PCI or AGP what is better?

V

vinylmason

Geek Trainee
hey guys,my computer has 3 pci slots and 1 agp slot,I dont know alot about these things ,wich is better pci or agp?also can you suggest a video card that will run on my system without problems?I have-Gateway model w3052 prosser-AMD sempron 3000+ mmx. 3D now 2.0 GHz Memory-448 mb ram?(dont know why its an odd # like that dir x 9.0 c nvidia ge force 4 mx integrated gpu 64 meg ram.would like to keep the cash flow down to around 100 bucks maby a little more.thanks
 
AGP hands down. The PCI interface is limited to 133MB/s, while AGP (at 8x transfer speeds) is 8GB/s. With graphics, the PCI interface can't cut it.

As far as the RAM oddity, I think that you've got a motherboard with onboard video that uses a shared memory setup, which is quite common. Basically, some of your system RAM is set aside for video graphics.

If you're willing to go a little over $100, you'd get some better options, like a Radeon 9800Pro or your choice of some Radeon X700 cards for under $110. Below $100, and you're looking at the most powerful card being the Radeon 9600XT, which isn't bad, but considering a lot better performance is available for a little more, it really would be worth the little extra cash.
 
vinylmason said:
so you think radeon not nvidia,like I said I dont know much about puters but heard good things about nvidia?
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I find that ATI cards are very good these days, but Nvidia cards seem to provide more consistent performance and have much more stable drivers. Also, if you plan on using Linux, Nvidia has much better Linux support than ATI. If not, ATI is probably the way to go these days for Windows users.
 
vinylmason said:
so you think radeon not nvidia,like I said I dont know much about puters but heard good things about nvidia?
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I'm not saying nVidia is bad, but considering your price range, ATi's Radeon 9800Pro or the Radeon X700 would be your best bet in terms of performance for the money. ATi and nVidia are the two main contenders in gaming graphics these days, and depending on your price range, one may be a better option than the other.
 
Anti-Trend said:
I find that ATI cards are very good these days, but Nvidia cards seem to provide more consistent performance and have much more stable drivers. Also, if you plan on using Linux, Nvidia has much better Linux support than ATI. If not, ATI is probably the way to go these days for Windows users.
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I once tried installing nVidia drivers for Suse Linux 9.3, and it was impossible. I just couldn't get the :swear: thing to work! Mind you, that might be because I know zero about linux.....

For Windows, I think nVidia's forceware is far better then ATi's catalyst. Catalyst is slow and eats up precious resources. Forceware has far more innovative features and tweaks.

Go nVidia!
 
megamaced said:
I once tried installing nVidia drivers for Suse Linux 9.3, and it was impossible. I just couldn't get the :swear: thing to work! Mind you, that might be because I know zero about linux.....
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Suse is weird for nvidia drivers anyway, so it was a little trickier getting 3D accelleration in Suse than in any other Linux distro I know of. But since 10.0 even Suse is "with it" enough to automatically download and install nvidia drivers during the initial OS installation process. Though, it does help to know a bit about the OS you're using. :)
 
I don't know, I think the Catalyst drivers have been pretty good and haven't had problems with them. Still, consider the price range he's go, a GeForce FX 5700LE or GeForce 6200 is the best nV has to offer.
 
Well you should be able to find a GeForce 6600GT between $130-170 or a Radeon X800Pro or X800GT for right around $200.
 
X800 pro's are hard to hard to find (must have stopped making them). The card you should buy really depends what you want to do with it, but the 6600GT should suit your needs.
 
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