Step 5
Installing the Graphics Card
For gaming and high-performance PCs, a discrete graphics card is an absolute must. Depending on your budget and 3D gaming needs, the graphics card you are installing could be quite a
large and heavy piece of equipment. Some graphics cards also require additional power via a
combination of 6-pin and 8-pin power connectors – so you should make sure your power
supply is suitably equipped to power your graphics card.
The graphics card is added to the system by slotting into one of the motherboard expansion
slots. You’ll probably have more than one kind of expansion slot on your motherboard, with
PCI Express and the older PCI slots present on most modern motherboards. PCI Express slots
are available in x1, x4, x8 and x16 configurations, with x16
being the longest and x1 the shortest. Today’s graphics cards
use the longest x16 PCI Express slot, which offers the maximum
data bandwidth. If there is more than one PCI Express slot, you
will probably have to install the card in the PCIe slot closest to
the CPU. Consult your motherboard user manual if in doubt.
To install the graphics card, make sure that the motherboard is still powered off, and then
carefully insert the card in to the relevant PCI Express slot. There is usually a clip that holds the
card securely in place. You can now screw the card to the chassis using thelatch on the front
edge of the card. Again, make sure the card is secure, but try not over-tighten the screw. Next,
attach the graphics card power cable or cables. Many more affordable graphics cards do not
require additional power, while most mid-range cards require at least one six-pin power cord.
It’s important to make sure that your power supply has the right connectors for your graphics
card, and also has a sufficient power rating to provide the requisite power needs of the card,
which can demand as much 140 watts under full load. Some graphics card manufacturers
bundle power cord adapters in the retail box, allowing the user
to power the card using one of the power supply’s regular
molex connectors.
It is also possible to use more than one graphics card at the
same time for additional graphics performance. These configurations are called SLI™ (NVIDIA-cards) and CrossFire™ X (for
AMD-based cards). In SLI and CrossFireX configurations, the
two cards are installed using two of the PCI Express slots as
usual, and then joined together by either an additional card (SLI)
or data ribbon (CrossFireX). Video here
How to Build Your Own PC
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