PCI graphics card

can anyone recommend a good PCI graphics card suitable for second life. i have a pentium 4 1800mhz i think. thanks. walg prunes.

Try computers.com:

http://shopper.cnet.com/4566-8902_9-0.html?filter=500247_12732_500240_5000318_500241_11995759_&tag=shfd.dir&sort=lowPrice9+asc

P2

I would reccomend a Geforce 5700 like this one at NewEgg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814139166

They are probally the fstest PCI ones you will find.

I purchased a Radeon 9250 PCI with 256 MB and have been very happy. At Best Buy for around $100 or you can get them on Ebay $50-80.

lol OOPS! I did NOT see this thread and I just typed out a whole question about this. Gah!

I Use the BFG Asylum 5700 I will probably be upgrading soon but have used this card for over a year and ahalf and been very please not only that BFG offers a lifet time warranty with it So if anything goes wrong with it they will replace your card.

Thanks so much guys. i will find, i think, the geforce 5700 or radeon 9250 pci on ebay.

Stick with the NVidia card if you can. SL doesn't always play nice with ATI cards.

P2

what`s the difference between pci and pci express?

if your comp needs pci can you use pci express?

No. PCI-E is a totally different kind of slot, as different as AGP is from PCI.

P2

would either of these work?

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/eVGA-GeForce-FX-5200-Video-Card-128P1N309DX-/sem/rpsm/oid/105701/catOid/-13011/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=117821&c=1

Of these two, I would go with the first one (the eVGA card), which is based on an NVidia chipset. The other is based on an ATI Radeon chipset, which is not to say it won't work (I have an ATI Radeon 9600 card myself), but NVidia is known to have better compatibility with SL.

P2

out of curiousity has anyone had issues with the Nividia GeForce 6600? Mine seems to not agree with SL.

I keep hearing ati isn't the best choice for SL. ( But I do have at x600 with no problems. )

So Elora go with the first link if it meets your system requirements.


Thanks for the help ya`ll. we (elora and I) appreciate it.

That line is a reputably solid graphics card with SL. I've heard it used successfully in various configurations, especially the 6600GT variant. So of course, it'll depend on the rest of your system too. What's your CPU? Or your motherboard (sometimes, there are BIOS incompatibilities if it's relatively old).

Just starting to look into a card update too

What are the basic PC card compatibility categories? Looking at my local on line store I see the following. Is this correct? (i.e. making sure I get basic PC compatibility correct before worrying about which card)

- PCI
- PCIE (express)
- AGP

I've got a 2-3 year old computer I'd like to get working on SL so I guess I'm going to have to check what slots it has. It seems most of the cards are PCIE so hopefully my PC will support this (other wise there seems to be less listed under just PCI)

PCI-E is relatively new. Most likely if your machine is 2-3 years old it will be AGP.

However, one of the VERY best ways to ID components of your computer is by using SiSoft Sandra, a diagnostics program from SiSoftware of London. The full version is US$39, but the shareware version -- which does most everything the full version does -- is available at:

http://www.download.com/SANDRA-Lite/3000-2086_4-10451861.html?tag=lst-0-1

P2

(oops - I'd posted this on the wrong thread)

Just found my ASUS P4S333 manual - it refers to the following slots: PCI, AGP and ACR.

If I don't have PCI-Express support does the AGP (accelerated graphics port that supports AGP 4X cards) help me out, or be better than a PCI based card? (sorry I'm not sure of the differences)

I see cards listed under the AGP section of a local website including cards like:
- Alastor GeForce FX5900XT 128MB TV/DVI
- Radeon 9600XT 256M Sapphire
- Albatron 256MDDR FX6600Q TVO

I only see 2 under the PCI section (not PCIE) including:
- PCI Gecube Radeon 9250 128MB Low Profile Edition

Guess I'm trying to determine what I can do with what I've got (i.e. which card), but also fishing for whether I'm fighting a losing battle and really need to upgrade the motherboard in order to get decent video card support for 2nd life.


Tks

If it's 2-3 years old it's probably got PCI and AGP slots, but not PCI-E.

Your best bet is likely an AGP nVidia card.

If your computer is so old it really doesn't have an AGP slot, you'll get way more bang for your buck buying an AGP motherboard *and* a new processor, and then getting an AGP card for it. I just bought (for the wife) a new-in-box AMD motherboard and processor, heat-sink, goo, and the whole ball of wax was $69 at Fry's. It's not the latest anything, but it's a big step up from her 3 year old Celeron 1.7.

The best PCI video cards you can get aren't all that good, and MUCH MUCH better AGP ones cost less. You might even be able to get a new motherboard AND an AGP card for fewer total dollars, thought that's a bit iffy. You will certainly be able to get a better video card for the same range...

[edit - since you have an AGP slot, you DEFINITELY want to get an AGP card. If you only have an AGP4X slot, you need to get an AGP4X card, the Albatron only list 8X... the 5900XT should work though and is a good card...]