AGP versus PCI-E Graphics cards.

[Sylvain VAN DER WALDE]

Hello all.

What _practical_ advantages will I gain if I replace my AGP card with a
PCI-E one?
I can do that with my Asrock motherboard (775-MST).
Also, what PCI-E card would you recommend to replace my AGP NVIDIA GeForce
6600 card. I don't want the best available one, but one giving distinctly
better performance at a reasonable price.
I don't play games; so would this give me better 2D graphics performance, or
would you recommend that I keep my AGP card? As I am an "old boy", this will
probably be my last homebuilt computer (one of 3).
BTW, the CPU is an Intel Core 2 Duo E6420, 2.13 Ghz. one; and I will be
using 2 Gb of DDR2 667 RAM (I'm using 1Gb of DDR2 667 RAM right now).

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Sylvain (based in UK).

 

[Brian Cryer]

Hello all.

What _practical_ advantages will I gain if I replace my AGP card with a
PCI-E one?
I can do that with my Asrock motherboard (775-MST).
Also, what PCI-E card would you recommend to replace my AGP NVIDIA GeForce
6600 card. I don't want the best available one, but one giving distinctly
better performance at a reasonable price.
I don't play games; so would this give me better 2D graphics performance,
or would you recommend that I keep my AGP card? As I am an "old boy", this
will probably be my last homebuilt computer (one of 3).
BTW, the CPU is an Intel Core 2 Duo E6420, 2.13 Ghz. one; and I will be
using 2 Gb of DDR2 667 RAM (I'm using 1Gb of DDR2 667 RAM right now).

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Sylvain (based in UK).

I'm not an expert in graphics cards, but in my opinion ... if you are not
playing games then you are unlikely to notice any real difference between
your current AGP card and any modern PCI-E one. So I'd recommend you keep
your AGP one.

There may be some 2D graphics applications that would benefit from a faster
graphics card, but I'd exercise healthy scepticism.

 

[kony]

Hello all.

What _practical_ advantages will I gain if I replace my AGP card with a
PCI-E one?

Depends on which card you have and which you'd get. Maybe
new features, maybe faster gaming.

I can do that with my Asrock motherboard (775-MST).
Also, what PCI-E card would you recommend to replace my AGP NVIDIA GeForce
6600 card.

GT or non-GT and what's the budget? What PSU do you have
(make/model/wattage/12V current rating)? I ask the latter
because many card upgrades could require a new PSU if yours
is borderline.

I don't want the best available one, but one giving distinctly
better performance at a reasonable price.
I don't play games; so would this give me better 2D graphics performance,

Oh, no you won't get any benefit at all then, except many
current generation ATI or nVidia have better hardware
decoding for playing videos, but unless those videos are
very high resolution your CPU can handle that acceptibly.

or
would you recommend that I keep my AGP card? As I am an "old boy", this will
probably be my last homebuilt computer (one of 3).

Buy a new card if you need new features. You express no
need your present card doesn't meet, so it seems there is no
reason to change it.

BTW, the CPU is an Intel Core 2 Duo E6420, 2.13 Ghz. one; and I will be
using 2 Gb of DDR2 667 RAM (I'm using 1Gb of DDR2 667 RAM right now).

Agreed, upping the memory would be the next improvement,
maybe adding a 2nd HDD if you only have one at present to
divide concurrent I/O between the two.

 

[Sylvain VAN DER WALDE]

Depends on which card you have and which you'd get. Maybe
new features, maybe faster gaming.



GT or non-GT and what's the budget? What PSU do you have
(make/model/wattage/12V current rating)? I ask the latter
because many card upgrades could require a new PSU if yours
is borderline.

Antec 450 W power supply (it's a good one). I'm using one 80 Gb HD drive,
two optical drives, a PCI audio card, a PCI modem, and 4 connected USB
ports.

Oh, no you won't get any benefit at all then, except many
current generation ATI or nVidia have better hardware
decoding for playing videos, but unless those videos are
very high resolution your CPU can handle that acceptibly.


Buy a new card if you need new features. You express no
need your present card doesn't meet, so it seems there is no
reason to change it.


Agreed, upping the memory would be the next improvement,
maybe adding a 2nd HDD if you only have one at present to
divide concurrent I/O between the two.

Thanks to you and Brian for your input.

Sylvain.

 

[GT]

Hello all.

What _practical_ advantages will I gain if I replace my AGP card with a
PCI-E one?
I can do that with my Asrock motherboard (775-MST).
Also, what PCI-E card would you recommend to replace my AGP NVIDIA GeForce
6600 card. I don't want the best available one, but one giving distinctly
better performance at a reasonable price.
I don't play games; so would this give me better 2D graphics performance,
or would you recommend that I keep my AGP card? As I am an "old boy", this
will probably be my last homebuilt computer (one of 3).
BTW, the CPU is an Intel Core 2 Duo E6420, 2.13 Ghz. one; and I will be
using 2 Gb of DDR2 667 RAM (I'm using 1Gb of DDR2 667 RAM right now).

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Sylvain (based in UK).

If you don't play games, then you aren't really using the power of your 6600
card right now and definitely won't gain anything by upgrading. Also, the
6600 would play most games on the market now anyway. You might have to turn
the settings down to 1024x768 or even 800x600 for the latest, but I don't
think that matters to you. I haven't looked up your motherboard - does it
have on-board graphics, because that would be more than capable in Windows
XP. I would tend to stick with th 6600 for Vista if you are heading that
way, so you can enjoy all the 3d effects it offers.

Spend the money on more RAM, hard disk etc.

 

[GT]

Hello all.

What _practical_ advantages will I gain if I replace my AGP card with a
PCI-E one?
I can do that with my Asrock motherboard (775-MST).
Also, what PCI-E card would you recommend to replace my AGP NVIDIA GeForce
6600 card. I don't want the best available one, but one giving distinctly
better performance at a reasonable price.
I don't play games; so would this give me better 2D graphics performance,
or would you recommend that I keep my AGP card? As I am an "old boy", this
will probably be my last homebuilt computer (one of 3).
BTW, the CPU is an Intel Core 2 Duo E6420, 2.13 Ghz. one; and I will be
using 2 Gb of DDR2 667 RAM (I'm using 1Gb of DDR2 667 RAM right now).

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Just thought of a practical advantage - you could upgrade to a passively
cooled graphics card and reduce noise and power requirement. I have a MSI
7600GS, which has just a heatsink (no fan). So long as the case is cool
enough, you can get a pretty quiet system this way.

 

[kony]

If you don't play games, then you aren't really using the power of your 6600
card right now and definitely won't gain anything by upgrading. Also, the
6600 would play most games on the market now anyway. You might have to turn
the settings down to 1024x768 or even 800x600 for the latest, but I don't
think that matters to you.

The plain vanilla, not GT 6600, is not so great at modern
games. Maybe DX7 era games are ok at 1024x768 with eyecandy
turned off.

 

[kony]

Just thought of a practical advantage - you could upgrade to a passively
cooled graphics card and reduce noise and power requirement. I have a MSI
7600GS, which has just a heatsink (no fan). So long as the case is cool
enough, you can get a pretty quiet system this way.

A plain vanilla 6600 isn't going to use much if any more
power than 7600GS. Even if it did, without any gaming use,
OP could use Coolbits/etc to downclock the card if further
heat reduction is desired. Then again, some 6600 cards
already had passive cooling and an appropriately lower
clockrate to facilitate that.

 

[Sylvain VAN DER WALDE]

A plain vanilla 6600 isn't going to use much if any more
power than 7600GS. Even if it did, without any gaming use,
OP could use Coolbits/etc to downclock the card if further
heat reduction is desired. Then again, some 6600 cards
already had passive cooling and an appropriately lower
clockrate to facilitate that.

Once again, thanks to all.
I will keep my AGP card; you've made it quite clear that I won't need
anything else.

Sylvain.