Advise on Graphics Card

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This is more a question of availability than anything else. To be honest you would get more mileage waiting and replacing your mainboard and CPU - than investing any more on a PCI graphics card, your buying yourself into a dead end here. But if you must go PCI - get the Radeon the 9 series Radeons are stronger than the Nvidia 4 and 5 series - trust me on this. I currently own an Nvidia card - but 2 or 3 years ago ATI had a better line up.

You big problem is your CPU this will bottleneck even 40 or 50 euro graphics cards. If you can afford it get the cheapest 939 PCI Express board you can afford and some 512mb value memory, an AMD64 3000 and a Nvidia Turbo cache card. This might set you back 300 odd euros new, but it will give you 4-5 years of breathing room, and plenty of scope for upgrades.

 

Hey! I have a Nvidia Go5200! Actually, I hate it. If I would have known better at the time, I wouldn't have chosen it, but it's in my laptop...which is not easily upgradeable.

I am a die-hard ATI fan, and will always recommend it over Nvidia, but putting that aside...I'd have to agree with TDO's comment above...you're at the end of the road as it is with upgrading a PCI video card. The interface itself is being pushed out of the picture by the smaller PCIEx1 slot. Save yourself in the long run and buy yourself a value Socket T (LGA775) motherboard, some value DDR400 RAM, and a cheap 2.8 GHz P4.

With the PCI express graphics port, you'll be able to upgrade to any of the current video cards as well as those that have not been released yet, and with Intel's LGA775 socket, you'll be able to upgrade to some of the newer CPUs that haven't been released yet too.

 

Kitrax you are right about the graphic cards but I have a feeling we all might be in for a surprise when the new batch of CPUs are released. I have an idea that there will be a new graphic interface. For some reason I don't see PCIx graphic card standing their ground too much longer. A newer interface will be out and probably early 2nd quarter.

 

Already? I thought that PCIe had a good foot-hold already. It de-throned AGP fairly easy...so this new interface better be pretty f***ing awsome.

Any word if Intel is going to keep the LGA775 socket for awhile? We all know Intel is working a new line of processors that focus more on performance per watt...but will they still use the Socket T?

 

Abdel - I'd be interested to know your reasoning behind why you think they'll be a new graphics standard this year. None of the hardware sites I frequent indicate any such advancement any time soon. IMO your comment is totally unfounded.

AGP has been was around for 7 or 8 years and it has only been replaced by PCI express in the last 12 months or so, The current crop of cards are only just begining to utilise the extra bandwidth PCI express offers over AGP.
The fact that Nvidia and ATI as well as the motherboard manufacturers have invested so much time and resources into PCI Express leads me to beleive they won't be abandoning it for 2 or 3 years at an absolute minimum.
What you might see is a widening of the interface on PCIe - to give more bandwidth to graphics cards as they get more powerful. Similar to the AGP x2, x4 and x8.

 

Actually AGP only was out about 4 or 5 years ago. My wife's 4+ computer only has a 4x AGP slot. So AGP hasn't been out that long.

My reasoning is simple. Didn't AMD just come out with the 939 socket CPU? Yes they did. And aren't they releasing another CPU this coming April? Yes. Why not update the PCIe graphic interface. After all it is only a matter of time before we see PCIe2 graphic interfaces allowing twice the bandwidth, etc... They did it to AGP very quickly and I expect the same with PCIe.

 

Intel introduced AGP in 1996. As for the PCIe, it will not disappear anytime soon.

 

Hi, Thanks for the valued input...

I know that I'm stuck with dead-end technology at the moment, and am just trying to make the best of a bad lot.

A replacement will come eventually... but not very soon.

Cheers
Elian

 

@Erod - that sounds about right - I know AGP was around when I bought a Voodoo 3 card - that was to play Half Life in 1998.

Abdel - AMD wont create a new graphics interface any time soon. As I stated before, expanding the socket bandwith is not the same as moving to a new graphics aperture. If PCIe moves to a high bandwith it will still be backwards compatible, which means its not really a problem spending money on any PCIe graphics card at the moment. Not only that motherboard standards have historically been driven by Intel, not AMD - or a general agreement between 2 or more manufacturers.
I don't think Intel, AMD or anyone else for that matter would be too popular if they decided to pull the plug on PCIe at this point.
BTW Remember this guy could be buying something based on your advice.

Elian, I really would hold out if I were you - at the very most go for the Radeon - but I honestly don't think you'll gain much benefit from it.

[ January 12, 2006, 11:29: Message edited by: Tap Dancing Oyster ]