I recently replaced the 7300LE card in my E521 with an XFX 8600 GT XXX.  This is the order of steps.  First, go to the manufacturers website and download the most recent version of the video drivers for your OS.  Save this to the desktop where you can find it.  Second, delete the drivers for the 1300 Pro card.  Turn off the computer.  Open the case and install the new card.  I am assuming the old card was a PCI-e card?  Replace the side cover.  Boot computer and you get the basic vga display.  Then install new drivers and follow the instructions.  You should be good to go.  For me I was replacing a PCI-e card with a new PCI-e card and the whole operation, taking things slowly, tool about 20 minutes.  The improvement in FSX was very dramatic which was my aim.  For basic Aero stuff, you won't see a difference.  Let us know what you get and how it does.  By the way, Tigerdirect has a $20 rebate offer on the XFX 8600 GT XXX which may end today.  I got mine too early to qualify for the rebate but I don't mind because it was worth it at full retail.

If your video mode is set to "Auto" in the BIOS (which it will be unless you changed it) your VGA adapter will take over when you pull out the x1300.  However, if you're upgrading to a new PCI-E card, it makes more sense to remove the old card when you are ready to install the new card.  This limits the amount of times you have to open your case and play around inside.

Oh yeah, also make sure you unplug and ground your computer before opening the case!

To be really safe, it's a good idea to remove the drivers for your old card via safe mode, and also use driver cleaner to make sure you get all the hiding dlls.  Other than that, the above instructions are perfect.

Thanks a bunch, im just a tad lost, not too much with Vista, i`ll let ya know how my what performance i gain,, im putting in a 7600gt, it was cheap,,,will go with better model later. DARRYL

Problem, i put the card in and it recognizes it, i have the nvidia control panel and that works but when i try to update my windows score rating i get the blue screen, its not seeing this graphic card update for the graphic score,, its still 4.2 , which is my ATI 1300 pro score , i deleted the ati driver then insatalled the new card properly,,, a cd came with the video card with 91.47 drivers which are listed as xp drivers ,,, what should i try now?

Yeah, the drivers are about 30mb I believe.

Ok, i will let you know what happens in a day or two, because i have dialup and it would take long i think to download drivers.  thanks

Download the drivers from nvidia.com.  I believe there was a new release for 7 series drivers on May 2nd.  As I mentioned above, you may need to use driver cleaner in safe mode to completely eliminate traces of the old card.  Before going through this, simply try the nvidia driver and see if that solves your problem.

Ok, working good , after some fiddling its a little better fps wise than the 1300pro, for FSX enthusist my system Dell e521 5600x2  2g667 ram, 7600gt does quite well with dense autogen and everything else slid right , but light bloom must be off,,,speaking of light bloom the 1300pro offers a much more vibrant shine on the aircraft than the 7600gt  where i can see it faintly ,, any adjustments i could make?