Windows 7 Graphics Controller

[rockraalm]

Hey guys I'm new here!

I recently installed Windows 7 into my machine just to find out that my dell gx280 doesnt support 7. Although windows 7 is working almost perfectly in my system, it appears that a dell gx280 graphics driver for 7 doesn't exist.

I'm just thinking, if I buy a new graphics card that is compatible with windows 7 and installed it, is that going to work? I can do that right? Cause that's cheaper than a new cpu.

Hopefully if it would, which graphics card is compatible with my dell gx280?

Thanks!

(Here are my specs, if ever needed.

Optiplex GX280, 3.20GHz, 1Gb Memory, onboard graphics card 128mb. all driver except the graphics controller works fine.)

 

[Thrax]

Can you post a picture of the interior of your PC?

 

[catilley1092]

I had that same PC once, only mine had 4GB RAM, the processor was hyperthreaded, and it had a 500GB hard drive. It was bought on eBay, and the seller offered a couple of video card options. But less than a week after purchase, at startup, a CPU fan warning appeared. So I returned it for a full refund at once. I do recall that one of the cards offered was a 256MB one, and there was another one, too.

 

[rockraalm]

Can you post a picture of the interior of your PC?

It looks exactly like this. Also, the system setup says that I am using an onboard graphics card. Dell didn't make any driver for my machine to windows 7, so I'm thinking since grphics is my only problem, if I buy a compatible graphics card...I'm just not sure if it would work.

Another thing, I can't recall my gx280 being as near as 4GB RAM in specs.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Dell™ OptiPlex™ GX280 Systems User's Guide

Depending on your purchase, your Dell™ computer provides the following slots for PCI and PCI Express cards or a serial port adapter:

• two PCI card slots and one PCI Express x16 card slot, or
• one PCI card slot, one PCI Express x1 card slot, and one PCI Express x16 card slot

 

[catilley1092]

View attachment 842

View attachment 843

It looks exactly like this. Also, the system setup says that I am using an onboard graphics card. Dell didn't make any driver for my machine to windows 7, so I'm thinking since grphics is my only problem, if I buy a compatible graphics card...I'm just not sure if it would work.

Another thing, I can't recall my gx280 being as near as 4GB RAM in specs.

I bought the PC from a company that sells refurbished business computers on eBay. There are many ways that the GX280 can be configured, as far as hardware is concerned. The seller had them beginning with 512MB RAM with a 40GB hard drive, all the way to 4GB RAM with a 500GB hard drive, and there were many options available, such as a wireless card and the video card options I stated before. These weren't parts made exclusively for Dell, but were aftermarket options offered by the reseller. Go to eBay and lookup $199 computer store, you will see these computers that I'm talking about, and see the options for yourself. There is a 512MB video card offered for this computer. The computer that's illustrated is the one I bought.TBiYDhgWkKGrHqQOKjQEsnYB9TTIBLOk8WfsVg_3.JPG

 

[rockraalm]

Dell™ OptiPlex™ GX280 Systems User's Guide
[/LIST]

yeah...but I was asking: if I installed a new graphics card, that's gonna solve my problem with windows 7 and its missing video controller, right?

 

[clifford_cooley]

Your onboard graphics (integrated Intel Extreme Graphics) will not support all of Windows 7 features even if you did have drivers to installed.

You can purchase a PCIe x16 low-profile graphics card. Please make sure it is a low-profile card. If I am correct, the computer will not support a full height graphics card.

I'm currently using a Radeon HD 4350 low-profile card. A similar card will do just fine for you.

Checkout these cards at Newegg. They are all low-profile, however you may not can use the ASUS cards. For some reason they put a huge cooler on them, making the card twice as wide. The ASUS cards may not fit in the alloted space.

 

[Kougar]

yeah...but I was asking: if I installed a new graphics card, that's gonna solve my problem with windows 7 and its missing video controller, right?

What Clifford said. Any recently made card will support Windows Aero Glass. Just make sure the card will fit into the PCI Express 16x slot before you order one. Newegg is really good about showing product photos so you can figure out which cards may and may not fit.

 

[Windows7Guy]

Hello rockraalm,
First did you try the "upgrade advisor" located at the link below?
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx
Also, did you check compatibility with Windows 7?
Check out the Windows 7 Compatibility site: (There you will find out about hardware and software compatibilty.)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/en-us/default.aspx
There is a pulldown from which you can choose "hardware" and "software".
There are also some great articles, instructional videos and such to help with your Windows 7 at our Springboard site:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/default.aspx

Thanks again,
John M.
Microsoft Windows Client Support