@ hopyman2

i doubt that you have a PCI slot, unless your PC is VERY old.

this is a PCI-E slot http://www.techspot.com/articles-info/61/images/ASUS_P5K_Deluxe_06.jpg (blue)

and this is an AGP http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/AGP_slot.jpg/800px-AGP_slot.jpg (red)

also i think from display properties/settings/advanced in the tab "adapter" it should indicate something

Hey i m thinking to buy nvidia 7300gt because i m in the limited budget,
does n e 1 have this 1????
hows its performance ???
plz tell me...

Woah, nate, wait before buying anything. I have an 8600 GT with a 430W power supply and it doesn`t really work properly. You have to also take into account the amount of power other parts take up, like the CPU. I`d Reccomend a 500W power supply that would work with the 8600 and 9600. And for the cards, I`d go with the 9600 because it has more RAM, clockpeed and so forth. And for the Frames per second, on Call of Duty 4, the most FPS I get with my 8600 GT is 75, Whereas with the 9600 GT I get 125. And both of the prices are pretty close, so it`s a no brainer. Go with the 9600.

I've got a GeForce 8500GT(512MB) and Oblivion looks pretty damn close to its XBox360 counter-part. I'd know, I own both versions. I'm considering getting either a GeForce 8600GT or 9600. I don't want 8800 because it'll require 1GB RAM and my rig has 2GB RAM (that's its max capacity). But if I get the 9600 I'll have to buy a new power supply. My current (sh---y) power supply is 300W. I'll need 450W for 9600. 8600 runs on 300W. Both 8600 and 9600 only require 512MB RAM. My BIG CONCERN is in May when I get Mass Effect for my PC. I hope like Hell an 8600GT will pull it without too many comprimises.

I'm having a problem determining which kind of ports I have: PCI, AGP, or PCI-E.
How do I know ?

Why is the 8600 GT 1GB $10 less than the 8600 GT 512MB, given that it's twice the size?

I'm thinking of buying the GeForce 7600GS 512MB AGP. Can anyone tell me how good it is and what games will it run?

bdrgtech 2 8500's isn't bad, but if your looking to play games like crysis, my best bet is you MIGHT be able to play it on medium, on low resolution.

HaMHaMHami

The 8800GT and the 8800GTS are EXTREMELY CLOSE in performance. The 8800GTS beats the 8800GT SLIGHTLY, by very LITTLE only though. Plus the GTS is around $100 more than the GT, so I'de go with the 8800GT if you want to save money at get the same performance.

I'm getting a 8600 GT (it's all I could afford atm) and was wondering if I could run games like Crysis? Please PM me back, thanks.

Well i'm really confused right now cause i want to buy a video card but i just cannot decide to buy a geforce 8800GT or geforce 8800GTS 512

How could I check what my power supply is without opening the case? (if there is a way)

Help i have an ati xpress 200 which is a motherboard and the video card is intergrated into it can i still add a separate video card from nvidia to my motherboard?

Is it easy to change the power supply unit? got a 200W unit (pre-buit system) and reading above it's definitely underpowered!

i got two 8500GT XFX cards with 256mb paid 79 bucks for each one

Hi, I'm looking to build a system this summer and I was thinking if I should add the new geforce 9 series graphics card in there or go with the already known 8800 GT?

I do like that point about new buyers being sucked into buying cards by their memory rather than GPU. I fell for that when I first got my computer, and am still regretting it. I'm thinking of upgrading to an 8600GT.

Well, I upgraded from a GeFore 4, to a 8800GT 512MB...I might just say that the performace increase was awsome

I have a 8800GT, I haven't played any games yet (need to instal it first) but I hope its good.

I just ordered a XFX PVT84JUDD3 GeForce 8600GT XXX 256MB for $99. far from top of the line but its better then what i have now, which is no graphics card at all.

i have chaintech geforce 6200A, it works like the 8=====D of 80 years old man

i think the best card for AGP is the X1950 PRO 512mb

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

hi wats the best for agp

I bought an 8500GT recently - great performance for only 100 bucks. (www.vtechindustries.com.au).

I need to get a rig. I've been using my brother's for too long. If I want to play Crysis, I've gotta fork over the money.

Can't wait til I upgrade my PC. But it probably wont be for another year or two...or at least when DX10 Games is worth getting vista and everything is more shifted over. So for now I'll sit on my 6600 GT PCI-e card and ride it into the ground playin company of heroes, oblivion, F.E.A.R., etc... Go nVidia!!

Well done Gamespot, Now where was i ? Hmmmmm ???

Great article indeed. I just HAD to buy a Radeon X1300 in order to upgrade a very poor performing Dell XPS 200 with a radeon X600 that came with my system, and this guide was a must. I had no other choice but to go for this card because of the poor power capability of the XPS 200 (275 watts). The X1300 was the only card in a SFF format that could work on my PC. Having said this, if you are into the SFF PCs like me, stay away from the XPS 200 (now 210). The chassis is just too narrow for upgrades, and quite frankly the system overall is not a good gaming system. Next time I'll go for shuttle or Falcon, even if you pay more. The XPS 200 is a good multi-media computer, but gaming can be frustrating

you find lots of useful information here;good article

man I cant remember the computer I order had an SLI ready 8800 GTS 640MB, I sure the mother board acccepts SLI but I dont know about the cards, i'd much rather get another 8800 GTS 640MB for christmas then sell the one I got and get a GTX

Great article indeed !!

lol great guide but im still not 100% sure what i should be looking for in my upgrade - i just keep looking at the highest price and biggest number on hte name rofl...

I personally think that NVidia cards are much better than Radeon cards...they usually perform better in benchmarks, and all the NVidia cards I've owned have performed way past my expectations.

Also, you don't need to spend $500 for a card ever. The $200 range cards are totally amazing will will do anything you need them to do.

to rahulprince, between the x1650pro and the 7600GS I would go with the x1650pro, specifically:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102064

it beats out the best 7600GS (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130021) with a higher memory clock and it's also a bit cheaper

to joe_elwick, the 8800 is definetly worth extra money, but get a 8800, not an 8600, the 7950 or even 7900 is better than the 8600's.

Hi, which of these is better as there the same price:

1. Nvidia GeForce 7900GS
2. ASUS Radeon X1950 Pro.

Thanks!

nice guide!! i love it!

what kind of graphics card are available for lap-tops and are they as good as the full size PC's

my best graphics card purchase has been the geforce 7600, i bought it a year ago for around 200 cdn and its still capable of running high graphics on games like company of heroes at reasonable rates.

I would go with Radeon x1650, the ATI series has always worked best for me. Peace

pls. sombody help me i want to know which one is better of the 2?? ati radeon x1650 pro or geforce 7600(512mb)

I'm Considering an upgrade to an SLI system running two Nvidia 8600 GT's , but was wondering where you actually get the SLI connector from. I've looked at the specifications for some cards, but none say it is included in the box.

I have not bought any video cards before but I am going to buy one which card should I buy if I buy now can anyone help me i want to run games like quake 4 battlefield 2.

ATi vs Nvidea AGP

In reference to Zeussa's comments I'm looking for a new AGP card as my old ATi Radeon 9700 now corrupts the screen. I'm considering 2 cards, ATi's Radeon X1950 Pro AGP or Nvidea's GeForce 7800 GS. Both have had good reviews and I'm not too worried about the pricing, I just want to know which performs better or if there's an AGP card out there that's better than both of these?

thanks for this useful informations.

lolol this topic help me a lot

Flame_Co THANKS :p

I'm sorry for all AGP owners, not saying anything but PCI-E is the successors, AGP will be discontinued, things move on and things change, think about it, if we never changed the standard for sockets of processors we would still be using performance of K6 and Pentium 3 Cpu's About the PS3 choice, we already have graphic chips much more powerful than the PS3 graphic chips, also the cell processors have been proven weak in comparison the General purpose CPU's, take one of those processors within the cell vs, lets say Athlon or Core duo and i guarantee you it'll be destroyed. GDDR3 is common because of mass production, but GDDR4 will come in, then GDDR5 then GDDR6, this leads back to one thing, technology changes and if you don't keep up then thats your own choice. Don't worry DDR3 RAM is on the way, the next gen Barcelona or Penyrn may support these and whatnot, but none of these we don't know wut happens, AGP right now is pretty good but sooner or later all will be PCI-E, not hard feelings but thats the way this world works in terms of technology
I love the PS3 and my friend has one, but in terms of actual good use, the Cell is good at number crunching. Especially the whole Folding@home project.
Sincerely
Sup123101

What about us still hanging on to our High End AGP systems??

Well I'm not ready to ditch it just yet...I know Crysis was almost the tipping point for me.... but I got the answer, till the next tipper ...for under 25% of a new PC...

HIS ATi Radeon X1950Pro IceQ 512M GDDR3 HDTV/DVI 8xAGP...

http://www.hisdigital.com/html/product_ov.php?id=278

This my friends of AGP, will see you thro Crysis, and whoknows.

GDDR3 is Sony's choice for the PlayStation 3 gaming console's graphics processor, although the main system memory is comprised of XDR DRAM. Microsoft's Xbox 360 is also shipped with 512 MiB of GDDR3 memory, and is helping to pioneer the use of this memory as standard system memory rather than only video memory.
............http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GDDR3