Upgrade PCI to AGP?

[thebigdintx]

I have a Dell Dimension 3000, and was considering upgrading the motherboard in it to the Dimension 4600's motherboard because the 3000 only has PCI slots, and the 4600 has an AGP 8x slot. I'm not going to try any other upgrade board (even though I would like to get PCI-e) because the 4600 is supposed to be an easy swap-out for the 3000, and I can still use my same CPU and RAM. Now, onto my question. Would it be worth it to upgrade from a PCI video card to an AGP one? I don't do any gaming, but wanted to do the upgrade to increase my systems' performance while websurfing graphic intensive pages, webcaming, and doing some minor video editing. I am hoping to do my first build later this year and do the core 2 duo and PCI express thing, but just wanted to upgrade this one to keep around as a second computer for a while. Any thoughts?

Edit: As a side note, I can upgrade the motherboard for about $60-80, then would just have to buy the APG 8x 256MB video card.....so total upgrade maybe about $150 I guess.

 

[Ð88]

are you experiencing performance issues at the moment? I think if you are planning to get a whole new computer in the near future don't put any money into this one.

 

[thebigdintx]

well, video drags a little when i try and watch it on CNET TV and stuff,..especially if i try to view it full screen, and mainly i want my webcaming to have better video smoothness and quality. also, when i try and browse the video store on itunes (and even when viewing some other sites), the page scrolls really slow up and down, and when i browse the videos selections from side to side on their page. even after i build a new one, i want my kids to maybe be able to start using this one for some minor games, and i have tried some games on this one before and they don't play real well.

 

[Raffaz]

I agree with D88, I would keep the money for the new system.

 

[Ð88]

oh ok, I would say yeah for sure spend the $150 on upgrades then you'll have a decent second computer. I thought at first that you wanted a second computer just for the sake of having one. I didn't know you had plans for someone else to use it. AGP will be a lot better than PCI graphics cards.

I agree with D88, I would keep the money for the new system.

lol i guess we disagree now

 

[thebigdintx]

Is there anyone with similar specs (Intel pentium 4 @ 3GHz, 2GB RAM) except with a AGP 8x 256MB card instead of my PCI card out there who can watch some video on CNET (both regularly, and in full screen) and also check out the movie section on the itunes store and let me know if you have any drag or if everything works and looks just fine? I'm curious if the only difference being APG instead of PCI would make a difference in those areas.

Edit: My connection (which would also make a difference i imagine) is fios with the 5mb/s download and 2mb/s upload speed plan)

 

[Rudster8161]

youll probably have to get a new case prefab cases dont take new motherboards well because they are desingned specifically for only a couple of configurations

 

[thebigdintx]

Thanks all...yeah, I'll probably do the upgrade to keep this computer decent. And, as far as a new case goes, the 4600 board is supposed to be a simple swap-out for the 3000 board according to the dell forum, and it's supposed to fit in the 3000 case just fine.