PCI vs AGP

W

WNEWFM

New Member
After recently buying a new videogame, I found out that I was unable to play it on my fairly old (about 4 or 5 years) computer.

The rest of computer specs were about double the minimum, so rather than forking out for a whole new PC, I thought it wise to invest in a new graphics card instead.

I think I was a bit too hasty, rushing to bid on some graphics cards before really reading about specs, etc.

Problem is, after waltzing into a computer shop to buy the Nvidia Geforce 6600 (which I have heard, is awesome) I'm unsure of whether my computer takes AGP or PCI bus.

I wasn't aware that there was two different types, the PCI seems a bit less pricey...

Please get back to me as quickly as possible, as I am currently bidding on three 6600s on eBay, two of which are PCI.

I forgot to mention, in my device drivers list, under system devices, I get this list:



Does the 'PCI bus' mean I can run a PCI card?
 
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I believe those 6600s will be PCI Express, that is different than PCI. Do you know what motherboard do you have? Since your computer is 4-5 years old the PCIe 6600s will be no good for you. Depending on what model you have the AGP ones may also be no good for you.
 
Cromewell said:
I believe those 6600s will be PCI Express, that is different than PCI. Do you know what motherboard do you have? Since your computer is 4-5 years old the PCIe 6600s will be no good for you. Depending on what model you have the AGP ones may also be no good for you.
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Thanks for the quick reply.

Unfortunately, I have no clue about what motherboard I have.

I know the model number of the computer (Dell) if that's any help...

According to a program I just downlaoded, my motherboard is:
Motherboard ID <DMI>
Motherboard Name Dell Computer Corporation Dimension 4600
 
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The model number will work. The device manager shot suggests you have an AGP slot but it's not definite
 
The model number was all I needed. You have an AGP slot. If you open the side panel and look inside it is the brown connector (may have a card in it) that is offset further than the white slots.
 
Cromewell said:
The model number was all I needed. You have an AGP slot. If you open the side panel and look inside it is the brown connector (may have a card in it) that is offset further than the white slots.
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Thanks a lot for your help.

Next question... could you reccomend a good graphics card for under £80? That's 160 canadian dollars according to google.
 
Cromewell said:
Prices are a lot higher in the UK than over here. £80 including VAT?

You can get an X1600 for ~75
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Yeah I was shocked at how much they cost. Couldn't believe it when they guy told me that the 6600 cost £120.

I think I'll shop around on eBay to get a few ideas.

I bet you're sick of the questions, but do you think it's worth buying a better graphics card for my PC? Or is it a fairly 'past-it' PC anyway with little scope to upgrade?

Pentium 4 2.66 GHZ Processor, 512 MB RAM...
 
Well considering the prices of things over there I'd try to sit on what you have as long as possible.

If you look at buying sometime in January-February you can probably get a decent deal on some outgoing technology.
 
for that pc.. maybe the x1300 would be a bit overkill already. not sure tough. A suggestion (of mine) would be the Geforce 6200. its 25pound including VAT, and seeing you have a dell,.. im pretty sure you can't run a power hungry card anyway without upgrading the powersupply.
the 6200 is capable of running every game so far,.. but thats about it, dont exspect it to perform any miracles tough :)
 
Archangel said:
for that pc.. maybe the x1300 would be a bit overkill already. not sure tough. A suggestion (of mine) would be the Geforce 6200. its 25pound including VAT, and seeing you have a dell,.. im pretty sure you can't run a power hungry card anyway without upgrading the powersupply.
the 6200 is capable of running every game so far,.. but thats about it, dont exspect it to perform any miracles tough :)
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Wow! Good call...

I can see a lot of those on eBay for around £40 inc. post.

The specs look great too (although coming from me, that doesn't mean much)... It's 256 MB, and most of the ones I've been looking at are 128, and considerably more expensive.

You think it's a smart move to get this one?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-nVidia-Ge...2QQihZ003QQcategoryZ67864QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

My old laptop's on it's way out, so I think I'll invest in a new PC next year anyway, but it would be great to have two funtional PCs able to handle most games.
 
I'm in a similar position as WNEWFM. I purchased a Packard Bell system 2 and a half years ago with an Intel Motherboard. As far as I can tell I only have PCI slots, (4 white slots and no others). Now that I want to update graphics, from on-board to something better suited to mid-range gaming, how do I find out if I have PCI or PCIe slots? And what is the difference anyway?
 
If you only have white slots that look like this:
pci_slot.jpg


Then you only have PCI slots and there are some threads kicking around for the best PCI video card.
 
PCI express is a dedicated line so each port has it's own bandwidth. PCI express also has more available bandwidth per slot.
The short black slot (1x) and the long black slot (16x) on the right are PCI express slots. They also come in 4x and 8x.

mb880_800.jpg
 
Cromewell said:
PCI express is a dedicated line so each port has it's own bandwidth. PCI express also has more available bandwidth per slot.
The short black slot (1x) and the long black slot (16x) on the right are PCI express slots. They also come in 4x and 8x.

mb880_800.jpg
Click to expand...

Are those ISA slots on the left? I've never seen those and PCI-e slots on the same board before :D
 
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