tigerdirect is just fine to purchase from. every company you buy from has detractors who say they're horrible to deal with or their prices are too high. i buy a LOT of parts online and always search for the best price between tigerdirect, newegg, performace-pcs, zipzoomfly, geeks, frozenpc, and a couple other sites. i know people have had issues tigerdirect but others have had issues with newegg or any other site. if i'm in a hurry to get the part, i buy from tigerdirect. i'm in indiana and they're in illinois. therefore, the parts are delivered the next day and there's no "next day delivery" charge included. if i'm in a real big hurry, i drive to the frys store in indy. their prices are usually higher than any online estore, though. heck, sometimes, frys won't even match their own online prices. plus, there's always sales tax to pay when buying at the frys store. although, frys is the ONLY place i go for power supply sleeving material. their 'generic' brand of sleeving is fabulous and very inexpensive!

Thank goodness Oregon has no sales tax. Wew have a Fry's store here as well.

Yeah, but everyone has their reasons for doing business with whom they do. Price isn't always everything.

Good on ya, Cadalancea!

Yep, thanks Mirsguy. I'll take exceptional customer service even if I pay a bit extra.

Plus, Bestbuy has the price policy, where you can show em the same product at a different store if it's a lower price, and they'll match it. Saved me ten bucks once.

Well, super. I thought this was resolved, but I guess not.

Today I purchased a GeForce 9400 GT graphics card. It matched all my system specs, and my input type. When I actually went to install it, i realized a problem. The input pins were flipped. I can't plug it into my computer, because the outputs would be left inside the CPU. I can't understand it. There's no way to flip the card and put it in, like I did with my old graphics card. It says it's PCI compatible, and my computer has a PCI port, so whats going on?

Note: I noticed that on the box it says it's PCI Express x16. This was not listed online or on the Nvidia website. Is this the problem? If so, how do I know what PCI port to look for, or has the entire computer world changed the way PCI ports work since I got this computer 4-5 years ago.

Sounds like a problem starkers might have.

Thats why I said you should consider a new PC.

Basically, Anyhting with PCI-Express wont fit, you need a flat PCI card just "PCI" no random fancy lettering. however, i'm not sure whether those cards are actually still in production.

read reply no#3 again..

PCI express x16  ports have a little clip on the end of them.. pci no.

as well at 4-5 yrs old your power supply is aging and that may be that cause of your video card going bust. if so it will soon do the same to other system components like the CPU or toast a new video card shortly after you replace it.

I have to agree with the comment above, rather than replacing the video card you need a new system. you can get some decent systems for about $500-600.

if you do find a better PCI video card that what you have, I would also look into replacing the power supply, at least a new one of the same size or perhaps slightly larger (ie....if you have a 300w, you want to go 300-350w)

@firebrick: Oh, I see what you're talking about.

I'm not entirely sure if I can even find a card that is just simple PCI. I'll have to look into it..

If he's just plucking up a new PCI card, he probably won't need a new power supply

The 2 cards I linked to in reply #3 are PCI.

If you need one similar at Best Buy try this one

Also, as I pointed out, you can not use PCI Express. It's a shame that the industry had to name the two so closely as it only confuses the average consumer.

Well, problem solved. The 9400 was a PCI express, but the 8400 was a plain PCI. I picked up the 8400, and installed it today. It runs perfect.

@ Carguy: Funny coincidence. I bought my graphics card this morning, and now looking at your suggestion right now, I realize that I bought the exact same card. Awesome! Also, touche.