How to Install a Video Card

How to Install a Video Card

Installing a video card into your personal computer is a fairly simple and easy task that can be accomplished by just about anybody. To get started there are a number of tools that you will need to install a video card into your personal computer. You will need a Phillips head screw driver, the video card itself, and the driver disk that came with the video card.

The first step in this process is to turn off your computer. To do this, click start on the taskbar and select the turn off computer selection. Then a window will appear and from this screen you will select shut down. After the computer is completely shut down then you should turn the computer all the way off by flipping the power switch on the back, some computers don't have a power switch on the back so if you don't see one then don't worry about it. Once you have flipped the power switch you unplug all of the wires and connections to the back of the computer, some of the wires may require you to unscrew them but they can be easily unscrewed by hand.

After all of the wires and connections and unplugged and the computer is completely turned off you may proceed to take off the side of the case. To take the side of the case off you will need one simple tool, a Phillips head screw driver. Once you have the screw driver in hand proceed to place the computer on its side to remove the outside of the case. To remove the outside of the case, remove the two screws at the back. Once you have removed the two screws the side of the case should slide right off, if it doesn't there might be a couple more screws. Some of the newer computers have a button that you push and the side of the case slides off backwards. When the side is removed you can proceed to the next step.

Now that the side of the case is removed you can proceed to the removal of the old video card but before you do this make sure that you have removed all of the static electricity from your body because if you haven't and you touch any of the boards it could fry the circuitry. To remove the card all you need is the Phillips head screw driver. Locate the old video card and remove the screw that holds it in place, some computers just have clips here and if you have that kind of case just unclip it. Some video card have power cables connected to them because the slot cannot provide enough power for them to run, if your video card has a power cable connected to it make sure that you unplug it before removing the card. Once the screw is removed you can slide the old video card out of the socket that holds it in place. To remove the video card from the socket gently grab hold of the card and pull it out of the slot, make sure not to touch any of the components on the card while doing this because you could damage them. When the old video card has been removed, replace it with the new video card by gently pushing it into the slot, it will snap in when it is all of the way into place. Once the new video card is placed into the slot that the old video card was in, you can secure it by placing the screw back into position. Now that the new video card is in place you may proceed to the next step.

Since the new video