Which reasonable Graphic card ?

[Furkin]

ACER T120 DeskTop AMD 2400+ 1524 RAM. XP Home.
I have just realiesed that my machine has an empty AGP slot. The graphics seem to be 'on-board',,,,, so i'm after a cheapish AGP card - (anything must better than on-board eh ?)
I'm not a gamer, nor do a lot of photo stuff (few bits in PhotoShop etc).
[I was about to take a Matrox from my old machine,,,, but it has no other connection + is egtting on a bit !]
I don't want or need to go mad - so any suggestions please ?
Furkin

[staffsMike]

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/produ...oductID=566071

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/produ...oductID=566073

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/produ...oductID=566077

The first one is just a graphics card for the sake of a graphics card really. Will allow dual monitors etc..

The second will free up some games if need be Half Life 2 etc..

The thirds purpose would mainly be for games.

I've not used photoshop etc on integrated gfx before so I cant comment on what its like but I's assume these will help a little.

[mosherben]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=555359

about the cheapest I could think of for an AGP card.. if u can wait until you get 25 posts then you are also eligable for free delivery See the Scan forum for details

EDIT: Mike found cheaper cards :-/

[staffsMike]

muhaha

[DanceswithUnix]

There is an XFX 6200 AGP card on Scan's Today Only offers page for £18.79 (section 7).

Fanless, so no extra PC noise, and should be fine for everyday work and even older games. Normally 26 quid, so a bit of a bargain.

The 2D engine and video engine (for mpeg/dvd playback) seem to be the same across the range, so for your use I don't see any point in getting anything faster.

[Furkin]

that's great Dances,
If they will send it today, i'll order one.
It's no use my going too far with this,,,, I didn't even realise that I didn't already have one (whilst my older, cheaper machine did !)

(is it worth asking on these pages if it'l go out today,,, or should I contact them direct ?)

again - many thanks for the info.

[DanceswithUnix]

My last few orders with them have taken ages, best part of a week. I would phone and ask, they used to be reliably next day if ordered in the morning.

[Furkin]

thanks - have sent an E,,, but will follow it up with a call.

cheers

furkin

[Furkin]

just to bring any readers up to date, I called SCAN (01204474747) re this G.Card & the chap was very nice & explained the difference between 2 x 6200 (128mb) cards (the dearest being low profile !)
Ordinarily, they send out the same day,,,, although Mondays are different as they have fri/sat/sun to catch up on - quite reasonable in my opinion.
My only problem now, is if it's compatible with my m.board: 11/04/03-KM400-8235-6A6LYE1BC-00 which is in my ACER machine.
Unfortunately, ACER are a bit tardy in replying to e-mails,,,, so if anyone reading this can help, I would appreciate it.
Many thanks

[dave87]

Whilst the 6200 is going to be better than the inbuilt graphics, if you really want to see any improvement, I'd look at a 6600 in AGP format. This way, the graphics card will have its own RAM instead of nicking the system ram, and have a higher clock speed to be able to cope better with any games you might play.

Oh, and if it says its AGP, and your board has an AGP slot, it'll work

[mosherben]

well personally I would stick to my suggusted card of the 6800 hehe, £55 inc delivery

Oh, and if it says its AGP, and your board has an AGP slot, it'll work

Correct, I had a motherboard which had a AGP 1x,2x,4x slot and I popped in a Radeon 9200 AGP4x/8x card.

[DanceswithUnix]

This way, the graphics card will have its own RAM instead of nicking the system ram, and have a higher clock speed to be able to cope better with any games you might play.

On AGP the memory is all on card, it is only the 6200 TurboCache cards that nick from system memory and they are only on PCIe bus. Even then, they only nick ram when they need to.

I am frankly tempted to say that if you didn't know you were using on-board graphics then you probably don't need a plug in card. Perhaps you should just keep the machine as it is?

[Furkin]

Thanks for all the replies & ideas/opinions.
I have recently upgraded from a CRT to LCD,,, so I'm seeing quite a difference at the moment anyway.
As my M.B has no DVI I am connected by 'normal' connection.
The 6200 card also has DVI,,,, so I think 18 quid is worth a punt whilst on 'special'.

I'll let you know what I think later,,,, but until I sort out my cpu cooler speed (new Arctic Cooler Copper 2 from YoYo not running fast enough - should be 2200rpm, but am getting 1550rpm (see other posting if interested), I won't be installing said card.

thanks again all

[Furkin]

have ordered the card,,,,, & for once Lady Luck was smiling on me (oooops ?!)
The 'Today Only' had finished,,,, but as I had already spoken to the chap about it,,, he 'managed' to give me the same price. Thanks SCAN.

(i think i'll check todays Today, to see if there's a cheap cpu cooler to replace my NEW one !)

cheers for now