Author Topic: video card question (Read 463 times)

medicboy · « **on:** September 05, 2004, 03:13:59 PM »

Ok, don't laugh but I need some advice. I currently have a pos 64mb G-force 4 mx 420 card and would like to up grade. I don't think this card is even 8x agp rated, can I put an 8x agp card in the agp slot? and would it work? The mother board is a Via, don't know the modle #, can't find it anyware, and I have a 1.7gh p4 processer. COmputer was built about 2 1/2 yars ago. Can't get a new puter for 2 years (till I am done with school). Sny help would be nice, thanks.

Nilsen · « **Reply #1 on:** September 05, 2004, 03:18:12 PM »

what is your mobo rated as? 2x 4x or 8x?

what kind of graph card you have now doesnt matter... its the mobo that decides

medicboy · « **Reply #2 on:** September 05, 2004, 03:19:31 PM »

How do I find that out???

medicboy · « **Reply #3 on:** September 05, 2004, 03:21:17 PM »

Have to go to work, will check back tomarrow. Say it was only rated for 4x, would a newer 8x still work or am I screweddd??

Roscoroo · « **Reply #4 on:** September 05, 2004, 03:29:24 PM »

an 8x card will work on a 4x mainboard

i put a powercolour ati radeon 9550 256mb in my old 1.3 ghz amd and preloaded the textures (@256) into the vc memory and it plays really nice . I was really suprised how much it woke up all my games after running that suped up gf2 card for all those years.

theres only about a 10fps difference between that card/pc and the 9600pro in my other pc.

rabbidrabbit · « **Reply #5 on:** September 05, 2004, 06:40:40 PM »

as long as its agp then the card will be backwards compatible... though you might want to consider gutting the machine and replacing the mb/cpu/ram for less than 300 bucks then pick a decent vid card

Saintaw · « **Reply #6 on:** September 06, 2004, 12:52:48 AM »

MB, try this to check out what's in your computer:

http://www.lavalys.com/products.php?lang=en

Chortle · « **Reply #7 on:** September 06, 2004, 06:39:10 AM »

If that doesn't help and you dont want to open it up, check out http://www.cpuid.com/. Their utility should tell you what make and model your motherboard is and what AGP rate it supports. As others have said here though, they are backward compatible.

Personally, I like to rip the case off and have a good poke about. I know its a fast moving market and technology changes constantly but just trying to confirm what the hell it is inside the box is way too hard IMO.

medicboy · « **Reply #8 on:** September 07, 2004, 11:37:39 PM »

Thanks guys, Ill try these programs. I have had the side off many times looking. I can't find anything other than the Via name stamped on the mother board. I am getting a new puter in 2 years or less, so just want a little better performance out of this one.

medicboy · « **Reply #9 on:** September 07, 2004, 11:45:38 PM »

Just ran lavalays, only supports up to 4x, damm. SO what will be the affect of I put an 8x card in a 4x slot, say a nvidia 5700 or ati 9600. Will it be better than the mx420 nvidia????

Roscoroo · « **Reply #10 on:** September 08, 2004, 12:24:36 AM »

the 5600 or 9550 /9600 pro will wake it up quite abit . and there still backwards compatable .(will work on 4x mb's)

for compleate specs on your pc there ussually in the dxdiag file also .

medicboy · « **Reply #11 on:** September 09, 2004, 10:57:41 PM »

thanks Roscoroo.

Sixpence · « **Reply #12 on:** September 10, 2004, 12:22:38 AM »

If you go radeon, I highly recommend the All In Wonder. It is so nice to watch TV on my PC(it does alot more). I can set up the TV as my desktop, I think it is great. All you do is plug your cable in. I have the 9800, but you can get the 9600 all in wonder alot cheaper, not sure if it offers the same all in wonder features though, skuzzy might know more.