Hi Folks,I'm going to buy a new computer which has integrated graphics and the Windows XP Media Center operating system installed.I have 2 questions which i would appreciate your help with.1. I want to install a GeForce 6800 video card.Has anyone had any experience adding a video card to a computer which has integrated graphics? Does it work well? Any problems or downside to doing that?I seem to remember previous posts where people may have had some problems with such a set up.The computer I'm looking at is an HP A1350N:Athlon 64x2 dual 4200+ 2.2 gig1 gb PC 3200 DDR sdram250 gig HDintegrated graphics and soundI could order a similar computer from HP as a customized machine with the Ge Force card already installed, but it would cost hundreds of dollars more than the pre built A1350N. The only thing I'd have to do to the A1350N is add a graphics card (GeForce 6800).2. The computer comes with Windows XP Media Center for it's operating system, instead of Windows XP home edition. Is there any disadvantage to having the Media Center operating system rather than the Home Edition? Thanks for your help..

Hey Howard,I build computers for a living as well as a hobby. Installing a new video card is not a problem at all. The only thing you have to worry about are two things. First if you get a 6800 and its agp or pci-e make sure your new computer has one of these slots open for the new card. Second and this depends on the PC maker, you have to disable on the onboard or intergrated video through the BIOS, which usually is in the Intergrated Perpherals section of the BIOS, or in some cases the motherboard can see a new card in the AGP or PCI-E slot and automatically uses the new card. Window Media Center is Windows XP just that it has an easier to use interface when it comes to burnning cds, dvds or importing video etc. Kinda the way Nero 7 works but at the core its still Windows XP when you look at the desktop or use the functions you are accustomed to with XP.hope this helpsPaul

Hi Paul, Thanks for the prompt and helpful reply.I've changed video cards in the past so it shouldn't be much of a problem.Do you know if Windows Media Center needs the same updates as Home Edition does (example SP2)? Based on your message I would guess it does, but an HP sales rep thought it didn't.I've always had Pentium machines in the past, so this will be my first Athlon. I understand it's generally faster than Pentium for gaming and I was wondering , do you find Athlon to be stable etc?Thanks again for your help.

Media center is just like Home and Professional editions of XP, but I believe you already have the SP2 in Media Center if you right click on the My Computer icon you sometimes can see if SP2 was installed. If you cant see it there then you can go to the control panel and look for the windows firewall icon and thats a good indication that the SP2 was installed. AMD processors are slower than the Intel chip in raw MHZ however AMD processors tend to be more efficent was it comes to instructions and how they are handled in the chip thus in some cases they are equal or faster than their Intel counterpart. I find both Intel and AMD cpus to be very stable especially the later chips. I built machines with both CPUs and never had a problem with either although the AMD CPU is cheaper.hope this helpsPaul