How long will my system be good for?

[JBaymore]

Interestingly enough, while I was reinstalling the network I noticed the AGP is free and the GF4 is on the one I don't know the name of( )

Birdman,

Not sure if you are saying that your existing video is PCI or if it is a "built in"....... but ........ if it is PCI........... woah!  Most ANY new video card using agp will likely give you quite a performance boost.  They don;t call it ACCELERATED graphics port for nothing  ;).

best,

.....................john

[bm]

Thats what's strange, its not in the AGP slot, or a PCI slot, but in a slightly larger than PCI one I think. Ill see if I can find the name of the 'slot'. I don't no where I can find out...... (don't think the PC came with instructions )
Im pretty sure its not built in. Just seems strange there's an AGP slot with no graphics card in it!

[bm]

Acually I think it probably on the AGP, there is a smaller one which I think is, according to the manual could be a 'CNR' slot - dont even know wht it is....
I was looking through the manual and it said 'AGP 4X mode slote'. Does that mean that these new graphics cards that say 8x wont even work?

[Daz]

Why "upgrade" to a 3D card thats already obsolete

yeah but the  xfx ti4200 128mb card overclocked can whip the pants of the fx5600 which is a direct x9 card. i bought this card for the price 88 pounds and it came with 3 games and a free gamepad.. not bad i dont think that can outperform a direct x9 card which costs a lot more! i know games like half life 2 will bring the ti4200 to its knees but the 5600 hasnt got the legs either you want at least the 5900 or the ati 9800 to keep up and not be obsolete for quite a bit.

my card  model is basicaly 1 1/2 years old and i swear by it- i recently bought the card below knowing full well that its not a direct x9 card otherwise i would have bought the 5600 but that didnt bother me as i knew the overclocking potential  

if your motherboard only has 4x agp it still will support 8x cards just not run them to their full potential

[Professor Brensec]

if your motherboard only has 4x agp it still will support 8x cards just not run them to their full potential

So what's the point in getting an 8x card? You may as well stick to the one you have if an 8x isn't really going to run much better than a 4x.

(Is the card Bird man has now - 'the GeForce 4 something' an 8x or 4x?)

If it's 4x in a 4x slot then will an 8x 'anything' really make much difference in a 4 x slot?

[bm]

If I get an 8x card for my 4xslot. Will I still see a huge difference (large enough to warrant the Price) in performance?
Can I upgrade the slot itself to an 8x?  ???

I just can't believe this computer was new last year and it wont support a new graphics card... 10 months on.... hardly looking ahead.....

[4_Series_Scania]

So what's the point in getting an 8x card? You may as well stick to the one you have if an 8x isn't really going to run much better than a 4x.

Simple, despite a sincerely crap Jetway (VIA chipset,AGP 4X or 2X if you don't like blue screens!!!) motherboard equally crap PC2700 RAM (unbranded) when I swapped my old Geforce MX440 64mb (overclocked by about 30% with a silly and damn noisy fan!) the performance increase, at every resolution my monitor can support , with my Asus 9560 FX5600 128 (Non Ultra) 8xAGP with every game / sim I've tried is simply staggering!
The notable exception to this was CFS3

[Professor Brensec]

I don't undertsand a word you're saying Scania  ;D but that's nothing new. I have no idea about any of this stuff.

I have the DirectX9 driver installed (because I was told to get it as it might improve my graphics speed). But I've only got Intel integrated 11 mb shared graphics...............ha ha.  ;) So how would I know?

I thought DirectX9 etc were 'drivers' not cards.  ???

So there you go!

All I know is. When you buy something, 12 months later it's out of date. If you wait 12 months, you get everything for half the price you would have paid in the beginning. Simple!  ;D

[4_Series_Scania]

[quote]I don't undertsand a word you're saying Scania

[Professor Brensec]

No, actually that bit makes some sense. I think!  :o

Is this right:

As I thought, 'DirectX9' is a software item (ie Driver).
You're saying that a Game that has been specifically designed to work with a Card designed also specifically to work in conjuntion with the DX9  driver, will perform badly with a Card that is designed for DX8 or before, even if the DX9 Driver is installed.
The DX8 Card will still work with the DX9 driver installed, but it can't use any of the 'DX9 specific' features.
If a Game is 'dependant' on these 'DX9 specific' features, then there's a possibilty of bad performance or no performance, depending on the level of the Game's dependance on the DX9 features.

If this is correct, then I have learnt something. If it's wrong, then I'm still as dumb as I used to be!  ;D

[bm]

Well, I did it! I went for the ;
256MB GeF FX5600 DDR TV DVI 8x