I installed the EVGA nVidia GeForce 9800GT 1 GB DDR3 VGA/DVI/HDMI PCI-Express Video Card about a month ago and it has met my expectations in that I can now play WOW with "Good" or better graphics with a frames per second rate that ranges from 50 to well over 100. I also took advantage of the dual display capability to put an older LCD monitor to work that was just sitting in a closet. Video games, such as Starcraft II and others, reveal the detailed artwork and graphics effects that I had been missing with my "integrated graphics" PC. In fact all computer functions including movies and web browsing seem to work better. My PC is a 3 year old Intel Core 2 Duo processor machine with 6 GB of memory.
It worked out of the box after BIOS adjustments were made to disable the integrated graphics. The system update function of Windows 7 got the drivers I needed. The included driver CD and the support web site for this card are a big problem but I didn't need them.
If you are considering adding a dedicated graphics card to your existing "integrated graphics" desktop then you should read the remainder of my review. I will keep it as short as possible. Also, if you have been researching then you know that Dell, HP or most brands of PC with a dedicated graphics card run $600 to $1,000. So this card can be a bargain investment for many people that extends the useful life of the PC they have now.
Note that the card manufacturer and most modern graphics cards' manufacturers "recommend" a 400 watt or greater power supply. It is likely that if your PC was purchased off-the-shelf with integrated graphics then your power supply might be 300 watts or less.
My point is that when I say my new card ($79.97) is working well it is working with a newly purchased Corsair 500W power supply ($68.73) in a new Cooler Master case ($127.54). The original case was just too difficult to modify. I also ended up with a new low cost CPU heat sink and fan which introduced me to the Arctic Silver thermal product line. The time spent learning how to make all these products work together with my old motherboard was substantial. Now that my unplanned computer re-building hobby (saga) is ended I can go back to being just a PC user and enjoy my new graphics card.
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