Installing Vid Card

[mind frell]

I've done lots of upgrades to computers over the years but somehow I have never done a video card upgrade without a clean install. So I am unsure of the protocol. Eeek.

I have...
vista home premium 64bit
geforce 7900gs

and I want to stick the new 8800gts in there. Is it as easy as just dropping the new card in? Or do I have to clean the drivers? Or uninstall the hardware? I have no clue what is the proper way to go about this. Haha, im such a dork.

So it is prolly a simple answer, but can someone explain the best way? (I won't be doing a clean install.... )


Thanks for stopping by,
frell
enjoy the cookies!

 

[Aisengard]

Uninstall the drivers, pop out the old card, put the new card in, reinstall with the latest drivers. That's it.

EDIT: I should say, turn off your computer when replacing the cards 🙂

 

[Butterbean]

I like to uninstall drivers in Safe mode to minimize the goodies left behind. Nothing like removing stuff to only see it still listed under Programs.

 

[lupi]

Uninstall old card in system menu.
Turn off computer.
Remove old card.
Install new card.
Restart and select safe mode.
Clean old drivers.
Reboot into normal windows.
Manually install new drivers.

 

[mind frell]

Turn off computer! Oh god, it seems so obvious now!


haha.
thanks for the replies, I will prolly go with the more thorough approach, an extra 10 minutes doesn't hurt me much, ya know?
frell

 

[onlyCOpunk]

Aren't nVidia drivers universal? I wouldn't think that there's any need to install the drivers if the upgrade is of the same brand, since essentially the drivers are already there.

 

[redice]

^^ was wondering this too. Guess to be on the safe side??