budget graphics cards

hinch · Post by **hinch** » 02 Dec 2006, 18:48

today i am looking at upgrading my card, and after being shown how i am confident

i've installed drivers etc before so i'll be fine...

anyway i'm currently running an nvidia 256mb 5500 which i am told is rather worn out (makes noises and a little on the hot side...) so i was wondering what you'd recommend for under Â£50.

on ebay i can get a 7300 or 6800 for around Â£40 (which many simmers seem to use) but what would really be the best? i'm looking for something with a fan but as my card fits into the top slot there is not quite space above for a big one (i would guess).

as i've said before i'm not really up to date on hardware - would you recommend a 512 card? i'm not looking at upgrading to FSX so divx10 cards or whatever don't bother me too much.

any help is much appreciated!

ianhind · Post by **ianhind** » 02 Dec 2006, 19:18

CB is the person likely to give the best answer, but give some more information about your setup.

From your previous questions, I think you are running a P4 in a socket 478 motherboard with AGP raphics. What speed CPU?

But over to CB.

hinch · Post by **hinch** » 02 Dec 2006, 19:22

# Maximum Memory Capacity: 2048MB
# Currently Installed Memory: 1024 MB
# Available Memory Slots: 1
# Number of Banks: 3
# Dual Channel Support: No
# CPU Manufacturer: Intel
# CPU Family: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU
# CPU Speed: 3400 MHz

- from crucial.com, except it's wrong, i only have 2 slots for memory

what are agp graphics? i know not lots...

ianhind · Post by **ianhind** » 02 Dec 2006, 20:29

Do you have a 3.4Ghz P4 in your PC?

From a previous post about RAM, I reckon your motherboard is as shown below (Fujitus Siemens?). Hence it has an AGP slot and PCI-E cards are not going to fit. This may restrict your options.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Specification
Processor

1. Socket 478 for IntelÂ® PentiumÂ® 4 processor.

Chipset

1. Norht Bridge : IntelÂ® 848P MCH
2. South Bridge : IntelÂ® ICH5
3. Integrated Peripherals :
1. Realtek ALC655 CODEC

Front Side Bus

1. 800 / 533 / 400 MHz FSB

Memory

1. Type: DDR 400 / 333 / 266 support
2. Max capacity: 2 GB
3. DIMM slots: 2

Internal I/O Connectors

1. 2 x Serial ATA ports
2. 2 x USB 2.0 (supports 4 ports by cable)
3. 1 x S/P DIF input/output pin header
4. 2 x UltraDMA 100/66 Bus Master IDE
5. 1 x FDD
6. CD/AUX in
7. 1 x Game port pin header

Expansion Slots

1. 1 x AGP 8x slot
2. 3 x PCI slots (PCI 2.3 compliant)

Rear Panel I/O

1. 4 x USB 2.0 ports
2. 1 x LPT port
3. 2 x COM ports
4. 3 x Audio ports (Line-in / Line-out / MIC)
5. 2 x PS/2 ports (Keyboard/Mouse)

Form Factor

1. ATX
2. 30.5cm x 20.5cm

H/W Monitoring

1. ITE 8712F
2. System health status auto-detect and report by BIOS
3. Hardware detecting and reporting for case open, power-in voltage, CPU voltage, and fan speed.

BIOS

1. 2M bit flash ROM, Award BIOS

hinch · Post by **hinch** » 02 Dec 2006, 21:27

mother board serial number: 8I848PM

yes it is a fujitsu seimens scaleo p.

AGP: accelerated graphics processor? no idea what PCI is and what either actually does so i don't feel down heartened in having the limiting one
:whistle:

i did find this list:

http://compreviews.about.com/od/video/tp/AGPVideo.htm

pretty much what to go by?

ianhind · Post by **ianhind** » 02 Dec 2006, 22:58

That's the correct sort of info to be looking at.

AGP is what the slot that the graphics fits into is called.

The latest motherboards have PCI-E slots which are not compatible.

And my/wife's PCs are AGP - haven't felt the need to upgrade to anything faster yet.

Charlie Bravo · Post by **Charlie Bravo** » 03 Dec 2006, 10:47

Get yourself on the bay and look for a 7600GT (AGP)

They are faster than the 6800 cards and should keep you going for a while.

TobyV · Post by **TobyV** » 03 Dec 2006, 10:53

Doesnt really help, but just to clarify for anyone that didnt know

ISA (very old type of slot, not seen for about 10 years now)
"Industry Standard Architecture" - think these were either 8 bit if they only used part of the slot or 16 bit if they used all of the available connections :think:

PCI: Peripheral Component Interconnect - this is the standard slot that sound cards, network cards, internal modems and other cards will into. Its faster than ISA but since the advent of AGP about 1996/96 sort of time, not fast enough for graphics.

AGP: Advanced Graphics Port/Accelerated Graphics Port, a special slot just for graphics cards... later updated with 2X and 4X standards

PCI-E: (PCI-Express I think) - a relatively new type of graphics card port which has now superseded AGP.

hinch · Post by **hinch** » 03 Dec 2006, 14:23

thanks for the clarification of what each is, i think it may be handy knowing these things when it comes to future pc buying *though i believe it will be a mac with windows considering how well it seems to perform at uni.

the 7600gt sounds pretty good to me looking at the numbers, but an AGP version is about double my budget, damn student loan not being enough

Charlie Bravo · Post by **Charlie Bravo** » 03 Dec 2006, 15:42

Sorry, thats my mistake, I was thinking of another card.

To be honest, you are very limited with AGP now and the options are very small.