Need help building a rig

[Professor James]

Yeah, I'm looking to exchange my current Graphics Card in my computer for a newer one. Is there anything I should know before I make the swap or is there any other graphics card compatible with my computer?

Specs:
Windows Vista Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002)
System Manufacturer:HP-Pavillion
System Model: KQ495AAR-ABA-a6500f
BIOS: Pheonix-AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU E2220 @ 2.40 GHz (2 CPUs), ~ 2.4 GHz
Memory:3964MB RAM
Chip Type:GeForce 7100 / nForce 630i
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC

Looking to exchange the chip with something from the Geforce 9 series.

 

[Professor James]

Can someone respond, I could really use some help?

 

[ohnoitsabear]

There are two things you need to be concerned about. Power consumption and ports. You need to make sure that your motherboard has the correct slots for the card you're looking at. You also need to make sure that your power supply has enough juice (and cables) to be able to power your card. Another thing that might be an issue is if you physically have enough room for a graphics card, but this probably won't be a problem.

 

[thesilentman]

You shouldn't need to check anything. Just pop in the graphics card and you'll be good to go.

To make your system faster, you may want to add RAM and perform a clean Windows install to get things working fast. You may also want to upgrade to Windows 7 to speed up your system. I'm not going to recommend upgrading to Windows 8 as the interface will turn off some people and it will screw you over if you run Linux (which I don't see you doing).

Other than that, I think that's it.