I have an A7V333 Rev 1.01 and currently have an Asus V8170 (MX440)
video card.
Can anyone confirm that what I've read is accurate, that all newer AGP
cards will run at lower AGP rates. That is an 8x card will run on a
2x board (such as mine). I understand that obviously it won't run at
8x speeds but still I would benefit from the other features, wouldn't
I?
Also, are there any recommendations for a replacement card?
Cheers
Anthony
PS - I know I should be looking into replacing the mobo, processor and
memory too but finances are... stretched
Buying a more recent video card does a couple of things. There
is hardware support for later DirectX features (T&L, programmable
shaders), and there are higher clocks used for GPU core and
video memory chips.
The later DirectX or OpenGL features would allow more recent
games to run, as some games check for certain hardware features.
So, that would be a benefit.
But, from a performance perspective, if your CPU/memory subsystems
are not in the same class as the video card, what you'll find
is only a small improvement in frame rates, compared to what
you've got currently. Look at the grey bars on this chart,
as they show how a slow CPU prevents the full potential of an
expensive graphics card from being reached. In this example,
anything more powerful than a Radeon 8500, tends to be a
waste when used with a slow processor.
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030120/vgacharts-04.html
Because we are in a transition from AGP to PCI Express, what you
should be thinking about, is what kind of motherboard you'll have
next. If you suspect that you'll be upgrading your motherboard
and processor a year from now, then there will be a lot more
PCI Express product out there, so you'd want a PCI Express video
card at that point in time. Buying a high end AGP video card
now makes sense, if you were combining it with an Athlon64 and
a motherboard with an AGP slot.
If this was my choice to make, I would hold off until the
savings account has enough for a more complete upgrade.
Otherwise, you could end up buying some dead end hardware,
and not really being that much further ahead.
Because the graphics card companies charge more than they
should for their product, it is up to us as consumers, to
punish them by only upgrading when it makes sense. Buying
extra interim graphics cards is not the best use of your
money.
If you still want to upgrade, there are four or five
comparison articles on Tomshardware in the graphics section,
and they compare the performance of various models of video
cards. Using one of those charts, and visiting the video
card section of Newegg.com, you should be able to construct
a nice price/performance curve for yourself. That will make
it easier to identify a card that will give you the most
performance per dollar spent.
There are some links here, including this review itself:
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041004/vga_charts-13.html
Just my opinion,
Paul
