Need help in picking out new Graphics card and other things

First of all, I want to buy a Nvidia graphics card for my computer. I would like to have an AGP card.

This evening, just after the big crash and attack, my Nvidia FX 5200 card (AGP) apparently died, so I remembered that I had bought a Nvidia card for an older computer (My older computer and the Nvidia card did not get along so I kept the card for future use) and I was able to swap the apparently dead AGP card with a PCI card. Both cards are exactly alike they are 128MB video ram, but the substitute card is PCI while the card that died is AGP

What recommendations would you make for a new Nvidia card?

Also, how do I test a slot to see if it is alive. If it turns out that the AGP slot died and not the card I may be in need of a new computer.

Also, How bad of a difference will a PCI card make compaired to the AGP card?

Thanks

If you want to check out if the slot is dead, buy a $50 el-cheapo card from your local comp shop and plug it in. if it works, its the card, if it doesnt, your mobo is most likely fried. Whatever the case, return your el-cheapo and say it didn't work *grin*

What I'd reccomend is picking up a PCI-Express motherboard. ISA is time on pause, PCI is slothlike, AGP is slow, and PCI-E is decent. Consider it planning for future upgrades - you just cant get any of the new vid cards in either pci or agp form nowadays.

As to what you want to pick up? Personally, I got me a BFG 7800GT OC, but for a less pricey alternative, i'd reccomend a Nvidia 6600 or a 6800, as they have recently dropped in price by quite a margin.

I also have that card! Rhaven, can you tell me what your settings are for using that card? Also, what drivers do you use?

- Thanx
- Jon

with the futures SL use you wont need more then 6600/6800, pref 256mb, if you plan on playing newer games 7800 recommended,, yeup

Pci card are no good ~.~ to slow, need to test if motherboard died, eh, handy to have one spare laying around incase of this

Something else to consider if you have a spare PCI card is using it to drive a secondary monitor, which I find incredibly handy.

Also, many people don't realize that you can use SL in Windowed mode which makes it "just another application" and very easy to jump between Firefox, Emaila and SL.

Don't buy anything less than nvidia 6600, From the constant SL updates, and upcoming 2.0 huge update, SL will get more graphics and cpu hungry. I really recommend at least an Nvidia 6800GT, if you can afford it get the 7800GS, I'd stay clear of ATI if you want to run SL smoothly.

The different between PCI and AGP is huge, AGP is specifically designed for graphics, PCI is an all purpose slot.

Interesting post here, seems eerily similiar to what I just did in upgrade terms. Of course, my old card didnt die.

I was running an Nvidia GeForce FX5200. In terms of usefulness, it really didnt stack up to my old GeForce 4 Ti 4200, but since I gave the old card away, I was stuck with it.

Now, my board only supported AGP or PCI. Knowing what I know about the current state of the PC components market, I decided that it would be a waste of money in the long run to buy a new AGP card. So, I saved up my money, and purchased a new board with PCI-E (and a new processor and some new RAM, but if your processor will work with a new board with PCI-E, dont worry about all this).

The board I selected was an ASUS A8N-SLI (capable of running 2 PCI-E Video Cards at the same time, but I am only running one, currently). This of course is a Socket939 board, for AMD processors. If you are running the intel route, ASUS makes an intel SLI board, I believe its called the P7N-SLI (but I might be wrong there).

The card I selected was an eVGA GeForce 6800 (PCI-E). My reasoning behind this is mostly due to the price, but secondly because I have had experience selling eVGA cards, and I havent seen very many problems personally with this brand. The 6800GT will indeed be a better card (dont be fooled by the less amount of RAM on the card, this is a fast puppy), but this may be slightly more affordable for you.

Now, I know you will say, "But its too damn expensive to upgrade my motherboard just to get a new video card!". But, to this I say, "But, you will have a huge range of upgrade potential in the future, for low cost today, and still be able to do what you want now."

Oh, and for the gamers... this setup in the video end, runs Oblivion just fine.

I should also mention that it is becoming more common for AGP cards to be more expensive than their PCI-E counterparts.

I could go on a little more into this subject, but its nearing 4:30am, and Im quite tired =)