I need some recommendations...

[DJFonti]

Hello all, I'm new to this board and was wondering if you could help me. I am pretty far from a technical wizard, so I was hoping you could recommend some graphics cards for me. I've got a fairly decent system (AMD athlon 2000, 384mb RAM, probably going to go up to 512) and the expansion slot reads as, according to the manual, 'AGP slot, (2.0 and 4x mode)'. I don't really know what that last bit means, I was told I won't be able to get a good card with it. I want a 256mb one, fairly cheap (probably about £30 [$60]) on ebay. Has anyone got any recommendations, or are my choices limited? Thanks for any help....

 

[sanka]

The AGP part means your comp has an AGP slot for video cards. If you do buy one, make sure it is AGP. You aren't going to upgrade a ton with only 30 bucks, but you could get an alright graphics card (I don't know what your current one is).

Something like this will do: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/nVidia-GeForc...7QQihZ017QQcategoryZ67864QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[EcLiPsE]

Im not really great on video cards but this looks like a fairly good deal...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/256MB-nVidia-...2QQihZ004QQcategoryZ67864QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[DJFonti]

Well my current one is ancient (16mb, voodoo banshee). Thanks for the reply, the one in the link is exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for, I only asked because I mentioned the aforementioned slot type on another forum and was told I wouldn't find much. I basically want something affordable, that will allow me to play modern games, as the minimum stated is usually 64-128mb, which I'm currently way short of. However, the one you linked says something about PCI Express technology, doesn't that mean I need that type of slot for it to work? Why is it mentioned if it is an AGP card? Thanks again, and any more recommendations are welcome from anyone.

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Hello all, I'm new to this board and was wondering if you could help me. I am pretty far from a technical wizard, so I was hoping you could recommend some graphics cards for me. I've got a fairly decent system (AMD athlon 2000, 384mb RAM, probably going to go up to 512) and the expansion slot reads as, according to the manual, 'AGP slot, (2.0 and 4x mode)'. I don't really know what that last bit means, I was told I won't be able to get a good card with it. I want a 256mb one, fairly cheap (probably about £30 [$60]) on ebay. Has anyone got any recommendations, or are my choices limited? Thanks for any help....

Lol, looks like you may already have 512MB but your integrated video is using up 128megs of it.

Looks like you need an AGP compatible video card. You should be able to use an 8x AGP card, but it will bump it down to 4x automatically.

Are you sure you really don't want to spend that much on a video card? How about this one?

CHAINTECH SA5200-256 GeForce FX5200 256MB 128-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814145083

I have the exact same one before. I'm surprised they're still selling it. It works great and I loved it at the time.

 

[DJFonti]

Looks like you need an AGP compatible video card. You should be able to use an 8x AGP card, but it will bump it down to 4x automatically.

Thanks, I was particularly confused by this, as I read that using a 8x on a 4x board might mess the card up. The one you linked looks good as well, and 50 dollars is about £25 in england, so I could afford it. I'm going to ask a really stupid question now, but given that it is from an American site, will there be any problems installing it on a system made in England?

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Nope, there shouldn't be a problem. They should all be compatible no matter where you are in the world. PC is very standardized all over. I have to point out that the site I linked doesn't ship to England though. I didn't know you were from there until you mentioned it.

 

[DJFonti]

Oh well, I'll look for it elsewhere. Thanks for the recommendations though...

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Your welcome. I've always recommended that Chaintech video card for people on a budget or for the people that just want the basics. It's a pretty card too for the price. Work horse.