Not Sure???

[Markk22]

I have an old 2002 dell 8200. I think it has a PCI slot and I want to upgrade my card. Current card is a 64mb GeForce3 Ti. Is there a way to tell if I can use a PCI Express card? If not do I have to stay with the PCI or can I go to AGP? Would this be better? Please help a newbee!

 

[Vile]

Lol There's no way that motherboard will support a PCI Express video card, and I don't think you're using a PCI video card anyways lol, it's probably plugged into an AGP, your best bet would be to upgrade your video card to a better AGP. Do you know if your motherboard supports AGP 8x?

 

[Markk22]

I think you're right. The card is in a brown slot (AGP correct?) I have no clue on the mother board. Anyway to find out? I would really like to get some better graphics!

Mark

 

[cleeve]

Just take the side off of your case, and remove your graphics card.

If the port your graphics card is inserted into looks different from the other ports beside it, you have a AGP slot!

I't probably a given that you have an AGP slot anyway, because I don't think they made Geforce3 Ti's in a PCI flavor.

If you have an AGP slot, there are tons of contemporary cards you can buy. Check the "best cards for the money" list sticky on the top of the forum.

 

[Vile]

The card above is AGP, the other is PCI Express. More than likely you have an AGP video card. I just don't think it runs at 8x =/

 

[Markk22]

Is there an easy way to find out if my motherboard will support a AGP 8x card? Or do I stick with a 4x model.

Thanks U guys have been a lot of help.

 

[FlyGuy]

Is there an easy way to find out if my motherboard will support a AGP 8x card? Or do I stick with a 4x model.

You can go into the bios and see which modes you can choose. I'm guessing your board would support up to 4x with the age of it.

 

[CRAFTSMAN_69]

Well according to Dell's support page

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8200/

The board you have is 4X AGP which is not a big deal, there are alot of cards in 8X AGP form that are reverse compatible with 4X AGP. I honestly feel that if you were to upgrade it should not have a external power on the card. Why? the power supply that your computer has is a 250 watt PS which is weak by todays standards. A newer card with a higher power demand may prematurely end the life of your propritary (Dell Only) power supply.

 

[Vile]

AGP card with x8, will most likely run with x4, so you shouldnt worry, it'll work, and there won't be much (if any) performance decreases.

People always say that for some reason, yet I've seen charts where it shows the 8x pwning the 4x with doble bandwidth

 

[parlee]

thats a lie unless u can prove it .. i also thought the same thing with my amd 2400+ and 9600pro... on a compaq 4x mobo, upgraded to a chaintech 8x board and aquamark scores increased a total of 50 points at most, so there is no difference, 99% of the time you wont use the 4x bandwith, let alone 8x...