I have a Vaio VGC-RB40 and I am trying to turn it into a game system, was wondering what Video Cards there are out there that would work with the defalt power supply and with a LCD Disply screen with DVI-I port. Also if someone could tell me how meny watts are on my comp's power supply that would help also. Thanks.

Vorago, The Gaming Dragon.

All of the information you need should be here: http://esupport.sony.com/perl/select-system.pl?PRODTYPE=1,24,26,66,9,70,5

If not, that's a link to Sony's website.

As for your PS, it all depends on what you have hooked up to it already and the wattage of the powersupply.

I am running a 6600GT on a Dell PS and it runs fine, that is probably the card you will want to look at...

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Can be tricky what cards will work with the PSU. A 6600GT could work, but any card that requires the power supply to be directly connected to it runs a relatively greater risk of not working.

The Radeon 9600XT would probably be the best card that doesn't require one of these connections.

Before deciding, I would look for an ampage rating on the 12V rail somewhere on the power supply. If it's 16A or higher, you're probably OK with a 6600GT. 18A you're pretty much assured it will work.

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Both Card you 2 have told me use AGP, SO I guess when I open the side of my Vaio here the white slots I am looking at are AGP? BTW Thank you for your help so far.

Vorago, The Gaming Dragon.

I would like to add that I found out that I have over +18A adn MAX 300W Output from the PSU. So on top of my question above what is the best Video card I could use? Any ideas I would take.

Vorago, The Gaming Dragon.

300W ain't much. I'd look at a 9600XT...

Slots can be any color. That's not enough to tell if that's an AGP slot or not. I will say this: If there are more than one, it's not AGP. ;-)

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The AGP slot is the uppermost slot & is set farther away from the rear of the case than the rest of the slots. If all your slots are in line with each other, you have PCI slots only...that severely limits your video card choices, & none of them are very good.

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"If all your slots are in line with each other, you have PCI slots only...that severely limits your video card choices, & none of them are very good."

If You could tell the best card of the not very good choices that would help thanks.

Also there a diffirent upper most slot that is set a little farther way then the 2 others and has a "tail" that points down in the back of it. Would this be an AGP? There is only one of this kind of slot.

Against thanks for the hellp all.

Vorago, The Gaming Dragon.

Vorago,

From the Specification sheet for your VAIO...(go here and click on Marketing Specifications...
http://esupport.sony.com/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=VGCRB40)
it looks like the vacant slot thats above the PCI slots is a PCI-Express 16x which is good news...though if your going to go for a 6600gt as suggested the 300w PSU might not be able to handle it (i think it needs a minimum of 350w with a good amount ampage on the 12v rail like heropsycho suggested)and you may need an upgrade which isnt to costly. Other than that you'd be good to go! :)

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Do you think this would work now that we know that I have a PCI-E?

Minimum System Requirements for The All-In-Wonder X800 XL

* Requires connection to your PC’s internal power supply for operation. A 300W power supply or greater is recommended in cases where several other internal devices are installed
* Intel® Pentium® 4/Celeron™, AMD® Athlon® or compatible with a PCI Express x16 lane graphics slot
* 128MB of system memory (256MB or higher recommended)
* Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
* DVD playback requires DVD drive
* Interactive Program guide requires Internet connection for listing updates
* Remote control receiver requires available USB port
* 1 GHz minimum processor speed for MPEG-2 video capture
* 3.0GHz or equivalent minimum CPU is recommended for software encoding requirements of Windows® Media Center
* TV-tuner Requirements
o TV signal from amplified antenna or cable. Versions available for:
o NTSC (North America, Japan and Latin America*)
o Universal PAL/Secam/DVB-T (Europe and International PAL/Secam/DVB-T countries)
o MulTView™ requires additional supported ATI PCI TV Wonder™ card, compatible motherboard and soundcard

BTW the Above Specs are from this http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1547478&Sku=A177-3046

I would like to also add that I have over 1kMB DDR memory I added a 512 stick to the 2 256MB memory that came with it.

Vorago, The Gaming Dragon.

Vorago,

That card would probably be a good match for your Processor and Ram though you could encounter problems with power seens as its asking for 300w 'minimum' PSU which is what you have. Also as mentioned in that description the card needs to be physically connected to the PSU for extra power on top of getting the power from the slot its in, check if the card comes with a power adapter cable which will you'll need to plug into a spare 4 pin molex connector coming from your PSU and then into the 6 pin connector on the inner end of the X800XL card, if it doesnt you can pick them up for a few dollars but its all extra expense. If you do decide to go with this card or a similar card like the 6600GT (which also needs that extra power cable), after installing the card if you start to experience power problems like the card underclocking or freezing up during gaming, you'll have to upgrade the PSU....

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Tagan 420W PSU
X850XT PE

So so what your saying is that I would need one cable that has a 6-pin connector on one end and a standard 4-pin power connector one the other?

If this is the case could you put up a link to where I can buy such a cable online? So far I have not found any such site.

Again thanks for all your help all.

Vorago, The Gaming Dragon.

Just would like to add that I just upgraded the PSU using a Ultra V Series 500watt ATX Power Supply without any problems.

Vorago, The Gaming Dragon.

Hi,

This is an example of what i mean found at Newegg.com...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=12-154-001&depa=0#DetailSpecs

Though if youve just upgraded your PSU recently it may have its own dedicated power cable for a PCI Express card if its a fairly decent model. Check the cables for one with a blue coloured 6 pin (3 top 3 bottom setup) plug. It might also have writing on it saying 'PCI-E' or something..

View the pic of the product above and you'll see what i mean...

Hope this helps.

I REGISTERED WITH COMPUTING.NET AN ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOWSY SIGNATURE!!

P4 3.6 Prescott
ASUS PTGD1 Mobo
2x160GB Samsung SATA
1GB PC3200 DDR400
Tagan 420W PSU
X850XT PE

Out of interest, whats the exact make/model of the 500w PSU you got?

I REGISTERED WITH COMPUTING.NET AN ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOWSY SIGNATURE!!

P4 3.6 Prescott
ASUS PTGD1 Mobo
2x160GB Samsung SATA
1GB PC3200 DDR400
Tagan 420W PSU
X850XT PE

Like I said in my last post I am using a Ultra V Series 500watt ATX Power Supply. It seems to be working fine. Please tell me if it is going to crash in about a year or so because I have not seen something. Buzz187 if this is not the info your looking for please let me know.

Again all Thanks for your help.

Vorago, The Gaming Dragon.

Hello all. I'm in a similar boat as the original poster. I'd like to upgrade from a Radeon 9000 to a 6600GT, but I'm not sure if my PSU can deal with it. It's a 350watt PSU with 15A at the 12V. I've got two HDs, 512 RAM and an older AMD processor in it (2400X XP i think). I'd like to install up the card without upgrading the PSU if possible. If I get the card and the PSU is not enough, is there a possibility of damage to one or more components? Or will I encounter, as one message says, just freezing (which will signal the need for upgrade)?

I'd upgrade the PSU, especially if you have two CD drives, too. 420W Thermaltake's are only around $40.

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