Hey all, I'm a bit confused here, I'm looking to buy upgrade my video card (GeForce2) to a newer lower budget card, and I found the MSI FX5600XT-TD128 (manufacturer's page here). It says it's AGP 8x compatible, and that has me confused as I am looking to upgrade the motherboard as well to the Asus PS4800-MX (manufacturer's page), again looking for an alright motherboard. Anyways, the specification's at the manufacturer's page for the motherboard says that it supports AGP 8x, but +1.5V only. As far as I can read on the Internet, AGP 8x uses +0.8V for signaling, and +1.5V is for AGP 4x, what's going on here? Could someone enlighten me? Any help is appreciated.
You don't have to worry, the card will work on that motherboard, it is probably a mistake on asus' part. However, I HIGHLY suggest you get a board with an intel chipset on it. While SIS is better than it used to be, Intel is king in the chipset area. To avoid compatibility issue and to get better performance, look into an intel chipset motherboard. If you wanna buy asus, I suggest you get one of those two: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=property&DEPA=1 The main thing the more expensive one has more than the other is RAID. On newegg, the P4P800 SE is $94 and the P4S800-MX is $69, but I really think it's worth it to fork out a little more cash on this one. As for the video card. Firstly, I'd like to say that I have absolutely nothing against nvidia. In fact, if I had the money, I'd get a 6800 series of card over the X800 series of card. Having said that, the FX line didn't compete with the 9200-9800 range of ATI. The FX is slower (price/performance ratio), has problems rendering DX9 effects properly and has worse image quality. For the price of a 5600XT, you can get a Sapphire 9600. but I suggest you dish out more to get a 9600 Pro, but it's up to you. I suggest you get a BBA card, but they're more expensive than third-party ones (like Sapphire for instance)
AGP 2x uses 3.3V, 4X uses 1.5V, AGP 8x uses 0.8V. Motherboards with AGP 8x slots are able to run AGP 4x cards as well, for backwards compatibility as well as for voltage fluctuations. Same with AGP 8x cards: they are AGP 4x compatible. Basically, that motherboard and that video card will work. Although if you can swing it, I'd look into a GeForce FX 5700 over the 5600 if you stay with nVidia. Otherwise, you might check out a Radeon 9600 card as those run around $100 and would be comparable to the 5700. They do have better DirectX 9 capabilities than the 5700 or 5600. I also would spend my money for an Intel chipset. Sis is more of a budget solution and while the hardware isn't necessarily bad, when it comes to the drivers, Intel eats them for lunch.
Thanks for all the advice, I know it will work, I just want to know if it will work at AGP 8x. You wouldn't happen to know would you?
Well they're contradicting themselves so it's hard to say. In any case, 8x isn't much faster than 4x. As far as gaming goes, you won't see any difference. I'm actually in 4x right now and playing Doom 3 in 10x7 @ high settings.
