Graphics card question : AGPx4

[nevpugh308]

I'd like to upgrade my current graphics card (GeForce3 Titanuim Ti200 128mb) in my old PC (AMD1800+, 512mb ram).

Trouble is my mother board only supports AGPx4 cards, and most cards now a days are AGPx8.

Are they backward compatable ? Is it worth spending 50 or 60 quid on something like a 9600SE (and would it work ?!?) or wouldn't I notice any difference over my Ti200 ?

Cheers
Nev

[plotloss]

Depends.

What happened between 4x and 8x is that the port for some bloody reason was turned around.

If the current card you have has three (for want of a better word) tines on the connector then its compatible with the 4x slot.

If it doesnt, then its not...

[nasz]

As long as the new Graphics Cards state AGP4 on them, they will work. Most AGP8 Cards will still work, but will have the performance scaled down.

Personally I would go for a Geforce 4 FX 5950 as the maximum spec card for a APG4 motherboard. Anything higher (like the FX 6800) will not really give you much more in the way of performance.

One thing you could do is change the AGP aperture on your BIOS to reflect the amount of RAM you have installed - this increases the amount of data transfer to the graphics card.

For example: I have 1GB of RAM and have changed my AGP aperture to 256Mb - which has sped up *not dramatically* my visual performance. Thats with a Geforce 3 TI 4200 128Mb Card.

Saying that I just bought a Geforce 4 FX5950 256Mb and that is fast! It's for sale too! As I just bought a new FAST PC and got a free Geforce 4 FX6800 Ultra - now that's a TVR in my PC!

[nevpugh308]

I'm not sure I wanted to spend that much on a 5950 (even s/hand ) ... especially after blowing nearly 2k on a new PC anyway This is only for my 2nd PC which will become my wifes, and she plays UT2k3 exclusively.

I'll reboot and have a look at that AGP memory thing ... what should it be, 1/4 of total memory ?

[nevpugh308]

Hmm ... it only has settings from 4m to 128m, and it's set to 128m now. Oh well, worth a try

[voyds9]

Just dropped a Geforce5970 256MB in my comp as Ti4600 has just died, what an increase in performance I can now play Doom 3. Well worth £120 on high street probably cheaper if I had shopped around.

[goboddog]

have a look on ebay mate u can buy the fx 5700 for about £60.00 just dont get the le version..plays all the recent games with good fps..