REQ: Advice choosing a video card, please.

[Kilgore Trout]

I'm interested in getting the best video card for 3D performance that
my motherboard will support, and I'm having some difficulty figuring
out what the best choice would be on my own, because there are just so
many products available. My mobo supports AGP 4X. It's an Intel
D845PESV.

If there are cards available that would *work* in 4X mode, but are
built to perform to the 8X standard, I'd consider them, too, so that I
might not have to upgrade the video card the next time I do a mobo
upgrade. Thing is, I heard that some mobos don't support 128 MB video
cards, etc., etc., and I can't find information about this. Intel
doesn't have it on its site.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

M

 

[Cuzman]

" My mobo supports AGP 4X. It's an Intel D845PESV. "

AGP8x is backwards-compatible with AGP4x slots. You won't be missing-out on
any noticeable performance increase by running an AGP8x card in an AGP4x
slot.


" If there are cards available that would *work* in 4X mode, but are built
to perform to the 8X standard, I'd consider them, too... "

You can choose from the entire AGP8x range then.


" I heard that some mobos don't support 128 MB video cards, etc., etc., and
I can't find information about this. Intel doesn't have it on its site. "

Someone's been telling you porkies. Your board will support any AGP8x card
with any amount of memory.

For around $200, the 128MB Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro seems to be the best buy
around at present. In ATI's range, it's second-best only to the 9800 XT,
which costs nearly twice as much for less than 10% extra performance. The
9800 Pro has a lot of life left in it, no matter what the next range of
cards will be able to do.