Integrated Graphics or ATI Rage 128 32MB?

[DukeDiablo]

Dear Forum-

A friend of mine just purchased an economy Dell system over the past holiday season. Now he's interested in some gaming. He is currently using the integrated graphics system on his Dell and is not exactly pleased thus far.

I have an OLD ATI Rage 128 32MB card that I thought could be useful for him; however, I wasn't sure if it would actually improve his performance or not. I'm not exactly sure on the system specs he has (I'm guessing it uses 64 megs of system memory for his video) and therefore I didn't know if 32 megs of dedicated video memory would even be that useful over the integrated setup.

Any opinions?

Thanks.

[juicelooser]

I doubt the 32mb card would help much. He probably should just go out and buy a newer graphics card if he's going be doing more gaming.

[RJ]

The Rage 128 is pretty old, but anyway it should be noticeable better than the onboard, though.
If the mainboard support it (I suppose it's an AGP card. Check the voltage) install it and try. That way he can see if the performance gain is as much as he desires. Otherwise he needs to get a new card.

RJ

[doubledragon5]

I would assume if the MB has onboard video then it won't have an AGP slot. Problem is when people buy economy pc's then want to start playing games, they end up having to spend more money to either install a better card or buy a new pc out right.

If the board doesn't have a AGP slot, a cheap updated pci card should do just fine.

[DukeDiablo]

Thanks for the replies...

I haven't checked the "innards" of the system yet to see if it has an AGP slot; I was just hoping for the best.

I do have an old ATI Radeon 7500 64MB PCI card (don't ask) so maybe that could work out better.

Thanks again...maybe next time he'll take my advice and let me put one together for him.

Then again...I tend to break things, haha.

Yall have a good one.

[Force Flow]

I don't think the rage card has 3D support, so in that case, the onboard video would be better.

As for the 7500, it's *probably* better than onboard, but again, we would have to know what he has to make a good comparison.

[RJ]

I don't think the rage card has 3D support, so in that case, the onboard video would be better.

Oh yes, it does. Just not as powerful as today's cards.
I had a Rage 128 card myself. . before the dark times. . before nVidia ;)

It is noticeable better than the Rage Pro which I had before (it was the first 3D card I had), but not as powerful as a GeForce 2 GTS.

Also keep in mind that even though the board has an AGP slot they might not be compatible. You gotta check the supported voltages first, otherwise you can fry something.

RJ

[DukeDiablo]

Thanks again for the information.

I've been checking www.pricewatch.com for some deals. Maybe he'd be better off just taking the plunge this summer on a decent card.

I'm assuming AGP/PCI cards may drop in price with the upcoming PCI Express platform...

[glc]

Duke, if it's a *new* economy Dell, it has Intel Extreme Graphics with no AGP slot. This onboard video is comparable to something like a GF2 MX, and is better than a Rage 128 any day. There really is no point in spending the bucks required to get a PCI card that's a significant upgrade - he's looking at close to 100 bucks. The 7500 you have might be better, but that's only a DirectX 7 card. The only PCI cards that have DirectX 9 support are Nvidia FX5200-based, and the DX9 support is pretty bad. There are no ATI PCI cards stronger than a 9200 yet, and that's only a DX 8.1 card.

I run into this frequently - people buy the cheapest computer they can find, then want to game with it. It's just not feasible with most cheapies - they invariably are micro-ATX with onboard everything and no AGP slot. Had a customer a couple years ago that wanted a computer for his business, so we did a Celeron 950 on a micro Intel i815 board. It ran his business apps very well. He then sold the business and took the computer home - and guess what - he wanted to game with it. At the time the strongest PCI card was a GF4 MX420, and it was 95 bucks. We stuck one in, and he's sorta happy, but wants and needs a lot more horsepower - both video and processor wise.

[DukeDiablo]

Thanks GLC-

I agree with your experience on budget systems. They are a great value for Internet and Office; however, they just aren't produced for quality gaming.

The game he loves (as I do) is Nascar Racing 2003 Season. Like nearly any other game, you can turn down effects. I suppose it's not all that graphics intensive to begin with either. Therefore, I'm hoping he can get some use out of the Radeon 7500.

As a side note...
I can't wait until my finances allow me to remove the massive bottleneck on my system! (Or maybe I'll just set fire to it)

Thanks again for the respones and yall have a great weekend.

Oh and....is "Intel Extreme Graphics" an oxymoron?

[glc]

I can't find a direct comparison, but the 7500 AGP is in the GF2 Ti/Pro class, the PCI version will be quite a bit slower. The Intel Extreme Graphics is more like an entry level GF2 MX, so I don't think there is going to be much of an improvement, and the onboard will have better DX9 support.

[DukeDiablo]

Thanks GLC-

I'll just bring my fifteen pound sledge with me next time I visit my buddy...haha.