Upgrading video on an HP Pavillion 4440

[puffadder]

I want to disable the on-board video and install a video card in my friends HP Pavillion 4440 PC. I have looked in the case and seen a white bus connector which is I assume is a PCI connector. It is not very long. Accordign to tech support at HP I can disable the onboard video thru a jumper and install a PCI card. How can I tell if a new PCI video card will fit in there without actually buying one and trying to put it in? I was looking at an ATI Radeon 7000 or a Hercules 3D Prophet 4000XT. Any help would greatly be appreciated. Thanks.

[BipolarBill]

Well, a PCI card is a PCI card - unless it's a PCI66 card! There are no PCI66 video cards, so you're safe.

Go for it.

[puffadder]

That's what I thought. But come to find out the only slot I will have available is a shared PCI/ISA slot. Can I assume the card will work there also?
:confused:

[BipolarBill]

Ooh. I doubt it. Can you beg, borrow or steal a PCI video card and test it?

Can you move cards around and free up an unshared slot?

[puffadder]

Not sure. There is (at least) one free white bus connector on the board, one taken up by the 56k modem and one taken up by a NIC card for the cable modem connection. The NIC card is in the slot on the outside edge of the motherboard. I assume the NIC card is in the shared slot? I am trying to get in touch with HP tech support to get an answer on that as they do not indicate in any of their documentation which slots are which.

I guess I will have to take it apart again to see what is where and see if the motherboard is labeled. I haven't found anything on the motherboard online either. The only thing I can find out about it is that it's a Puma 2B, V1.01-B04.

[BipolarBill]

Move the modem to the shared slot and check it for function.

[puffadder]

I will try that tonight and see what happens. Would you happen to know how long a PCI slot is?

[BipolarBill]

About 4 inches/10CM.

[tycoonist]

Originally posted by puffadder
I want to disable the on-board video and install a video card in my friends HP Pavillion 4440 PC. I have looked in the case and seen a white bus connector which is I assume is a PCI connector. It is not very long. Accordign to tech support at HP I can disable the onboard video thru a jumper and install a PCI card. How can I tell if a new PCI video card will fit in there without actually buying one and trying to put it in? I was looking at an ATI Radeon 7000 or a Hercules 3D Prophet 4000XT. Any help would greatly be appreciated. Thanks.

I would try this link. I know that it doesn't totally apply to you, but you could try this out before messing with the inside of your computer. http://www.hp.com/cposupport/personal_computing/support_doc/bph06273.html