Graphics card selection Help plz

D

draven2005

Geek Trainee
Hi

I know this question will probably seem stupid but i need help with it. I have a older spare computer (2-3 years old i think). But im looking to upgrade the graphics card but the motherboard is unfortunately 4x Agp. I dont really want to go through the rigmoral of changing all that.

So i was wondering if anyone could let me know if 8x agp cards can be used and what affect it would have. I have seen some sites stating that cards are compatible with 4x and 8x but then the exact same cards are advertised as just 8x on other sites.

I would be grateful with any help, or any suggestions or possible graphics cards

Thanks
 
All AGP 8x cards are compatible with AGP 4x cards but you will see a significant performance loss due to the loss of bandwidth available for the card to use. Its possible but not viable if you want to do heavy gaming.
 
What sort of performance loss are we talking about? It would still be a improvment on my previous one though wouldnt it, so as some games will play better on it , im not talking about half life2 quality

thanks
 
If possible can you provide us with the specifications of the computer you are thinking of upgrading video card wise?

Because if it's an AMD K7 board but an older one, or it's using SDRAM, you can pick up a motherboard that will support the CPU, SDRAM or DDR AND AGP 8x for about £20 ($30-$40)

download this:
Aidaware32 Enterprise (System Information Tool)

Install it, and post a screenshot of the summary of your system specifications (the computer you posted about).. then we can help you out more
 
The performance loss is quite great - like driving a ferrari in a 10Mph zone. All that power but no where to use it, I suppose.
 
Here are the specs of the machine ,I didnt know how much of it u would need? sorry if it is too much


Motherboard:
CPU Type Intel Pentium 4, 1800 MHz (4.5 x 400)
Motherboard Name Unknown
Motherboard Chipset Intel Brookdale i845
System Memory 256 MB (PC133 SDRAM)
BIOS Type AMI (10/06/01)

Display:
Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 (64 MB)
3D Accelerator nVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400

[ Processors / Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 Processor ]

Processor Properties:
Manufacturer Intel
Version Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 Processor
External Clock 100 MHz
Maximum Clock 2000 MHz
Current Clock 1800 MHz
Type Central Processor
Voltage 2.0 V
Status Enabled
Socket Designation Socket


Memory Module Properties:
Socket Designation DIMM1
Type DIMM, SDRAM
Installed Size 256 MB
Enabled Size 256 MB


AGP Properties:
AGP Version 2.00
AGP Status Enabled
AGP Aperture Size 64 MB
Supported AGP Speeds 1x, 2x, 4x
Current AGP Speed 4x
Fast-Write Supported, Disabled
Side Band Addressing Supported, Disabled

thanks for any help
 
AGP 4x can process 1.07GB (gigabytes (1GB=1024MegaBytes)) bandwidth per second, where as 8x can process 2.20GB bandwidth per second.

Hence why it would be worth if possible purchasing a cheap AGP 8x board, that will support your memory / cpu.

The ATI 9800Pro for example, one of the most popular cards, runs at 8x where as if you run it at 4x AGP then your going to be cutting it's bandwidth by about 50% (although technically its about 50.9%), this is the same with any graphics card that utilises AGP 8X, and you can only run it at 4X. 50% performance loss. (theoretically, however other components such as FSB could majorly effect your performance)
 
Not sure about P4 boards, but replacing motherboards can be much more time consuming than replacing other components.

First you'll need to take out all our cabling to the board and remove all components attached to the board. Then you will need to align the mobo with the holes in your case and put small bolts in the right places. Once thats done you can put back the previous components.
 
I didn't realise that there were Pentium 4 boards that only supported AGP 4x, but then the last pentium i dealt with was a P3 700.

If you want a cheap graphics card that will play better than the ge-force 2 64mb, get a ATI 9200 128MB, u'll notice the difference, and its only £30-£40 or something.

However.. your memory is also SDRAM - which is rather slow.. :(

realistically to justify buying a new graphics card of any sort.. to put it to use you would really need more memory, and if your going to spend another $40-$60 on another 256mb 133 SDRAM, you might as well get some DDR ram, and a new motherboard..

as the CPU is reasonably powerful..
 
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