PCI Graphics cards

I

irshad

Geek Trainee
I have an intel 810e motherboard. It dosen't have an AGP slot. So I can't play most of the new games. Will there be any significant increase in the graphics performance if I put in a PCI Graphics card. Which PCI Graphics card is the best performer?
 
Either some PCI version of the Radeon 9000 series (like 9000,9100,9200) or the GeForce FX 5200. You'll be able to use the latest titles, but with the rest of the system being a few years old, don't expect to transform the machine. The main reason AGP is preferred of PCI (at least currently) is that the PCI bus has to share not only whatever's in the PCI slots, but whatever isn't legacy stuff (ISA slots, PS/2, Serial and Printer ports) or memory bandwith. The graphics cards available today, and for awhile now, are simply too much for the PCI bus to deal with, and it becomes a bottleneck.

If I were you, I'd save my money and look at buying a new system instead. In the long run, you're going to be better off buying something with an AGP slot that won't cramp the power of the AGP card.
 
I wholeheartedly agree with Big B. If I were you, I’d just go with a new system from the ground up. It's actually more cost-effective in the long-run. Also, AGP 2.0 makes a HUGE difference with high-polygon games, especially pixel/shader heavy titles. If you do have the cash and you’d still like to upgrade your existing system a bit, I’d recommend any Radeon-based PCI card around $40. For example: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=advance. I can’t seem to plug newegg enough, I guess :)
 
I saw "GeForce4 MX440-8X" for PCI ... Is it compatible with Intel 810 mainboards without AGP? Any configuration needed?
 
Yeah, you shouldn't have any problems with Nvidia + Intel. Just a forewarning though, any Nvidia "MX" product stands for Maimed but ineXpensive. :rolleyes: In other words, it's really not a GeForce 4, but a Geforce 2 on crack. No pixel shaders, no cool DirectX 8.1/9 effects, and not even close to the performance of a real GF4. You probably already knew that, but I just couldn't let it go unmentioned. ;)
 
He he ... :) ... hell no ... :) ... it is not working ... just tested on one machine ... :) ... everything you get is just a PC and OS startup screens ... when it comes to Login screen of Win2kSP4, WinXPSP1 or Win2k3 Standart you get nothing ... :) ... is this a known bug or? ... just curious ... want to know if AGP 8X compatible cards are supported without AGP at all ...

PS I probably will sell this card (got it for free :) ) and buy some GeForce2 ... :)
 
... want to know if AGP 8X compatible cards are supported without AGP at all ...
Click to expand...
Hmm, a PCI card is a PCI card. In other words, it doesn't use the AGP bus at all. To say that it's an 8x-AGP PCI card is a misnomer. So no, an AGP 8x card will NOT work in a system without AGP; in fact there isn't even a slot for it to be mounted on the motherboard.

Your problem seems to be that your PCI card isn't being used as the default display adapter, your i810 is instead. This is something that can probably be remedied via the following BIOS setting: "Primary Display Adapter: PCI". When you had the system simply display nothing at the login screen, did you try plugging the monitor into your i810 at that point? I bet it was displaying through that adapter instead of your PCI one. :(
Side note: On some motherboards I've encountered, the integrated video and a PCI video card cannot both work simultaneously; the integrated video must be disabled in order for the PCI card to work. Is this the case?
 
I have "NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X". It is a PCI card as it is written on it and it fits perfectly in my PCI slot. :) Just wondering what does this AGP8X means for PCI card :)

Yeah ... there are some problems with that they don't want to work simultaneously ... but I've managed to make them work with 2 monitors ...

I'll try to turn of my Onboard video card ... Lets see what will I get.
 
AGP means jack for PCI. They're two separate busses. Likely it's just added on to make it sound important. The best way to sum up the GF4 MX line is something along these lines: GeForce 4 MX=GeForce 2MX Ultra. The PCI bus is currently the main pathway for many devices in the computer. Steps have been taken to alleviate some of this, but the PCI Express standard that's going to be showing up on motherboards next year will be a big step.
 
I know the difference between AGP and PCI ... :) ... I was just wondering why they put it here when it is PCI card actualy ... :) ...
 
Sounds to me like they just carried over the same hardware from the NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X version onto the PCI printed circuit board. In other words, if it *WAS* an AGP card (which it isn't ;)), the chipset would support AGP 2.0 (8x AGP). But it doesn't :D
 
Shmaarts I guess they didnt bother chaning the writing on the card for some reason!
 
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