How to install my video card?

Hi, I have a HP with pentium 4 but the motherboard has a built in video card. I am thinking of buying a new seperate videocard as some games/software run REALLY laggy on my pc, even though my computer runs at 3.0ghz and has 1.5gb ram. My questions are:

a) should I run my new video card software on my PC BEFORE i put in the video card?

b)When i plug in my new videocard (i think i will get one which plugs into the pci-express slot) should i plug my monitor into the new video card straight away before rebooting, or plug it into the built-in videocard(on motherboard) and then install the new card first?



help! PS i am getting a new 22inch monitor if that changes anything...|||After plugging the card in and securing it, plug the monitor into the card itself and install the drivers for the card.

You may want to download them from the manufactures site, as they will be more 'up to date' and usually fix glitches...etc. You can't install the drivers without the card installed, so install them after installing the card physically .



Hope I helped.





EDIT1:

These are some cards that'd more than suffice for current gaming under/around 200ish. I myself, would go with the second.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as…

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as…

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as…|||dude ask a near by computer technition we dont noe much with you com|||First of all, you should check to see if your HP can support a new video card. Some models come with just a built-in video with no PCI-E slots.



If your PC can support another card, then you should plug-in the card and install the drivers first using your on-board video before switching over.|||Find out what slot you have avl.

once you have the card - unplug your computer and then touch it so you dont have any static. install the card, plug in your monitor and then restart the computer. Windows will find the new hardware but do not use the installation cd. Go to the website of the manufacturer of the card and download the newest drivers. (these are free) then run them once they are downloaded. and there you go !