Thread: 1st Time Graphics Card Help

Here's an example of an AGP slot, but yours might look a little different and might have a white tab at the end. Usually it's brown and around the middle of the motherboard.

I tried to find the motherboard on FIC's site, but it doesn't look to exist, so I'm not sure if it does either.

D00M 3 is a resource hog, and if you don't have at least 512MB of RAM in your system, you will be hurting.

For the money, the 9800Pro is probably about the best deal going...however, the GeForce 6600GT has just come out in AGP format, and blows the pants off the 9800Pro. ATi has yet to release their Radeon X700 (the competitor to the 6600 line) in AGP format.

The last thing you may want to consider too is your power supply. If you don't have a good unit, going with these high-end graphics cards could easily suck more juice than your current PSU can provide. You want, at the very least, a 350W unit from a reputable company (Antec, Enermax, Sparkle/Fortron---same company, different brands, Vantec, or Thermaltake, or PC Power and Cooling if you want the best thing you can buy---they're extremely expensive). Generally, if the power supply came with your case, it's likely not to be up to task.

Now, going with the assumption you don't have an AGP slot, you're looking at something crappier. Probably the best you're going to find is a Radeon 9250 or 9200. I've heard about a GeForce FX 5600 in PCI format as well, but I haven't seen one anywhere I can think of. That's about the best you're going to be able to get, and needless to say, you won't be playing D00M 3 at much past 640x480 in resolution, and possibly medium detail at the highest.

Best way is to look inside your case. As B said if its 350W then you should be ok with the setup. But if you get a new mobo and a power hungry graphics card you mayneed to upgrade because the PSU may not be able to supply enough amps. Don't be misleaded by no-name brandsoffering really high wattages. If you get a new mobo then you can get a better graphics card. Really if you want decent performance thats your only choice. Then you can get something like a Radeon 9800pro.

Yup. It's an AGP slot.
AGP slots only support AGP video cards (at least commercially). I guess they could support something else, but nothing has really been made (at least that you'd use---there's some oddball stuff out there).

If you don't want to buy a new power supply, I suggest you not get anything faster than a Radeon 9600Pro, and these run around $100 on-line. Newegg and ZipZoomFly are a couple of the best on-line stores around.

If you do decide to invest in a better power supply (which I do recommend you do as it's beneficial in the long run), then you might want to look at the ThermalTake Silent PurePower 480 Xaser Edition. It's like $55 + shipping at Newegg, and a damn good deal on a power supply with the amps it has.