compatibility for graphics cards

[kostas22]

My software knowledge is ok, but frankly I know nothing about hardware.
Therefore, I have a rather simple question.
How can i tell whether the graphics card in my eMachines 380 (ancient, i know) is PCI-E or AGP?
Cant run any games which are only DX9 Comaptible (which means any Trainz games beyond UTC) coz the GeForce 4 MX 440 SE wont work with DX9!!!!:'(

 

[Stationbeem]

I think your card is AGP. THe best thing you can do is check this link out.
http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=26514

 

[BLACKWATCH]

Download "Belarc Advisor" from ... http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
It builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, you can then use this info to Google further if need be.

I've found it most helpful in the past and keep a shortcut on my desktop for it.

 

[plumlazy1]

You can tell by looking at the interface. Here is a page that has pics of the different interfaces. (where they plug into the motherboard) PCI - E : PCI and AGP. Scroll down the page a bit to see the pics.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/CategoryIntelligenceArticle.aspx?articleId=223#topic2

Hope this helps.

 

[omber]

Something else to consider... *too lazy to double check* there are atleast 2 or 3 versions of the AGP port and the are NOT compatible with each other.. make sure you don't try to stick AGP 3.0 card into an AGP 2.0 port..

EDIT: Here is an image on Wikipedia that has the format of various AGP slot layouts, it might be helpful to read at least parts of the article as well.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:AGP_&_AGP_Pro_Keying.svg

 

[john259]

You might get a clue out of Device Manager (Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager). Open the "System Devices" section and look for any mention of AGP or PCI-E. (Ignore PCI, that's got nothing to do with PCI-E.)

For example my computer's got an AGP socket and I see this entry:
Intel(R) 82875P Processor to AGP Controller - 2579

I don't know if PCI-E controllers are listed in the same way.

BTW, I just listed my system with the normally excellent Belarc and Auslogics utilities and neither make any mention of AGP. Other similar utilities might though.

John

 

[kostas22]

thanks for all the help guys, much appreciated.
couple of other questions:
1)can you get a decent nVidia GeFoce card for £50 or less?
2)would i be better getting an ATI instead?

EDIT: Found out some info about the card thats in my desktop.

Card: nVidia GeForce 4 MX 440 SE
Bus Interface: AGP 4x, PCI
Memory: 64MB
Core Clock: 250MB
Memory Clock: 333MB
Fillrate: 1100
Bus Type: SDR/DDR
Bus width: 64/128

what does the stuff in italics mean??

 

[BLACKWATCH]

Bus Interface: AGP 4x

Found this on the web. (not altogether Au fait with it myself )

AGP (1x): 66MHz clock, 8 bytes/clock
AGP 2x: 133MHz clock, 8 bytes/clock
AGP 4x: 266MHz clock, 16 bytes/clock
AGP 8x: 533MHz clock, 32 bytes/clock

Each up-grade is a supper-set of the 1x mode, so 4x will also support the 1x speed. The base clock rate is 66MHz, but
to achieve to 2x, 4x, and 8x speeds the clock is doubled each time. AGP uses both edges of the clock to transfer data.

 

[john259]

: AGP 4x, PCI

I'd read that as AGP, 4 x PCI and I think it means that it has one AGP socket and four PCI sockets. Or it could mean one 4x AGP socket (4x being the speed) and one (or more?) PCI sockets. AGP is for graphics cards only. PCI is for other boards (modem, sound, Ethernet, etc). PCI-E is an alternative type of socket for graphics cards only, totally incompatible with AGP. PCI and PCI-E are also totally different to each other. AFAIK no normal computer ever has both an AGP socket and also a PCI-E socket.

would i be better getting an ATI instead?

Ask three people and the first will tell you nVidia is best, the second will tell you ATI is best, and the third will say there's very little to choose between them

Can you get a decent nVidia GeFoce card for £50 or less?

Maybe, just about. Try a search for AGP on http://www.dabs.com, http://www.ebuyer.com and http://www.play.com while bearing in mind Tom's Hardware Guide's excellent list of video boards in descending order of power at http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/Gaming-Graphic-Guide,review-30439-8.html

EBuyer currently have a 7600GT for GBP51+delivery. FWIW I've got an AGP 7600GT and that performs extremely well on all but the most intensive of layouts.

A bit more info: nVidia suffixes go as follows from least powerful to most powerful: SE, LE, (no suffix), GS, GT, GTO, GTS, GTX, GX2, Ultra. ATI suffixes go SE, LE, GT, RX, (no suffix), GTO, PRO, XL, XT, XT PE, XTX. I might not have got every suffix in precisely the right order but they're not far out AFAIK.

John

 

[kostas22]

how about this one??

ok I think I found a good value one. its an ATI Radeon X1550 256MB card, for £25. its not mega advanced, but neither is my computer, and 1) I dont want to overload it and 2) I dont need to spend the earth on a Graphics card because I dont use my computer for gaming that much.
any opinions?

 

[johnwhelan]

ok I think I found a good value one. its an ATI Radeon X1550 256MB card, for £25. its not mega advanced, but neither is my computer, and 1) I dont want to overload it and 2) I dont need to spend the earth on a Graphics card because I dont use my computer for gaming that much.
any opinions?

www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-cards,1942-7.html

You should be in the X1650 range at least. I assume you are in the UK.

ebuyer.co.uk

• 
• PowerColor HD 3650 512MB DDR2 Dual DVI TV Out AGP Graphics Card

£48.00inc vat


or possibly

• 
• Sapphire X1650 PRO 512MB DDR2 DVI HDCP TV Out AGP Graphics Card

£39.27inc vat

My preference would be the first.

Cheerio John

 

[omber]

I'd read that as AGP, 4 x PCI and I think it means that it has one AGP socket and four PCI sockets. Or it could mean one 4x AGP socket (4x being the speed) and one (or more?) PCI sockets.

Heh wrong

First lets get this clear, AGP is graphics only, and that is it. Both PCI-E and PCI are for multiple cards, although usually the 16x PCI-E slots get dedicated to graphics card support. The MX cards come both in AGP 4x speed and PCI flavor.

 

[john259]

First lets get this clear, AGP is graphics only

Yes, agreed 100%, but the spec might have been for all the sockets on the system board, not just the graphics board socket.

John

 

[omber]

Yes, agreed 100%, but the spec might have been for all the sockets on the system board, not just the graphics board socket.

John

No John, if they talk about graphics cards they will not mention the mainboards, it would create infinite confusion

The specs he found only point out that the MX series came in both PCI and AGP 2.0 (4x, 1.5v voltage), the PCI being more popular if not as fast.

I would suggest looking at the Device Manager to see if an AGP port is even listed, secondly this computer is very old, so your priority is to find out if an AGP port is there and if so does it support AGP 3.0 (8x) because this is what most AGP cards that are out there will use.

 

[johnwhelan]

No John, if they talk about graphics cards they will not mention the mainboards, it would create infinite confusion

The specs he found only point out that the MX series came in both PCI and AGP 2.0 (4x, 1.5v voltage), the PCI being more popular if not as fast.

I would suggest looking at the Device Manager to see if an AGP port is even listed, secondly this computer is very old, so your priority is to find out if an AGP port is there and if so does it support AGP 3.0 (8x) because this is what most AGP cards that are out there will use.

Doesn't matter if 8x is supported or not. If it isn't an 8x card will work on a 4x slot etc.

Cheerio John