Help with video card specs.

E

eldanko77

Geek Trainee
the motherboard of my computer died earlier this week i just got it back, and it seems my dad has gone budget style with a 32 mb integrated display. I can no longer play any of my favoite games anymore so i have to buy a new video card. I have some selected but im not sure what has to match up for my computer to be compatable. I know that i have an AGP 8x slot is this sufficient to run any AGP 4x/8x card. Or do i need to pick one with a specified memory interface and so on. Any help is greatly appreciated Thanks.


Edit:
Also i have 512 ddr installed does this mean the videocard must be ddr, or could i get one with gddr2, or otherwise.
 
no, the video card can be ddr, gddr 3, most are gddr 3, i would reccomend nothing lower than an x700pro or 6600gt.
 
How much do you want to spend? An AGP 6600GT will be very good, and will be compatible. The 6600GTs perform better than the X700 counterparts.
 
I would suggest a 6800, they cost as much as the 6600GT's but are a fair bit faster. All that matters when you pick out a new video card is it's interface. So long as it's AGP 8x you'll be just fine. Otherwise just look for the best card you can afford. If you're confused with all the different specs for just one card try to pick a card that's OpenGL 2.0, GDDR3, and has 256MB's or memory. This unfortunately doesn't apply to the 6800 line but they still perform very well for the price.
 
i feel bad, my card is open GL 1.5 :(.

if its possible, get the 6800, and softmod it into a 6800gt, the downside to that though will be that your card will not last as long, maybe 6 months?
 
I had my 6800 overclocked a good bit (I forget the exact figure but it was something like 425core, 830mem or something), and had the 4 extra pipes enabled with RivaTuner so it was sort of like a 6800GT lite. Of course it had only 128Mb's or DDR1 but other than that it was a sweet deal. I don't think any AGP versions of the 6800's are OpenGL 2.0 but it doesn't really matter much.
 
thanks, im thinking of going with the x800, the way i feel is anything else will be out of date sooner so i might as well bite the bullet and get something that will last awhile
 
get the x800pro, there available in agp, but i would reccomend an x800xt or x800xt pe that are also available in agp.
 
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