How is this video card?

How can I figure out what video card I have (Standard VGA Graphics Adapter)?

• I upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7 on my computer yesterday, and I can't use Aero properly because my video card needs updated drivers. This wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that I do not know what type of video card I have. I downloaded CPU-Z and GPU-Z, and both simply display "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter" as my video card. I know that my video card is an nvidea, but I do not know what model. I figured out (with a little research) that since my drivers were not updated, Windows switched from running my video card to running the "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter". The problem is that I don't know what model of video card I have, so I don't know what drivers to download to update it. And even if I did, how would I switch it back to the video card, instead of using "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter". Oh, and I already tried finding the driver software automatically from nvidea's website, but it can't properly scan (I don't know why). Help me please?

• Answer:

  hi trevor i totally understand your problem... however there are a few ways to discover what card you have inside your pc... and the first method is to simply open your pc case and physically inspect your graphic card... all dedicated graphic cards have their name on the pcb(printed circuit board)... and sometimes if theres no actual name ( e.g geforce 8800gt ) then there will be a serial number which you can then google and this should then give you a name however if the cards a igp(intergrated graphics processor ),also known as onboard then again you need to open the pc case and locate the model/brand of your motherboard... note: you may also find this on cpu-z... then when you have the brand name(e.g gigabyte ) then go to the particular website and then enter the model number.... once you have located the specific webpage for your motherboard you can then discover the chipset of your motherboard... this will then show you the onboard video adapters name..( e.g geforce 8200,radeon xpress 1250,intel gma 950 ) there is another diagnostic program that may show your graphic cards name ....belarc advisor ( http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html ) is a web based program and from experience i have found this will inform you on your graphics card/adapter even when there are no drivers installed... windows update should also be able to assist you....... go to start>programs and features> windows update... and you will find any drivers in the optional updates... i hope this helps,any problems let me know good luck trevor !