Originally posted by Stiletto:
This question is from one of my squaddies:
My computer has an "ATI Rage Pro LT AGP" video card. I want to upgrade. Here's the problem: When recently adding ram I noticed that my "AGP" video card is on the motherboard. I have no AGP slot. Can I upgrade Vid cards? If so, how?
Thanks for any help -
Stiletto 
Stiletto,
I have a Compaq, probably very similar to your squad mate's. I probably know your suqad mate, and you know me from Air Warrior. Your squad mate can put a Voodoo 4 4500 PCI 32MB card in it, and it will work. I got a pretty decent increase in FPS. What I did was go from a 380K6-2 to a 550K6-2, and went up to 384MB of RAM, and added the video card. Cost was under $150. It will do fine, if you simply cannot afford to build a new computer. If you need help, PM me and we'll get something going.
By the way, you can also add video memory to some Compaq boxes with ATI graphics. It may indeed be that the ATI with 16MB of memory at 2X AGP will outperform a 32MB PCI card, for 1/3 the cost, but I don't know.
The problem with the Compaq is that you cannot change the motherboard in most of them, since the case will often only accept a proprietary motherboard, and not a standard form factor like a baby AT or an ATX. Worse yet, the Compaq motherboards stink, with little or no cache, and a crappy bios you cannot work with.
The lesson I learned from all of that was what I already knew, NEVER buy, always BUILD. YES, you can. It ain't all that hard. I'll be building mine from now on.
Renegade Savage