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I just lost a video card in an AMD64 machine that I'm about to install Fedora on. What recomendations do you have for a video card in the $250-350 range? Should I consider PCI or only AGP? The computer I'm working with is a 1-year-old HP with 250W power supply.
OK, here's a dumb question: what's the deal with PCI express? When did it start coming on motherboards?
Thanks
If it's an HP you may not have a choice. Some HPs don't come with AGP slots, only regular PCI. This will significantly cut down the market of available cards for you and the performance will be poor at best for anything 3D.Quote:
Originally Posted by groovygroundhog
If you have a choice, always choose AGP over regular PCI. It's much faster and there are much more cards available these days in AGP.
Several years ago. Now it's harder to find a strictly AGP board than a PCIexpress one. The basic idea behind PCIexpress is that it's a significantly faster bus than AGP and regular PCI, thus it's better for video cards. It comes in several sizes:Quote:
OK, here's a dumb question: what's the deal with PCI express? When did it start coming on motherboards?
x16 - Largest plug, fastest data rate
x1/x4/x8 - smaller plugs, smaller data rates, useful for ethernet or sound cards
For more information on how PCIexpress works, see this link:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/pci-express.htm
As far as recommendations, I'm fond of the Geforce 6800/6600 GT cards which are around your price range. The 7800s are out now too but I'm not sure about their pricing schemes.
with that powersupply you might be somewhat limited. I believe that with today's standard a minimum of 400w and recommended of 450-500w. If you have pci-express go with that and get a new powersupply. If you don't have pci-express go with agp. If you don't have agp then you won't have a choice and will have to go with a regular pci card. If you only have a pci or agp card I wouldn't spend more then 150$ and then save your money for a new system. Specifically a mobo with socket 939 (or equivalent intel compatible board) and a pci-express slot hefty powersupply and then invest in a 7800/7900 if you want nvidia. Or something like the x1800/1900 if you want ati.
of course in a year or so these cards will be outdated (or at least not top of the line) but if its that long before you upgrade you can reevaluate at that point.
of course i suggest checking out www.newegg.com for your computer supplies.