Video card for Deskpro

[sfd0124]

I have a PIII 650 Compaq Deskpro that I got cheap as a family 2nd computer. It isn't really a gaming machine, but not being able to leave anything alone for long I can't help but start thinking of ways to upgrade. It has a funky looking ATI rage pro AGP card that slants diagonal with a small slot on the back of the case just the size of the monitor socket. Any ideas about modding the case to fit a non-proprietary AGP card? Is a PCI graphics card close in to performance to the AGP? Thanks

[Furius92]

Welcome to the PCMech forums,

Compared to a 4x AGP card, which is now standard, theoretically it would perform 1/8 of the amount, I think. I got this by using the fact that the AGP bus is 66MHz, compared to the 33MHz of the PCI bus, and the fact that there is no 4x, or 2x, PCI. So, 4 x 2 = AGP card 8 times as fast. In reality, since the AGP bus isn't the bottleneck, it would perform... not totally sure, but not as well.

Also take into consideration there aren't many new PCI video cards. You'll be looking at a Radeon 7000 or a PNY Geforce 4 MX420 (I just looked at Newegg real fast). Not exactly powerful cards, considering the Geforce 4 MX420 has as much memory bandwith as a Geforce 2 MX 400.

I don't totally understand what you said, is the AGP slot diagonal, or is the connector diagonal or what's going on there? Any way you could get a digital camera and take a picture, or scan in a regular photo for us?

[crowdaddy00]

i have a deskpro pentium III 500 and it has they same AGP slot as you. you can just unscrew the plate on the old AGP card and screw it on the new AGP card. Just make sure the AGP card u get doesn't have any other plugs on the back of it except the monitor one. I believe the AGP bus is 2x not 4x. I hope that helps

[sfd0124]

Thanks for the replys. A normal video card is rectangular, this card is sort of triangle shaped with the monitor socket on the "point" of one end. I guess my question is really would a PCI card provide decent performance. The card in question is 8mb AGP.Thanks

[Alaron]

PCI video cards provide decent performance. AGP is much better though. If you are looking for a new card, get an AGP. If you dont do much gaming a Radeon 7500 would do the job.

If you want PCI, go with a Radeon 7000 or a Geforce 4 MX. Those are the two best PCI video cards right now.

Either option will be fine for a non-game computer.

HTH