Video Card help

[yokosi]

Ok guys im going to buy a vid card tomorrow but I need a bit of advice before I get one.  Does it matter if I get an AGP or PCI vid card, does it affect performance or anything or does it really matter.  Also is there a huge difference between a 64 meg and a 128 meg card.

Ok my price limit is quite low so here's a few card I was thinking of:

AGP cards
Albatron FX5200 128MB
PowerColor Radeon 9200SE 128MB DDR
Sapphire Radeon 9000 64MB DDR  (dual display)
Sapphire Radeon 7000 64MB DDR OEM
Sapphire Radeon 9000 Pro 64MB DDR OEM
MSI GeForce4 MX-440-T8X AGP 8X 64MB DDR TV-Out v

PCI Cards
ATI Radeon 7000 32MB
ATI Radeon 7000 64MB
PowerColor Radeon 7000 32MB
PowerColor Radeon 7500 64MB
Pine TNT2 M64 32MB

These are all in my budget, is there any name or brand I should keep an eye out for or stay away from.

The last one for the agp cards, is it dedicated for just TV display or is it good for an all around video meaning everything including games and such.

I want a card so I can watch basic movies or dvd's and also new games like NHL 2004 that I just got.
This is an example of the compatibilty list of the game 2004 b/c my present vid card doesen't work on it so the main reason im getting this card is to play the game :)

"32 MB Direct3D? capable video card using the NVIDIA? GeForce? FX, NVIDIA GeForce4, NVIDIA GeForce3, NVIDIA GeForce2 (except MX series), ATI? Radeon? 9800, ATI Radeon 9700, ATI Radeon 9600, ATI Radeon 9500, ATI Radeon 9200, ATI Radeon 9000, ATI Radeon 8500, or Matrox? Parhelia chipset with DirectX 8.1 compatible driver
"

Any suggestions would be great, thanx so much

[Neon]

OK, first it matters a lot between AGP or PCI. If at all possible, get an AGP card because they can support higher video bandwidth than the PCI cards. Note that there are several AGP specifications - for example, AGP 2x or 4x or 8x - you need to make sure that your motherboard can support the particular AGP card.

Second, there is not a great deal of difference between 64MB and 128MB of video memory, at least not right now. As of a few months ago, most people felt that 128MB was overkill, but of course it will not be enough someday in the future - probably not real soon though.

As for brands, most vid card manufacturers stick fairly close to the reference designs, and vary slightly in the speed of memory, color of the board, style of heatsink, and software included. The brands you listed should be ok, although I haven't heard much about Pine or PowerColor. I think Pine is ultra low-end, and you don't want a TNT2 card anyway.

The best card of the ones you listed is the Sapphire Radeon 9000 Pro. It is a DirectX 9 capable card, so it should be able to play some future games as well as current DX8 games. It receives my recommendation.

[yokosi]

Great point, im not sure what it's got but if it supports lower bandwidth then doesen't it just run at that bandwidth without any problems?
Im trying to search for specs on the motherboard and all I found was this from the asus page

" Advanced Graphics and Audio Onboard
With the multi-faceted VIA chipsets support onboard, the CUV4X-DLS provides a high-resolution graphical solution through the AGP Pro slot boasting a maximum data transfer rate of over 1GB per second. The slot accepts graphics cards designed to support high-end graphical applications. The ADI AD1881A Audio Codec chip embedded on the motherboard supports audio-intensive applications such as DVD, 3-D multi-player gaming, and interactive music"

But the Sapphire card supports a 2X or 2X/4X AGP.

http://www.digitallyunique.net/digitally-unique/100542sr.html

So do you think for the extra $10 it's not worth grabbing a 128 meg? This card will work for sure on my game right?

Just making sure before I pick it up, thanx a lot

[Neon]

That motherboard has a AGP 4x/ AGP Pro slot. The specs are here: http://www.asus.com.tw/mb/socket370/cuv4x-dls/specification.htm

For performance, faster memory tends to beat out larger quantities of memory, up until all the video memory gets used up (then it has to go out to system memory, which takes time). So as long as your games don't need more than 64MB memory, it shouldn't matter.

Here are the raw numbers - mind you this ignores the differences in architecture between ATI and nVidia designed cards:

	FX5200	R9000Pro	R9000	R9200SE
core clock	250 MHz	275 MHz	250 MHz	200 MHz
mem qty	128 MB	64 MB	64MB	128 MB
mem clock	200 MHz	275 MHz	200 MHz	166 MHz
bandwidth	6.4 GB/s	8.8 GB/s	6.4 GB/s	5.3 GB/s

[yokosi]

Great thanx so much, you seem to find all the links so easily I can never find them or maybe im not trying hard enough.

After those stats and thinking about it im going to be going for the 64 Meg R 9000 pro, it seems to suit my needs quite well.

Just one more question, what is the proper way of installing a new video card.  Do I just put it in and reboot and make plug and play do everything or do I have to remove the old drivers and install the new ones.  Thanx again

[Neon]

You should receive detailed instructions on the readme file on the drivers disk that comes with the new card - it's a good idea to print them out before you begin.

You can expect that it will probably ask you to uninstall the old drivers first, then install the new card, then install the new drivers. That's par for the course.

You could try to just swap the cards, and see what Windows does, but that's a much less clean way of doing the change, and Windows gets confused often enough...

Hey good luck with the new card. I think you've made a good decision and will be happy with it.

[trav]

Windows gets confused often enough...

hehehehehe thats a good one cuase its true! Happy B-Day neon