Sectorgame

I was doing some checking on my system with AIDA the other day and I came upon the entry about the AGP system. Besides being disabled, it listed my compatible AGP versions. Apparently my system is capable of running 1x, 2x and 4x AGP cards. My question is this:

If I want to get a decent video card am I going to have to upgrade my mobo? Or more properly, if I spend $150 on one of these, is it going to work on my current configuration?

(farking hell, that's only £70 UK...)

It should work on your machine, I think, but it'd be crippled by the slower 4x AGP data rate - so you'd not get the true value of it.

I realize that it wouldn't be operating at it's true ability, but the card I should probably put in it(the 5700) is roughly the same price.

Also, my current vid is a PCI variant of a budget card so I could get an AGP variant of the same one and see improvment probably.

liberator wrote:I realize that it wouldn't be operating at it's true ability, but the card I should probably put in it(the 5700) is roughly the same price.

Also, my current vid is a PCI variant of a budget card so I could get an AGP variant of the same one and see improvment probably.

True. Depends how likely you are to upgrade to an 8x mobo in the future, I think (albeit bearing in mind PCI express will eventually take over); if you're going to buy an effectively crippled card, I'm sure you can find a better value one designed to work at 4x AGP.

Need to check 4x -> 8x compatibility though; I know the voltage differs over 2 types, but i'm not sure if it's 1/2x-4x or 4x-8x that varies.

That's an 8x card though, it's not crippled. My board is the stumbling block.(though what do you expect for $38 a year ago)

liberator wrote:That's an 8x card though, it's not crippled. My board is the stumbling block.(though what do you expect for $38 a year ago)

Well, it's certainly going to be held back in performance - it'll only be able to get half the data rate it's designed to get off the AGP bus.

Which is fine by me, but I may update my board in the near(few months) future.

Odd. I was always under the impression that modern PC's don't ever make full use of the 8x AGP anyway, so 4x was fine for most people.

I was worried about whether that card would actually work in my system, what with the voltage differences and all. But after doing a bit of reading I'm thinking it will all work out.

I guess it's up to you really, personally I'd go for the 6600 and upgrade my board, but it depends on your situation. You've just got a job, so I'd say that's probably the best thing to do