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General discussion

Video Card Questions

Oct 7, 2004 11:26AM PDT

I have a 4x AGP-compatible mobo. I am looking to get a 128 MB vid card, and I am thinking that it would probably make sense to get an 8x AGP card. I would assume they are backwards compatible to a 4x mobo without any major issues? I would rather not update the mobo at this time if I can help it, but I also don't want to limit myself for the future by getting a 4x AGP card. I was looking at probably the Radeon 9600 or 9800, although the 9200 is a possibility too. I don't know much about Nvidias, but I would be open to looking at them too. The biggest thing is that it needs to be DX 9.0 compatible.

Discussion is locked

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Re: Video Card Questions
Oct 7, 2004 6:37PM PDT

Every card I know of (and i'm a technician) that is 8x is 4x compatible. If you're looking at radeons don't do the 9600. Try to find the 9700 pro. It's virtually the same card as the 9800. The main difference was marketing propaganda. You'll save bucks and have 99% the same card. If you're looking to the future in terms of board upgrades you may want to do some research on pci express. It's going replace agp and standard pci buses. The boards are already starting to come onto the market. PCI express is generally alot quicker.

Hope this helps

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Re: Video Card Questions
Oct 7, 2004 9:10PM PDT

intrepid....the only thing u were right about was the backward compatible thing...8x cards ARE 4x compatible.
Now ,
firstly , the 9600 ROCKS (PRO & XT). that is the best price-to-performance ratio card.if u r a serious gamer but very budget conscious - thats the card u wanna buy. believe me , i have a radeon 9600 XT with 128 DDR and its marvelous. i've played DOOM3 on ULTRA level without any trouble at all !

Secondly ,
The 9700 PRO is totally different than the 9800 PRO
check it out on any hardware site and you'll know.
the 9800 has higher clock speeds and more bandwidth than the 9700 ( 22 GB/s !)
the 9800 PRO is the best card for the serious gamer with a hefty budget....if u got da money , BUY IT.
the 9700 PRO has a bandwidth of 18.5 GB/s (gud , but not as gud as 9800)
well , buying a new card is a big thing so think about it , surf the net , read reviews and the choose the one u feel is best...
also , about the mobo , DONT THINK BOUT BUYIN A SUBSTANDARD CARD THEN CHANGIN IT LATER ! buy a gud one , save up and then buy a gud mobo ( the intel 865 GBF is very gud or if u have da money , u cud consider the new 915 + range models)
also , ATI is better than NVIDIA b'cause ATI gives better pic quality + is awesome when detail level goes higher. NVIDIA - only framerate (on low quality). when detail level is higher - IT SUCKS.

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Re: Video Card Questions
Oct 7, 2004 11:12PM PDT

Hello, you are correct. Most modern video cards are AGP4/8x compliant. I'm a big fan of Nvidia's as they have had a better track record in driver support and overall visual quality (imo). Your best two bets for video cards of the DX9 genre are the Nvidia Geforce FX 5700 Ultra and/or the Geforce FX 5900 series cards. The 5700 series cards are great for those machines with little 250 watt power supplys (ie Dell) and the 5900 series cards are the best bang for buck options which will play most games without costing $400-$600. Check your power supply wattage as well and video card clearance (around the AGP slot) as these cards are pretty lengthy and have bigger cooling devices. Good Luck!
MZPC