Video cards vs Motherboard video

[Lost_luggage34]

Currently running video output from the video sockect on my new Motherboard.

Decent quality once I found the correct drivers.

However, it clearly takes processing power away from the Motherboard when it could be doing other things.

Is there a large advantage in buying a decent Video card with loads of on-board memory ?

Currently running with a Gigabyte Motherboard, 1Gb Celeron, Windows 98 SE - shortly to go to Win2K.

[tony draper]

I don't think there is any comparison between a good quality graphics card and on board graphics adapter, unless things have changed recently, a good quality card , the Nvidia chip based ones for instance can make a world of difference.
Thats aways the beef I had store with store bought systems , the spec is generaly spoiled by a micky mouse graphic card or even worse on board graphics.

[ORAC]

There's no comparison. Newer video cards have massive amounts of on-board memory and processing power.

As an example, the new GeForceFX GPU has 125 million transistors, more than twice the size of a Pentium 4 with 55 million transistors, and it's all dedicated to graphics.

[ETOPS773]

I got a Gainward GF4 TI4200 - 128MB beast and it indeed kicks ass!! NVIDIA based of course!

Problem with onboard jobbies is often they use up the RAM,so slow your computer down alot.

Mine cost £170 and has Video output the lot.For me was worth the money as I work in digital animation and its pretty essential,but its still not a bad buy.

Here is the link to my one :p

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/companypages/products/videocards/gainward/vidgaiti48008xp/vidgaiti48008xp.htm


PS,a great tool is RivaTuner,lets you adjust all the properties on the Direct X / OpenGL drivers,so you can opt for Quality,speed or a mix.

Anyhow..nuff said!

[tony draper]

Matrox cards are very good also, but they always seem to get pipped to the post by Nvidia
Always plenty of updated drivers for Nvidia stuff on the web.

[BBDO]

Do you still get the benefit of a whizz bang video card if it is a PCI version? I currently have on board graphics and no AGP slot so I'm debating the pros and cons of buying shed loads more RAM versus a PCI video card.
Any thoughts?

[Lost_luggage34]

Thanks for comments.

A tad put off by the prices though - seem to be about the same cost as the Gigabyte Motherboard and the 1GB Celeron cost me ! But there were an end-of-line package from Maplin.

[tony draper]

Well even a PCI card which only runs at a basic speed is probab;y better that on board graphics.
The advantage of AGP is it can run at up to 4x system speed, I think I have a PCI matrox mystique lying about the place if you live in the UK somewhere, or those computer fairs have box's full of the older PCI cards very cheap now..
;)

[Lost_luggage34]

OK - I bow down to all of your superior knowledge - what the hell is an AGP card ?

I'm familiar with PCI slots. My Motherboard has a slot which is about 2 inches long - looks like a mini-PCI slot - is that an AGP slot ??

I know, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing - I prefer dealing with the fibre optics which happily send your Email around the globe and the bits & pieces at the end of the fibre !

[BBDO]

Well, the way I understand it is:
PCI slots are the ones that most computer have that allow you to slot in all sorts of extra gizmos e.g. a card that enables you to watch TV on your computer. They are (I think) usually located on the back of your tower and are relatively easy to access.
An AGP slot is one that is designed solely to take a graphics card and can't be used for any other purpose. Because of the way it is set up an AGP graphics card in an AGP slot will run far faster than the same graphics card in PCI version in a PCI slot.
Crystal?
Where the AGP slot is and how you know if you've got one I hand over to someone with genuine IT knowledge..........

[tony draper]

Most recent mother boards will have a AGP slot by recent prolly last five years, even ones with on board graphics.
AGP just means advanced graphics port,

If you look inside your machine the white slots are PCI the AGP slot is slightly shorter brown and set back from the PCI slot, a much shorter brown slot will be for a particular type of modem, a riser slot I think its called.
Incidently TV OUT and video capture cards come in AGP, in fact PCI graphic video cards are almost obsolete now, not even sure if you could buy one anywhere but a puter fair now.
You can have a graphic card in the PCI slot and one in the AGP slot and run two monitors at the same time, or you can get a AGP graphic card that runs two different monitors by itself.
If there are black slots in your machine dont worry these are the old ISA slots,generaly concidered obsolete now, but your board may be old enought to have ISA ,PCI and AGP slots.
Try not to get hooked on upgrading , Drapes usta upgrade graphic cards,CPU's mother boards and stuff almost on a monthly basis monthly once, Drapes took the cure and don't read the tecky sites now to avoid a relapse. :D

[ORAC]

AGP explained (http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=105). They talk about AGP x 4 (133Mhz), newer cards/motherboards are now AGP x 8 (266Mhz).

Here's an image of a motherboard with an AGP slot (http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboard/20030203/images/gigabyte-board.jpg). The five on the left are PCI, the sixth is AGP. In this case it's green, though they're normally brown. It's the one nearest the processor slot - that's standard - and indented further in - also standard.