New Graphics Card...(Budget)

[TomWilko]

Right, here is my current PC:

Windows XP
Pentium 3 1GhZ
384MB RAM
Geforce 2 MX 32MB
Soundblaster 128

...The only thing i desperately feel needs updating at the moment is a graphics card for the PC, so i was looking for some help What kind of AGP am i looking for (2x 4x 8x??)

Budget is between £50 and £80, so not a great deal i suppose! But anything in that price range is going to be tons better than what we already have! The games that are often played on this machine are Half-Life + MODS, Medal Of Honour, sometimes racing games. There is nothing i am going to really get in the coming months that needs me to spend £400 on a new gfx card. I have read a review in a PC magazine for these gfx cards:

The Leadtek A340TDH
MSI FX5200 Td128

All comments welcome on these and any more please! Will be buying in the next few weeks, so also places to buy would be useful to.

Cheers

Wilko

[Richie]

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=43111 ?? - Golden Sample version so built for Overclocking


http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=33748

[fondie]

one of these prehaps :-

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=46514

fx5200 vs ti4200 here :- http://www.pcextreme.net/inno3d-fx5200-3.php

[TomWilko]

Are ebuyer worth ordering from then? + Are they the best i am looking for for my money? Don't really need TV out cos besically i don't know what it is!!

[fondie]

i've never had any problems buying from ebuyer, i'm not sure whether that's the best price you'll find on that card though. tv out is just a video output (usually s-video) on the back of the gfx card, so you can have it output onto a television. i'm not sure if you'd be better off with a 128mb version of a ti4200 either.

[TomWilko]

I have been asking around on other forums and the geforce ti4200 seems to have caught my attention. Mainly because it will fit my system right and not be 'to fast' for it I have managed to find that my montherboard is AGP 2x. If i was to find a gfx card that runs AGP 8x will it still run on my computer, but will just recognise the settings as being lower and change to them??

[TomWilko]

An example of what i mean is this:

LINK

Could i run this on my AGP 2x motherboard?? This is the gfx card that has taken my fancy

[Trickle]

Probably. What board do you have?

[fondie]

i think so, afaik all the agp standards are backwardsly compatibale.

[TomWilko]

Originally posted by Trickle
Probably. What board do you have?

These are the screenshots taken from CPU-X, i hope this has the information you need!





If you could tell me what makes it compatible/incompatible then that'd be great...so i know in future

[Richie]

Yes AGP rates are backwards compatabile..... It will just transfer at 2x AGP.....

[TomWilko]

Wicked...one final thing:

What are the chances of me being able to run HL2??

[Swafe]

i reckon, with a ti4200

most probably, but if not, its the 2x holding you back, i dont see a prob tho, you wont smell too much diff from 2x to 8x, about 25% but ti4200s are powerful, go for it

also get your butt to bargain hunt forum geforce 3 for 25inc

[TomWilko]

...I am reading on another forum that if i installed a geforce 4 onto the motherboard it may get fried due to voltages?? How true is this; i hope i am not panicking over nothing here now!

[Richie]

Cant see how.... Is the point of having a "standard" i.e. AGP not so that things are built around this standard so us clueless sods dont need to worry about that stuff ??


Just remember - a slight smell can be normal at the start as the card heats up but this should go away after a while. This is normal on a LOT of BRAND NEW NEVER USED electrics.....

[TomWilko]

I think it seems kinda sensible to me to; i don't understand how or why voltages like that would differ...i think it would be so dangerous for a manufacturer to do that!