which of these video cards is best?

[Leonisknovo]

Well I got like a 3-month old HP;
I know, not best for gaming...o well :(

Here's the problem; it only has a PCI
slot, no AGP, which limits my options.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=686481&Tab=2&NoMapp=0
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=633850&Tab=2&NoMapp=0

Now on first looks, seems the ChainTech is best;
However its memory bandwidth is only 5.3GB/sec
while the XFX has a 6.4GB/sec memory b/w.

Also-- the XFX lists 'memory clock',
while the ChainText does not.

So-- am I correct to think
that XFX is indeed the better of the two?

I need to know ASAP! :)
Parents want answer by 2morrow noon :(

*Yey b-day coming up!*

[scoutt]

if it is only a 3 months old then you do have a AGP slot. they are pretty much standard now.

besides, those are the same card just a different manufacture.

personally if you pay that price for a PCI card then you are paying to much. I can get a ATI 9600 for that price at pricewatch.com. and that is twice as fast as you are looking at now.

but if you don't have a choice then the XFX is better.

[Leonisknovo]

its an HP 533w :mad:

My Computer > properties >
Hardware > Device Manager >
Display Adapters > "Intel(R) 822845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller" >
Properties; says it uses the PCI bus.

The one part of my comp didn't
thoroughly ask bout b4 I boght :o

[Josh]

Well scoutt, unfortunately that is not the case. I have seen a few mobo's recently that didn't have any agp slots.

But jon, I would physically look at your motherboard before you go and get a PCI card. If I remember correctly the agp slots are black, and the pci are brown.

But I have that geforce card and it runs most games pretty well.

Also, what's your power supply?

[Leonisknovo]

I can't even find where I slide
the stupid case off or I'd look :P

I've installed a nice GeForce MX 440SE
on family computer so should be able
to tell if its AGP/PCI :)

Also how do I find out my power source?

[Josh]

You gotta open up your case first! :P

The power supply watt should be on the power supply itself somewhere.

[scoutt]

Originally posted by Josh
Well scoutt, unfortunately that is not the case. I have seen a few mobo's recently that didn't have any agp slots.

But jon, I would physically look at your motherboard before you go and get a PCI card. If I remember correctly the agp slots are black, and the pci are brown.

But I have that geforce card and it runs most games pretty well.

Also, what's your power supply?
really? a brand new one? AGP's have been in computers for years. I would be very surprised if they didn't put one in. in fact most come with AGP2.0 now.

also, the AGP slot is brown and the PCI is a cream color.

you can't rely on what device manager says. sure it shows you have a pci card in but that doesn't mean you don't have a AGP slot.

also it doesn't matter what wattage the power supply is, at least for PCI cards. if all you are doing is changing a card then the power supply won't matter. unless of course you have every gadget under the sun connected. which means you have a lot of USB stuff and/or external peripherals.

[scoutt]

if this is your computer than you don't have any PCI video cards installed. it has intergrated video.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bph07909

and no, you do not have a AGP slot. at least not that one.

and the reasson you don't have one is becasue it is a micro case, meaning they stripped it down to bare essentials for a smaller form factor.

[Leonisknovo]

yep; checked back for 'system number',
and its same; as 'model number' on there.

However-- the serial is not :confused:
Also this didn't come with a printer,
though the manual has one for the printer :P

And what the hell? this is MICRO?
This thing is just as big as our 700MhZ compaq!!

I'll try to pull off
the case 2morrow b4 church :)

[Leonisknovo]

three cream/tanish colored slots :(
One is being used (guessing Ethernet).

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmn :angry:

Also Scoutt-- I do got an
external 120GB hooked up,
along w/ my joystick :P

Is that considered everything
under the sun connected?

[scoutt]

nah, I have seen more. but the power supply should be ok if you just add a video card.

[Josh]

Actually your power supply does matter. Mine was so low it wouldn't run a geforce mx 400.

[Leonisknovo]

how can I find my power supply?

[Josh]

Open up your case and look at it.

[Leonisknovo]

:confused: where??

[Josh]

It should tell you somewhere on the powersupply itself.

[scoutt]

Originally posted by Josh
Actually your power supply does matter. Mine was so low it wouldn't run a geforce mx 400.
yes it does to a point, but just for a pci card a 250 watts will do fine. but seeing how he has a external drive I can guess he would have a 300-350 watts which is just fine. 300 watts are more popular and seeing how it is only 5 months it might have a 300W in it.

actually seeing how it is a micro case it might have a slimmed down version of that as well. there should be a sticker on the power supply saying how many watts it is.

[Leonisknovo]

the external I just bought a week
and three days ago :P

Also I don't "see" a power supply,
nor know what the hell it looks like :(

There is a cover sort of thing saying
"PUSH TO OPEN" and I noticed little bit
behind it I can see the fan; is this where?

[scoutt]

look at the back of the computer. do you see hwere it plugs in from the wall? that is the power supply, usually very top corner.

[Leonisknovo]

its put in such way--
barely read any of it and half
of it is in chinese/japanese :(

I do see this tho-

"INPUT RATING:
100V - 127V - 3A 60MHZ
200V - 240V - 6A 50MHZ"

:confused:

[Paul]

What is your current budget for a computer? Personally I would spend about $50 for a new mobo as you can get a card twice as fast for the same price as scoutt said.

Edit:
Look here: http://www.pricewatch.com/1/2/4095-1.htm for around $25 you can have an AGP slot. I would match that up with a $70 radeon 9600 Pro and you have a MUCH better system than what you would have with the PCI slot. However, be sure you get the Pro version, not the regular or SE.

Good Luck,
Paul

[Leonisknovo]

:rofl: Paul your a mind reader!

I should have $50 by b-day; only
problem is installation...

After that I can install the card
no problem (installed G4MX 440SE on fam comp) :D

Mobo = motherboard right? :confused: :o

<EDIT>:eek: no way am I giving up
my GeForce!! I'm fanaticly GeForce,
no ATIs in this house....
xcept that really old 128MB RAGE PRO ;)</EDIT.

[Paul]

Originally posted by Leonisknovo
its put in such way--
barely read any of it and half
of it is in chinese/japanese :(

I do see this tho-

"INPUT RATING:
100V - 127V - 3A 60MHZ
200V - 240V - 6A 50MHZ"

:confused:
If you open your computer case (not the power supply case) a label should be on the side of the PS. There you should have a number with "W" after it, 300W for example. Post that number.

[Paul]

I forgot to add, if you get the mobo it might be a little hard to install if you don't know much about hardware installation. I would recommend that you call a few local computer shops to see how much they would install it for if you provided them with a mobo. If they over charge (which they probably do) you might be able to find a friend that knows how to do this type of stuff, its not too complicated.

[Paul]

Originally posted by Leonisknovo


<EDIT>:eek: no way am I giving up
my GeForce!! I'm fanaticly GeForce,
no ATIs in this house....
xcept that really old 128MB RAGE PRO ;)</EDIT.

I would suggest you do some research before some ATI fan-boy shoots you ;). You would actually be amazed at how much faster ATi is than nvidia, at least in the card generation we are looking at.

Look at these benchmarks:

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030416/radeon_9600-07.html

The ATI 9600 beats the nvidia 5200 FX series hands down with almost a 30 FPS gain (this is huge). Trust me on this one, go with ATi over Nvidia at least until Nvidia manages to release something good.

[Leonisknovo]

If they over charge (which they probably do) you might be able to find a friend that knows how to do this type of stuff, its not too complicated.

:eek: not this computer shop!
I went to get a $300 *basic* 1.2GHZ
comp from them and were out.

Saw this HP on shelf $600, mark down
$400 -- store owner slashed to $350
on the spot so I could afford it :D

*PLUS* fact the guy said he'd install
this 120 internal I got coming (for free)
for my old 15GB, means he'll bargin
most likely ;)

<EDIT>PS: can't find the PS label;
will take picture w/ bro's digital
when he gets home and upload</EDIT>

[scoutt]

Originally posted by Leonisknovo
its put in such way--
barely read any of it and half
of it is in chinese/japanese :(

I do see this tho-

"INPUT RATING:
100V - 127V - 3A 60MHZ
200V - 240V - 6A 50MHZ"

:confused:
it should be right below that. and before you buy a mobo make sure it will fit in your case, seeing how you have a small form factor. you might not be able to get one with a AGP. the case won't let it. also, be forwarned if you do this you will void the warrenty on the computer, it will pretty much be a spare if it breaks down. being 5 months old I would say you have at least 7 months left on warranty if not longer.

[Leonisknovo]

Originally posted by scoutt
it should be right below that. and before you buy a mobo make sure it will fit in your case, seeing how you have a small form factor. you might not be able to get one with a AGP. the case won't let it. also, be forwarned if you do this you will void the warrenty on the computer, it will pretty much be a spare if it breaks down. being 5 months old I would say you have at least 7 months left on warranty if not longer.

Can't read past that-- too tightly
fit into the computer case :(

Also I'm asking the computer shop
where I got my computer bout if
they know bout an mobo w/ AGP slot
that'll work on my comp, price, etc.

I need an execuse to visit anyways ;)
need to ask bout their web design
services and leave name/number ;)

[Paul]

Scoutt is absolutely right, I overlooked the fact your computer uses uATX. The following will for sure fit in your case, the problem is that I'm not sure if they have an AGP slot so you might want to ask that before ordering.

http://castle.pricewatch.com/search/search.idq?qc="UATX"*+AND+"845"*&cr=uATX+845

One that I was able to find that for sure has an AGP slot is on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=51004&item=5704151946&rd=1

What is limiting you is the case HP uses, if you wanted to you can get a case for around $30 and have them move everything over for you, however, that is just additional cost adding onto what you are currently wanting to pay to get an AGP slot. Also, I wouldn't worry too much about warrenty. You can always put back all the old parts and you will have your warrenty back as long as you don't break any seals.

[Leonisknovo]

heheh $70?? too spendy for me ;)
I'm waiting to see what comp shop has first :)

[SpencerJay]

sorry to step in from nowhere but ...Save another 50-70 bucks and go with a full size case and MB and power etc....you'll be better off i think..

[Leonisknovo]

possible, I know cases are round
$90 *awsome gamer-style* @ comp shop :)

Hopefully 2morrow (rained yesterday),
I'll be able to make it downtown :D

[Paul]

When you go in to look for a case be sure you ask for one that will support a uATX mother board. I know I've been lecturing you a little too much but I would highly recommend you don't buy a video card until you can get an AGP one. I think the GeFroce 5200 is the fastest card being made for PCI and probably will be the fastest ever as nobody is spending the money to develop fast PCI video cards. The 5200 is a very old video card and I couldn't live with myself if I let someone buy it for the price they want for it. So here is a summery of what I've said you should do. First, you have 2 choices. Buy an uATX mobo with AGP video card which will run you around $90 and then get a AGP video card (I would recommend the 9600 pro for around $70). If you do not want to buy a uATX mobo since they aren't widely supported you can get a new case which will be around $30 and move all the hardware over to that. Then your Mobo will only cost you around $50. Personally I would go with the second choice as it will let you customize your system a little more later on as you won't be limited by the crappy HP case.

[Leonisknovo]

I'm gonna have to try to get
dad to give me $$ for b-day instead :(

Maybe I can swap in my 120GB external
for a nice case and them move stuff
over for free :)

[Leonisknovo]

Hmmm; I was talking to a lady @ church,
who just finished night classes at the
technical school my bro is going 2...

She said that the CPU has to match or
be compatible or something to the motherboard :confused:

Anybody care to translate this 2english? :p

[scoutt]

well yeah. if you get a new motherboard you can't jsu tgo get one. you have to make sure you memory and cpu will fit in the new one. if you get one the same as what you already have then you might be fine. if you get an newer one you might have to get a new cpu and/or memory. so check first.

you will ha veot know what size you cpu is and what size is your memory.

[SpencerJay]

http://www.usedpc.com.au/sockets.htm

memory will be either the old short edo types or the sdram types or the new ddr types. I would bet you have ddr maybe sd.
if you tell us what processor you have we might be able to help more.

[Leonisknovo]

2 GHz Intel processor; though when
click 'Properties' for 'My Computer',
it says 1.99 GHz...

Also its 256MBs of PC2100 DDR RAM;
the RAM and CPU was first thing I asked
when I bought this baby :P

O hey scoutt, like my title? ;)

[SpencerJay]

do you know if the cpu is 533 or 400 mhz bus?

[Leonisknovo]

Originally posted by SpencerJay
do you know if the cpu is 533 or 400 mhz bus?

MY Computer > Right-click Properties >
Hardware > Device Manager > Processor >
Intel Celeron 2.0 GHz...no bus speed, etc.

[SpencerJay]

when your machine starts there should be something like 15x133 or 19x100=1999mhz
or in the bios it should tell you.

or you could download sisoft sandra and it'll tell you
******
i didnt realise it was celeron. it will be 400mhz. now its like you might want to upgrade the cpu as well.

if it was 133 you could get a 533/800 fsb motherboard with dual channel mem and raid bla bla then get a nicer p4 later when they get cheaper.

but with the 400bus cpu your kinda stuck with your options. your going to be buying an old 400/533motherboard. then in a while if you want a new chip then you got to get a new motherboard too.

your going to have to make a choice...