I'd like to upgrade my graphics card.. problem is, Gateway (the makers of my PC) had the wonderful idea of removing the AGP slot from the motherboard. I currently have a 64meg Intel integrated video card, which plays Halo quite well. Problem is, I don't think it'll run Doom 3 or Half-Life 2. It's a nice computer setup, I'd hate to have to buy a new PC just because of this little problem.
Here are the current specs:
-1.8 ghz Pentium 4
-640 megs DDR RAM
-DSL Internet
-Windows XP Home
-64 meg Intel integrated video
-Sound Blaster Audigy (5.1 surround)
-Buncha USB, and Firewire ports, as well as 3 unused PCI slots.
I plan on upgrading to 1 gig of RAM, so that's taken care of. My main question is upgrading the video. How well would a PCI video card work? Would a 128meg PCI card perform better than a 64meg integrated video?
Any other upgrade suggestions?
PCI Graphics Card Help, general upgrade questions
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Captain Cornflake
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shadowbreaker513
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Captain Cornflake
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Actually, it does play it quite well. I have medium details and particles running fine with no slowdown or lag. (sometimes it lags online, but thats more because of my 128k upstream DSL connection)shadowbreaker513 wrote:and trust me, your integrated 64mb doesn't play halo quite well. it plays it like crap.
However, I'm 99% sure that when I try Half-Life 2 or Doom 3, I'll have to have most details turned on low.
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Spartan Foods
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even if you could upgrade your graphics card you're gonna have a hard time playing doom 3 unless you have a server with quadruple athlon fx53 processors, 4gbs of ram and a radeon x800 graphics card. That game eats up 500mbs on textures alone in ultra quality, and I have an athlon 64 3200+ that runs it in 800x600 and medium detail and is still choppy. I can't tell you what to do about the graphics card, just never get integrated graphics if you get a new one
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kasper4christ
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@CAM,
tell you what, i dare you to turn off the extra quality effects setting, in the advanced menu for DOOm 3, turnning off that setting alone just about doubled my FPS right there, it was nuts
still, yeah theres the whole PCIX thing nvidia and ATI have going on, its still going to be a bit before it all gets mainstream but, its newer and faster, w00t
if your going for the best bang for buck, you could go PCI video card, but there are some bottleneck issues when it comes to games like HL2 and D3
um, the best thing, could be to find a new motherboard that still fits your processor, get a new MoBo for your 1.8 P4, make sure it has AGP.. catch my drift?
tell you what, i dare you to turn off the extra quality effects setting, in the advanced menu for DOOm 3, turnning off that setting alone just about doubled my FPS right there, it was nuts
still, yeah theres the whole PCIX thing nvidia and ATI have going on, its still going to be a bit before it all gets mainstream but, its newer and faster, w00t
if your going for the best bang for buck, you could go PCI video card, but there are some bottleneck issues when it comes to games like HL2 and D3
um, the best thing, could be to find a new motherboard that still fits your processor, get a new MoBo for your 1.8 P4, make sure it has AGP.. catch my drift?
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Captain Cornflake
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LOL i got my geforce 2 for 25 bucks canadian and i can play everything at high except specular and shadows. Textures and particles really don't change performance, it's specular and shadows that make everything slow. with high textures, particles and decals, i get about 50 FPS on 800 x 600. If you just want decent performance but crappy graphics, just get an old geforce 2 or 3. If you want good performance and graphics, you'll need an AGP or PCIE card. Are there still companies that make PCI cards? Aren't those kind of old?
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kaptainkommie
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Captain Cornflake
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Im pretty sure I can, whether it be disabling the integrated video or simply running two monitors. I know that PCI slots are old though.. would a 128meg PCI card perform better than a 64meg integrated card? Now I'm just looking for a temporary fix until Intel starts making 64-bit chips, which is when I'll get a new motherboard or computer. Or I'll get one of those fancy 64-bit PowerMac G5's and play the Mac version of Halo. (I don't like AMD)
Also, I found the spot on the board where the AGP slot is supposed to go. The pins are there, theres just no slot... Would I be able to have an AGP slot soldered on? Would that work? Keep in mind I don't mind having parts of the board modded to do this, just as long as it will work.
Also, I found the spot on the board where the AGP slot is supposed to go. The pins are there, theres just no slot... Would I be able to have an AGP slot soldered on? Would that work? Keep in mind I don't mind having parts of the board modded to do this, just as long as it will work.
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kaptainkommie
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Spartan Foods
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