the HP specs link.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...roduct=3339302

The pc overall seems pretty decent specs wise but falls short in video ability, not for gaming but because I have 2 monitors and this offers only onboard graphics with 1 vga output.

HP Pavilion m7760n
Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz
2GB Ram
500GB Hard Drive (2 x 250's)
Windows Vista Premium
***(THIS IS MY PROBLEM AREA)***
VIDEO GRAPHICS
Onboard Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 with 32MB dedicated graphics memory


See I had 2 lcd monitors on my homebuilt system but it has seen better days (just parted it out actually) I am now reduced to my laptop only here as I write this...

Both of my lcds have dvi and vga leads, and I really want to hook these 2 monitors upto this existing hp box but it only has the onboard graphics and one vga output.

I see in that specs sheet I liked above it says
"expansion slots one available PCI Express x16"

I know I need a dual head video card that will work within this system on this motherboard and apparently it would need to be a PCI Express x16 card type.

BTW, there are no modifications, additions or changes to this system its bone stock, but I do not want/need to add the latest greatest most powerful card & somehow blow out the powersupply or have it overheat the system.

I should state I am NOT a gamer nor do I intend on playing games on it, I use the dual screens mainly for photoshop, webdesign (before and after) and just general email/websurfing, so I probably don't need a screamer.

In that home built (running both lcds) I had/ (still have) an agp MSI NX6200 AGP dual head video card i think it is a 256 mg of ram card, that did a great job for me (no complaints in performance etc) yet it is agp and this info sheet says pci express x16 is what I have to work with so I can't just slap this in or I would in a heartbeat.

I will admit to not knowing anything about video cards, just would like something that runs both my monitors, is a dual dvi head card better than a mix of dvi/vga or a dual vga type or does that even make a difference really (both my monitors do have dvi and vga cords btw)...

Would need it to work within that stock hp setup and not overheat or blow it up, and perform at a midrange level allowing me to do the stuff I mentioned above (yet no need for super high end power or requirements or gaming).

I would like to find a good equal card to what I had in the other or maybe just a step or two up, I think I paid like $80 for that MSI card and it served me well. Just need something under $200 if possiible but would spend a few more $$ on something if it really would make a big difference (ie dual dvi vs a mix or whatnot).

I have had an ati card 8500dvi all in wonder, and wow that was a pain getting it installed, musta been like 12 different steps and LOTS of issues till i got it all working finally, but it also had all that extra all in one stuff with it being an all in wonder, so I won't dismiss ati fully just that one card was a pain to get working.

On the other hand that MSI card intalled in mins, not sure if i just got lucky but installed worked and was up in like 5 mins flat no issues.

So based on all the info above (sorry for the long post) I am looking for suggestions on what card would fit my needs and budget and allow me to use this pc with both monitors and be compatable with the motherboard etc.

Anything I need to confirm on the box itself (powersupply leads, etc?)

This too will be my first experience with Vista it has premium version, (going from xp pro) hope it isn't horrible, but would also need this card to work with vista that factor is probably very important in choice as well.

I have never even seen a pci express 16 slot but looking in here this is a pic of what I see.. guessing its the black slot (since it is the only open one hehe) and if the slot is there I would HOPE the power supply has the proper power lead for it... but maybe that makes too much sense Just lmk what to look for so i can confirm it is pic express x16 and I do have the right available power plug for it etc etc.



The power supply itself reads BESTEC ATX 300 - 12Z REV: EDR if that helps.

Thank you ALL for taking the time to read this and hope to get a good card at a good price that will meet my needs and hopefully just install and work well. Anything I missed info wise lmk I will do my best to find it and post it here.

Bill

I saw this on newegg looks pretty good overall, and within my budget I wondered specs wise and going into this case here if you think this is a good match? (no gaming really just doing webdesign, photoshop, video/sound editing etc) so ultra high end not needed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127284

I also looked up the power supply on google and found no pci express lead. Yet read in the card review on newegg it requires a pci express power plug.

The power supply is a BESTEC ATX 300 - 12Z REV: EDR
(HP part# 5188-2625) so i searched google and found this page
http://www.power-on.com/atx12vhp300bt.html


Can i use one of those 2 molex to one 6 head type pci express adaptors I saw while searching google?
Are there different ones (x16 vs something else) or are they all the same, 2 molex to one pci express etc.

Looking like that card would work specs wise, and fit in the motherboard and case (plenty of room around that slot for the size of card and fans etc) think I have everything matched up so it would work, yet would probably need that adaptor for the pci express power since my power supply doesn't seem to have one.

Would you guys think this is too much for my power supply or would overheat my computer (not being designed for this card in there etc)?

Bill

Would that card work? Yes.

It is a double slot so you may lose that upper PCI slot. The board claims to have 3. So you just need to move that LAN card (or whatever it is) to a lower slot.

As to the power splitter/adapter they are certainly not recommended for high end cards but might work OK here. You have no other choice in this matter short of a new PSU. The card actually comes with a molex splitter/adapter:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowIm...-OC+Video+Card

Also the card will be the full length of your motherboard so you might have to "clean-up" some of that wiring in there.

Those cards are hot but they are designed to handle their own heat. I would make sure you have good ventilation space in the case plus both in and out case fans.

All that being said that card should do what you want and it looks to me like a good solid mid range card.

Ah yes I do see that adaptor 2 molex to pci express.... very cool one less thing to get there...

The wiring looks as if I have enough play to move things around in there and such so one more thing off the list...

When you say "its a double slot" I don't get that part, do you mean the thickness extends down into the area of that top pci slot - meaning I have to remove or move that just due to space issues or does it physically require a pci express and a pci slot as well?

The MB has 3 pci slots bottom is phone modem (can pull if needed I use ethernet), the middle is all the multimedia inputs, the top small one I believe is for the built in wireless (has ant marking on it) and I know that is one of the features of this pc (wireless networking).

I will never use the bottom one (phone line) so if I just pulled the bottom phone one and pulled the top wireless ant one (99% sure that is what its for) and put it into that bottom slot where the phone modem was will that work?

Guessing this is more a room / space issue, that should hopefully help in regards to that though.

Do you guys think this power supply will handle this card in this system? Being only 300 watts and having 2 hd's, 2 dvdrom drives, altho it does have 3 open unused molex connectors I guess I was just worried I might fry the power supply putting in a card like this.

Thanks for any more input advice and help, sounds like this might be my mid level entry video card choice once I have a bit more confirm on those last few things mentioned above.

Bill

By double slot I only mean it takes the top two positions. It only plugs into the PCI_E top slot but the fan will cover the top PCI slot. Hence you lose the top PCI slot. If you look at the picture of the card you will see the back plate covers two slot positions.

Just for comparison this is a single slot card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127269

But it is very basic and probably not much better than your on-board.

...

That is a low end on the Wattage but it might be OK.

You can try this guide:

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/p...ulatorlite.jsp

Just spoke with HP tech support, seems the model above these the m7767c does have a pci express video card in it, and it too runs on the same 300 watt power supply, and specs wise mine is very simiilar (a step down from it) but yet the MB and PSU etc are the same, yet in that model they added in this card

GeForce 7500LE
256 MB DDR memory
I/O Ports: DVI, S-Video, VGA

So, the tech was saying it "should" still work in the m7760n I have to add a pci express video card.

What do you guys think? I am actually surprised the next model up from mine that includes a pci video card doesn't go any higher than 300 watts...

Again this is a very very Low end card they use:

http://www.ascendtech.us/itemdesc.as...7500LE&eq=&Tp=

Your on-board is almost as good.

The wattage is also dependent on the memory. I use 8800's with 768RAM and they take nearly 200Watts a piece.

A card as theirs above takes very little to run.

The card you are considering lies somewhere in between.

Try that calculator posted above although it treats all PCI_E cards as equal @ 80Watts.


...

For me tho my needs (nothing gaming wise etc) heck my monitors are old as dirt both have horrible refresh rates even (like 20 ms or something bad like that) but never really bugged me cuz 75% of what I do is just photoshop or something like webdesign (before and after images on two monitors) etc.

Maybe I would be better off (and cheaper) to just grab one of those cards and stick it in, at least I could run both monitors off it without worrying i am going to blow out the PSU any minute or something...

I see it has one dvi one vga but still that would work ok wouldn't it?

Bill

If you are lowering the bar from the first choice I wouldn't go as low as the last choice. Some things are just too cheap.

I would go back to Newegg and peruse their filter system.

Look for a single slot card with 256RAM and dual DVI. I'd say @ $100.

Also if you are running Vista you'd want to consider DirectX 10 capable.

Here is one filtered page:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...48&name=NVIDIA

And here is just a quick find:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130073

Only DirectX 9 however...

Anyway keep looking...