motherboard/video card advice sought

In My Humble Opinion
1

A while ago I posted a thread asking what kind of video card to get. I was gonna go with the Geforce 6600 GT that was recommended, but then I called Dell and they told me that the motherboard my computer has would only support a PCI card, NOT PCI express. My question now is, how bad is this? I have the impression that PCI is very obsolete, and I feel like Dell sold me a lemon. Am I overreacting?

Are there any decent PCI video cards that will stand up to today’s and tomorrow’s games? If not, should I consider changing motherboards, and if so, what should I look for in a motherboard?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

2

ATI are currently modifying most of their more recent graphics cards, such as the X800 series so that they can operate on PCI.

However, it has to be said that since NVIDIA started production on chipsets supporting the AMD 939 processors in PCI Express, the take up of PCI-E will probably increase significantly.

There are plenty of PCI/AGP motherboards about, but it depends upon how long you want to run the board for, what you want it to do, if you plan upon uprading components attatched to it, and very importanly, what CPU you intend to use.

Leadtek do a AGP 6600GT card that would go in your board, in fact most NVIDIA cards have a PCI/AGP version and also a PCI express version due to them using a bridge chip.

3

But does your board support AGP? There are plenty of choices for a 6600 GT card for AGP interfaces. Most of them AGP 8x though… Do you have the model of the Dell you’re using? That would give some of us an idea of what you can get, with what you have.

4

Nope. Strictly PCI. When I bought the computer, I didn’t even consider that it might have this problem. Lesson learned I guess.

5

Oh an as for the model of computer, its a Dell Dimension 3000. P4 3 ghz.

6

Open your case and look for a brown connector(as opposed to the white PCI slots). A computer that modern? No way in hell it doesn’t have a AGP slot.

7

I’ve just had a look at the specifications and it doesn’t appear to have an AGP slot. This is very bad news, but all is not lost. Apparently you can get a PCI Geforce FX5500.

This roundup of PCI graphics cards is a little out of date but should help.

How recently did you buy your computer? If it’s quite recently, you might try asking Dell if they’ll allow you to exchange it for one more suitable for your needs

8

I got the computer in December. I don’t think I can exchange it, but what can you guys tell me about replacing the motherboard with a more modern one? What does the motherboard do (in layman’s terms)? How about something like this:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=323275-241583

Is that a good deal? Or should I just go with the PCI card.

Thanks for the advice.

9

IIRC Dell use special power supplies. They might sell you a new Dell motherboard. Exactly what games do you wish to play?

10

hrm… I don’t think thats true anymore…but I haven’t opened a dell in this past year or so.

11

In particular I want to play Half life 2, but also in general I’d like to be able to play other future games at a decent performance.

12

One thing nobody’s answered yet is what I should look for in a mother board? I’ve never bought one before, what are the qualities I should look for in one?

13

I reckon you’re looking at a new motherboard and case BTW - you’ll be able to move everything else over.

Pretty much any motherboard that supports your CPU should be ok - it will support the same memory. Abit and Asus are two good manufacturers. One thing to look for on PCI Express motherboards is SLI capability, so you can add a second graphics card later - as long as you’re using nVidia cards.