PCI vs. AGP Cards

[JoeyPasta]

Sorry if I repeat a previous question, I am a newbie. How much better is an AGP video card than a PCI video card?

[raydioactive]

In terms of performance, absolutely no difference at all.

[JoeyPasta]

Thank You guys very much for your replies! I wonder why they bothered creating and AGP slot. It seems like a gimmick. I am asking this because my employer is offering to share the cost of a new PC with us. We can only buy from Dell. They have 2 systems we can choose from. A P3 700 with an TNT2 32 mg video card on 810E chipset for $550.00 + 12.00 a month for 3 yrs.; or a P3 667 on an 810E chipset, but with 4mb on board video for 100.00$ + 12.00$ mo. for three years. I think I am going to go with the P3 667 because of the 133 FSB, and either add my own PCI vid. card if I can disable the onboard. If I can't I'll just buy a new mobo.



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A Stupid Question is one that is not asked.

[HAL9000]

AGP begins to shine over PCI at higher resolutions. If you're just running at 640x480 or even 800x600, you will not notice any difference. Even at 1024x768, the difference is marginal, above that the AGP pulls ahead.

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If it ain't broke, you're not pushing hard enough!

[theENiGMA]

This is the first time I've ever heard it said that there was not a worthwhile difference between PCI and AGP. AGP's advantage is that it has direct access to system memory on a 66Mhz bus. PCI runs at 33. PCI is a bottleneck for 3Dgames. You have so many palets being written to the memory so quickly, that high end games will run significantly slower on a PCI card. I have two ATI xpert 98 cards. One in PCI, and the other is AGP, and there is a very noticable difference in performance on the same system. AGP is not a gimick! If you are into gaming at all I highly recommend the AGP port.
-KEiTH

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Well, I'm off to go look for myself. If I should get back before I return, tell myself to wait for me.

[This message has been edited by theENiGMA (edited 06-29-2000).]

[HAL9000]

That's where the higher res comes in. At low resoulutions, there is no real gain. I can play on 2 identical machines with the exception of PCI and AGP video cards and not notice any gain between the two. When resoulutions go 1024 x 768 and higher, AGP becomes the clear winner as the PCI falls behind. Then with 2x AGP and 4x, the 4x really shines on the extremes of higher resoultions.

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If it ain't broke, you're not pushing hard enough!

[Widowmaker327]

as far as im concerned pci vid cards are justified in their existence by the pci all in wonder 128. great to have, though gamers will like to keep their original equip if it's better for gaming