AGP vs. PCI

Airplay355

I just bought an geforce 5500 graphics card. I was told by the best buy dude that if my computer had an AGP slot then I should use an AGP card because it is dedicated for graphics. Well they didn't have any AGP cards and I had a best buy gift certificate so I went with the PCI card. Would I gain alot of performance by using an AGP card instead?

Was this a good card to buy? I don't really know alot about graphics cards or computers in general. Most of the cards there were PCI express. I have a a Vaio with the model number PCV-RX560. It's about 5 years old. Would I have PCI E slots? I know I have an AGP slot, and right now I have the PCI card installed and it's working fine.

Any suggestions would be appreciated because I'm clueless.

dorokusai

A PCI interface is not the same thing as PCI-Express...two totally different animals and completely incompatible. If you have an AGP slot, you should use the AGP slot, no doubt. I think a good value is the BFG(Nvidia) 5200OC, which is available at Best Buy for about $150....lower elsewhere. I just picked one up so that I could run GUN and it's 100% fine for me. The card I had before just couldn't handle the graphics on a couple real new games, but ran FEAR just fine...it was weird.

I had borrowed, for purchase from a friend, a Nvidia Ge-Force 6800GT and it was too hardcore for my current motherboard/bios/processor. It's sucks because that card is rated very highly.

I have heard that Nvidia and ATI are going to halt manufacturing on PCI and AGP cards in order to fully support PCI-Express.

disneyjoe7

dorokusai wrote:

I have heard that Nvidia and ATI are going to halt manufacturing on PCI and AGP cards in order to fully support PCI-Express.

:eek: Do your upgrades now.

Shizelbs

Your 5 year old computer is not going to have a PCI-Express slot. Now, was the card you bought for PCI or PCI-express? Again, two different things. Your computer will have PCI slots, but not PCI-express. Lets assume that you did buy a PCI card, you should return it for an AGP card. Also, you need to go to your BIOS and see what speed your AGP slot is. It can be 1x, 2x, 4x or 8x. That will determine which AGP cards are compatible with your computer.

Good luck and ask more questions if you need them answered.

dorokusai

In addition, AGP is backwards compatible, but that would essentially defeat the purpose. If you're BIOS cannot support AGP2.0 minimum....it's time to upgrade.

Airplay355

How would I find out what my bios supports?

Also, when i first start my game (Unreal Tournament 2003) the frame rate is very low and things skip. About a minute later things are fine and smooth. Is this because the computer is filling up the page file or something? Would increasing the paging file help the game run faster? I have nots of hard drive space, not not alot of RAM (256).

Shizelbs

You can access the BIOS from the startup screen. You know, during the Dell, HP, whatever logo. Hit del or F1, or whatever it asks for.

Time for some more RAM there buddy.

Sami

At 5 years I think it is time for a new computer if you are worried about graphic card performance.

cam5860

Hey dude have you ever heard of updating. You can't buy one computer and think your going to keep up with all the new technology. Just buy a new computer you are past due. If you get five good years out of a computer you have done good.

rnp614

Sami wrote:

At 5 years I think it is time for a new computer if you are worried about graphic card performance.

Yeah, a solid newer computer can be had for quite a lot less. If you have a comp USA around I think there was a deal for a pretty decent 150 dollar computer with a sempron processor in it (a compaq 1700 series I think). All it needs is a graphics and ram upgrade and you could run the latest games no issue.

nadams

Just looked up the model # of the computer on Sony.com. Funny how people can give advice without knowing the specs of the machine!

It says that it's a 1.7ghz P4, 256mb PC-133 memory stock, 512mb max. It also states that it should have an AGP 4x slot, and actually should have had an AGP card installed, unless maybe it was just onboard, using the AGP bus.

Anyway, though the computer was quite expensive when new, it's really not going to be worth sinking a lot of money into now if you want to be able to play games. The reason your games are slow when first starting is because you only have 256mb of RAM, but having a limit of 512 isn't that great. It'll help, for sure, but then that's it... you're done. And PC-133 RAM is getting more expensive these days as there's fewer manufacturers still making it.

My recommendation would be to go with one of the machines that various stores have on sale from time to time... they usually have AMD processors (Sempron or Athlon64) and will blow your old machine out of the water, straight out of the box. They'll also support PCI-E and all that great stuff (and probably 2gb or more of memory). That's perfect if you don't feel confident enough to build a computer yourself. I'm sure if you chose to build one yourself, there'd be plenty of friendly folks to help you out around here .

Now, that's not to say that your current computer is useless and obsolete... it'd still be good for a machine for the kids, or parents, or grandparents, or whatever, but in terms of gaming... it just ain't there!

Schris22

Yes time to buy a new computer. Depends on how hardcore gaming you want to go. Though I like the 6600GT for the price rightnow.

Also the ati 800xt can be had for 200 and it is a much better deal.

Chris

Airplay355

Yup nadams, it came with an asus agp card, not a card built into the motherboard. I don't do alot of hardcore gaming, I just wanted to be able to play them with a semi decent resolution.

I'm open to building my own computer, but it seemed crazy expensive last time I looked. I didn't really know what I was doing though. How much would it be to build a decent machine? I thought it was cheaper to just buy one from Dell or something.

nadams

Sure, it's cheaper, but you're going to pay more to get what you really want. It's always cheaper to buy their base machines that they fill with **** for components and get no service when you need it. If that's your bag, then by all means...

Lemme see what I have saved in my Newegg wishlists... maybe I have something in there that would fit the bill.

nadams

Here's what I came up with. This is by no means a definitive list, and please keep in mind that this includes a nice video card and also a 19" LCD that rings in at $240 on its own...

Chenming 501AWBU-F-0 Black Mid tower case - $45.00
ASUS A8N-SLI nForce4 SLI motherboard- $118
XFX PVT43GUDF3 GF 6600GT 256mb GDDR3 PCI-E x16 videocard- $165
AMD Athlon64 3200+ Venice Core- $160
mushkin 1gb DDR400 memory- $74.95
Seagate Barracuda 120gb 7200RPM IDE HD- $79
Logitech Internet Pro Desktop, Black- $16
Acer AL1912s 19" LCD Monitor- $242.99

Subtotal- $900.94 without shipping

Now, remember, this is a very decent computer that will not need upgrading for quite some time, and it's not using JUNK components like Dell does. AND, you can downgrade the memory, video, and monitor for now if you need to. Drop that memory to a single 512mb stick and you drop it around $35.

rnp614

nadams system looks pretty solid to me. That setup would blow the doors off an equal priced dell. The only thing he hasnt figured in is the cost of windows xp if you need it. That'll add 100 bucks to the total.

nadams

Damn, forgot that... Sorry. WinXP Home OEM edition would add another $93.95 to the total.

The system is solid to begin with, plus allows for upgrading to SATA, dual videocards in SLI, and up to 4gb of system memory!

Mazeroth

Good looking setup, nadams, but I would change something. Go with the ASRock Dual SATA motherboard for $69 and upgrade the video card to a Connect3D X800 GTO, which costs less than $200. You can do a software mod on the Connect3D with 99% success and it will be just as fast as an X850XT that costs about $100 more. This setup will run games roughly 75% faster.

nadams

I'd do that, but I don't trust ASSRock motherboards. Ultimately, that would be up to Airplay, and it is certainly another viable option.

dorokusai

I would stick with the trial by fire manufacturers like INTEL(HIGH), MSI and ASUS for building anything. I have had nothing but great success from ASUS boards in the years of my travels. Unless you're counting pennies, ASUS and MSI are excellent brands with proven track records.

Always build ahead of what you actually need. It may cost more, but you'll last longer.

Shizelbs

Mark is dead on with the above comments.

Sami

dorokusai wrote:

Always build ahead of what you actually need. It may cost more, but you'll last longer.

Maybe. I always move the computer to another duty rather than upgrade it. I found it more cost effective to myself that way.

dorokusai

I guess you have a computer in every room now?

Sami

dorokusai wrote:

I guess you have a computer in every room now?

Only three plus some Linux servers (most older 700MHz-1GHz Pentiums). Once they get to the point where they are ok for gaming I might also sell them. Keeps the count down and is cheaper than upgrading components. I just prefer doing a fresh build over upgrading and it has been cost effective for me.

PolkThug

Airplay, I'll sell you an AGP FX5600 256MB for $50 shipped. Uprade your ram from 256 to 512 and you'll be able to play UT2003 like a champ.

PhantomOG

dorokusai wrote:

I would stick with the trial by fire manufacturers like INTEL(HIGH), ...

AMD processors have higher performance, lower power, generally lower prices, and are just as stable as Intel processors when paired with high quality components.

I'd be willing to bet > 99% of problems that arise with home computers are NOT related to the processor, and the 1% of the time that it is, the person is likely overclocking without adequate cooling.

Sami

PhantomOG wrote:

AMD processors have higher performance, lower power, generally lower prices, and are just as stable as Intel processors when paired with high quality components.

I think he was talking about motherboards, not processors.

nadams

That was my initial interpretation as well, but I guess it could be read other ways...

Intel motherboards are solid, but I rarely ever build intel-based machines. AMD keeps the prices low, and the consumers don't know the difference until they ask me "what pentium does this thing have in it?"

PhantomOG

woops, that's what i get for not reading the entire thread...

Airplay355

Polk thug,
Isn't that an 8x agp card? Don't I need 4 or under?

cam5860

Hey you forgot to add in the keyboard, mice and speakers with that system. That's another 100 dollars right there.