graphics card & onboard graphics

[paulefc]

ive just installed a graphics card to my desktop.some games i can play ok,but some will only work properly when connected to the original monitor connection.this means i have to keep removing & refitting graphics card,depending on which game im playing.is there any way round this without having to keep removing & installing the graphics card? im sure its not going to do it much good.ideally would be nice to just swap monitor cable from one to the other.any help greatly appreciated.thanksusing windows xp,es-105 desktop,2gb ram & g force 7600gs graphics card.

[Strider]

Can you use a monitor A-B switch connected backwards? I've used such switches to connect one video card to either a monitor or a projector. IIRC, all 3 connectors on the switch are female.
HTH,

[paulefc]

no signal output from both ports at the same time.no output from motherboard outlet when graphics card connected.s3g unichrome display adapter only shows up/enables when graphics card removed.is there something i can change in bios perhaps?

[Strider]

Originally Posted by paulefc

no signal output from both ports at the same time.no output from motherboard outlet when graphics card connected.s3g unichrome display adapter only shows up/enables when graphics card removed.is there something i can change in bios perhaps?

Duh-h, I should have thought of that... when the BIOS detects an add-in card it disables the onboard video.
Back to your original post: describe how the games are not displayed right with the video card. Can you make some adjustments with either the video card settings or the monitor settings to correct the problem? For example, I've replaced my video card, and the new one displays applications correctly but some games shifted to the left far enough to lose ~1/2 inch of the screen. Adjusting the monitor to center the screen corrected that and did not affect the display of applications

[MaDef]

Any way to get more information on the desktop (if you can link to a website with the info, that would be fine)? I punch that model in and get network switches.

With out knowing the motherboard specs, and which games work on which graphics chip, my guess is that the 7600gs is an older chipset than the current one on the motherboard. So it plays older games fine, but has trouble with newer ones. Is the add on card agp or PCI express?

I really don't think you can run onboard video with an add on card at the same time. (at least I've never seen it done).

[paulefc]

the graphics on some games jerk/stutter.there just not smooth.tried adjusting pretty much everything.adjusted hardware acceleration down to slowest & then the games wont run at all

[paulefc]

Component Description
CPU Intel® Celeron® D 347 Processor (3.06GHz)
Motherboard ESY-EP4M800/775 3.1R
Memory 256 MB DDR RAM - PC3200
Hard Drive 80 GB UDMA
CD / DVD Drive 52x CD ROM
Video / Graphics Card VIA/S3 UniChrome Pro IGP 64MB Shared
Sound Card Realtek AC'97 audio
Modem Not Installed
Network Card Realtek 8139 / 810X (Onboard)
Ports EiSystem E series case and port information
Mouse Standard PS/2 mouse
Keyboard Standard PS/2 Keyboard

[Strider]

From your specs you're way low on system memory, especially with the onboard graphics grabbing some of it. I would've thought you'd see the symptoms you describe with the onboard video more than the card. What chance you could add some more system RAM? It's really cheap these days.

[paulefc]

sorry.i didnt mention its been upgraded to 2gb.graphics card is agp

[MaDef]

Your card shouldn't be the issue then, Check in the bios for agp Aperture settings. Try different settings, and see if that will help. While you're there see if there is a setting for agp speed, if there is (some boards have the option) set it to 8x.

Update your videocard drivers (if you haven't already done so)
Remove the onboard video drivers if you're using the agp card.
Turn off any background programs that aren't essential for the game, defrag the hard drive, check the specific game's website for any patches/ updates. and check their forums for video card settings specific to that game.

You may need to adjust the in game resolution & options, just because the hardware meets the min hardware specs to run the game, doesn't mean it will play well at max resolution, and all the game options at their highest setting.

[paulefc]

thankyou very much for your help.i'll give it a try tomorrow & see how it goes