How to upgrade opengl 2.1 to 3.3+ on windows 7 x64 bit

Dancingchickens

I'm trying to run a higher version of opengl, from 2.1 to 4.0+. My navida graphic card drivers arefully updated and the company no longer supports this version. i need to get a better version of navida package and possibly graphics card, they said i had to upgrade the GPU, any leads?

here are my system specs

Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU
AMD Athlon II X2 235 38 °C
Regor 45nm Technology
RAM
6.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 401MHz (6-6-6-18)
Motherboard
eMachines MCP61PM-GM (CPU 1) 50 °C
Graphics
L1932TQ (1280x1024@60Hz)
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 (Acer Incorporated [ALI])
Storage
698GB Seagate ST375052 8AS SCSI Disk Device (SATA) 37 °C
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH40F SCSI CdRom Device
MagicISO Virtual DVD-ROM0000
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

Dancingchickens

One helpful awsner i got was:

Nvidia is the manufacturer of the GPU.

You do not specifically require an Nvidia card as AMD also uses Open GL 4.0.

You do need a GPU from either the GeForce 400 series or AMD Radeon 5000 series, both of which are reasonably cheap due to their age.

GTX 460, GTX 470 or GTX480 are all capable, but you may run in to issues attempting to use a current GPU in your older system due to UEFI (another story).

I would not install any higher than a GTX970 in that system.

 

 

So which series of GeForce or AMD  Radeon 5000 series do i need to get to make this all work without flaw?

IronFly

yes, correct suggestion.

 

you need to check on specs of each GPU to see if they support newer openGL, gtx 480 are good by the way.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-480/specifications

 

be sure that your power supply unit can handle it.

Dancingchickens

i did and have no idea wyhat to make of it, any ideas as to what combos excalty would work? here is the scan results:  

===================================================
GPU Caps Viewer v1.32.0.0 report
http://www.geeks3d.com
http://www.ozone3d.net/gpu_caps_viewer/
===================================================

===================================[ System / CPU ]
- CPU Name: AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 235e Processor
- CPU Core Speed: 2712 MHz
- CPU logical cores: 2
- Family: 15 - Model: 6 - Stepping: 2
- Physical Memory Size: 6144 MB
- Operating System: Windows 7 64-bit build 7601 [Service Pack 1]
- PhysX Version: drivers not installed

===================================[ Graphics Adapters / GPUs ]
- Current Display Mode: 1280x1024 @ 60 Hz - 32 bpp
- Num GPUs: 1

- GPU 1
- Name: GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
- GPU codename:
- Device ID: 10DE- 3D0
- Subdevice ID: 1025- 181
- Revision ID: A2
- Driver: 9.18.13.908 (R309.08)
- Branch: r304_00-740
- BIOS version: 5.61.32.28.03
- Memory size: 256MB
- Memory type: DDR1
- Memory bus width: 32-bit

===================================[ OpenGL GPU Capabilities ]
- OpenGL vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
- OpenGL renderer: GeForce 6150SE nForce 430/integrated/SSE2
- OpenGL Version: 2.1.2
- GLSL (OpenGL Shading Language) Version: 1.20 NVIDIA via Cg compiler
- ARB Texture Units: 4
- Vertex Shader Texture Units: 4
- Pixel Shader Texture Units: 16
- Geometry Shader Texture Units: 0
- Max Texture Size: 4096x4096
- Max Anisotropic Filtering Value: X16.0
- Max Point Sprite Size: 63.4
- Max Dynamic Lights: 8
- Max Viewport Size: 4096x4096
- Max Vertex Uniform Components: 1024
- Max Fragment Uniform Components: 2048
- Max Geometry Uniform Components: 0
- Max Varying Float: 32
- Max Vertex Bindable Uniforms: 0
- Max Fragment Bindable Uniforms: 0
- Max Geometry Bindable Uniforms: 0
- Frame Buffer Objects (FBO) Support:[yes]
- Multiple Render Targets / Max draw buffers: 4
- Pixel Buffer Objects (PBO) Support:[yes]
- S3TC Texture Compression Support:[yes]
- ATI 3Dc Texture Compression Support:[no]
- Texture Rectangle Support:[yes]
- Floating Point Textures Support:[yes]
- MSAA: 2X
- MSAA: 4X
- MSAA: 8X
- MSAA: 16X
- OpenGL Extensions: 210 extensions (GL=191 and WGL=19)

Dancingchickens

i do have a PCIe x16 slot, it's red and has 1 small retagle hole, followed by 1 long retangle hole and some soft of flip-like tab at the bottom of it, same as the one shown in google search results. does the nvidia 750 work with that? and do i need to upgrade the gpu for the nvadia to work? if so, which gpu should i get?

IronFly

Honestly, it's better if you take your PC to a computer shop if you don't know how and what need to be checked on your system to upgrade the GPU.

As i wrote nvidia gtx480 can be good for your system, anything more powerfull is not worth, since you CPU will kill the GPU performances.

You need to check if your PSU has enough power (watt) to handle the gtx480.