So am I completely screwed??

I am looking to upgrade to a reltaively up-to-date graphics card. Went into a PC shop on Sat and fella in there wasn't optimistic about me gettnig owt recent with only a PCI slot.

Is this true? Can any forum techies offer any words of wisdom on a) My options and b) Where I might get a decent PCI compatible graphics card?

Any help would be greatly appeciated

Cheers

Saifa

If yo dont have an AGP slot, then PCI is your only option.

Here (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=8570050648&action=c2hvd3N1YmNhdGVnb3J5X3BhZ2U=&subcat_uid=672) are loads of PCI cards, and they are pretty cheap.

This (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=8570050632&action=c2VsZWN0X3Byb2R1Y3Rfb3ZlcnZpZXc=&product_uid=90380) is probably the best value for money.

Joel

If you don't have a AGP slot, your computer must be seriously old :gag: I would suggest upgrading your motherboard as well.

Talking about AGP, wasn't there talk a while ago about it going out of fashion and using PCI-X? Or is that something else, I am well out of the computer technology game nowadays, my method if it ain't slow, doesn't fall over don't upgrade it. :D

If you don't have a AGP slot, your computer must be seriously old I would suggest upgrading your motherboard as well.

Is rubbish! It should be true but is not..

Dell dimension 3000 machines take 3.4ghz P4 and DDR400 RAM and they don't have AGP slots.

Check out Ebuyer and get the most expensive PCI card, it wont be great but better than nothing. Otherwise get a new system board. Only concern is that if you have bought a branded PC like Dell or Asus or IBM then you may find the new board will not fit.

Would you believe neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek it is in fact a dell dimension i have.

Do you do tea leaves an all mate? :D

Loads of people bought them becasue they are high spec and cheap.. Tthen they find out it does not have an AGP slot and the FDD is not standard and the PSU is about 80W and not a standard size etc etc!

Best option, buy a cheap case, 350w PSU, motherboard and graphics card, then transfer everything accross, then flog the Dell M/B on ebay!

The Dell is nice and quiet tho!

Originally posted by Saifa
Would you believe neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek it is in fact a dell dimension i have.

Do you do tea leaves an all mate? :D Prolly not, but we're used to seeing rubbish dell PCs beeing sold ;)

Originally posted by neeeeeeeeeek
Is rubbish! It should be true but is not..

Dell dimension 3000 machines take 3.4ghz P4 and DDR400 RAM and they don't have AGP slots.

Check out Ebuyer and get the most expensive PCI card, it wont be great but better than nothing. Otherwise get a new system board. Only concern is that if you have bought a branded PC like Dell or Asus or IBM then you may find the new board will not fit.


How odd :suspect: So does it just not have AGP, or is it new and has PCI-X or doesn't have an AGP slot because it has onboard AGP?

No AGP skatiechik because it has on board graphics. It is assumed that the people who buy them don't know much about computers and / or will not want to go messing about inside. If someone is going to get one and upgrade it then they will probably be aware enough to check the spec before buying and get something else.

They are great machines for the price, just no good for gaming.

Some cards that are PCI that will fit.


GeForce FX 5500 128MB DDR PCI TV-Out Retail Box

Aopen Aeolus Fx5200-v128 Pci/pci 128mb Ddr Tv-out - Retail

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=90380

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=73760

Yeah i do kinda wished I'd of got one custom made now.

However, it does now have a 3g P4 and 1meg of RAM, along with an 80 gig HD so IF i can get a decent PCI graphics card I reckon Ill be happy for the time being.

Runs World of Warcraft OK and to be fair thats about all ive been doing on it for the last 3 weeks since i bought the online crack cocaine substitute that it is (one more quest and Im loggin off!!! one more quest and Im loggin off!!!Repeat for 6 hrs :D )

But cheers for the suggestions guys will certainly look at getting one from EBuyer

:thumbsup:

Originally posted by Skatiechik
How odd :suspect: So does it just not have AGP, or is it new and has PCI-X or doesn't have an AGP slot because it has onboard AGP? Don't go getting confused with PCI-X - that's a server technology (and it's backwards compatible with PCI).

The replacement for AGP and PCI is PCI Express, which is usually shortened to PCIe or PCI-E, and it's not backwards compatible with PCI or AGP

Dell, computers designed by accountants.

Originally posted by Skatiechik
If you don't have a AGP slot, your computer must be seriously old :gag: I would suggest upgrading your motherboard as well.

T

HUH? wasnt agp slots around BEFORE pcis?

Originally posted by melthebell
HUH? wasnt agp slots around BEFORE pcis?

nope, PCI was out before AGP, long before... and before PCI you had the lovely ISA :D

anyways, if I was you I would check to make sure your motherboard even allows you to swap to a PCI graphics card else you'll just be wasting your money...

usually if they dont have an AGP port and its something like a Dell or Compaq you probably can't upgrade its graphics...

Originally posted by squirrelz
Don't go getting confused with PCI-X - that's a server technology (and it's backwards compatible with PCI).

The replacement for AGP and PCI is PCI Express, which is usually shortened to PCIe or PCI-E, and it's not backwards compatible with PCI or AGP

Cheers told you it was a long time since I had looked at new equipment, ;)

Originally posted by xafier
nope, PCI was out before AGP, long before... and before PCI you had the lovely ISA :D

Don't forget VLB, VESA local bus - that was an improvement over ISA graphics for the old 486 PCs