differences AGP and PCI cards

mekong06

New Member
What is the distingush between AGP and PCI card, can i use on the older pc
( p3-733mhz), if ok do i need a driver? Thank you.
 
Depends on your motherboard,if it has a AGP slot
PCI slots
pci_slot.jpg


AGP slot Brown

agp.jpg
 
Different slot type entirely there. You will always find pci slots on any old system while many lacked the AGP type until just before the first Pentiums/Pentium Pro were ouf(I286 to I486 time frame) and simply used the pci type as the standard addon type card. AGP later offered the improved faster bus over the ISA to PCI progress there.

An earlier model pci card would see 1x while the AGP progressed from the 1x/2x to see 4x/8x even AGP Pro type standards. One of the latest in that line is the Visiontek model seen at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129096

If the board there is equipped with an AGP slot that will be slightly different in appearance to the standard pci type slots it is just above. Look at the PCI-E type 1x slot on a new board to see how there;s a slight gap seen between that type and the 2 pci slots typically seen on a new board. The slot itself will only be slightly shorted in liength then the 16x slow however commonly in use.

Any expansion type device added onto a system requires the device drivers needed for the particular OS being run on it in order to see it funtion fully. Windows includes it's onw basic vga type drivers to allow you to operate a system with a low resolution screen until all drivers/softwares are installed.

Even the latest 4x/8x cards are backward compatible for use on older systems. For ATI the last model of pci type is the 9250 line and GeForce FX5200 models for NVidia. If the board there lacks an AGP port several pci models can be looked over at http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+1069609642&name=PCI
 
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