Nuclear Posted September 24, 2003 Posted September 24, 2003 I have a PCI 128MB (GeForce 5200) Video card that I bought not too long ago for an old PC I was fixing up, I used the card maybe 2 months and built another PC. So, now I have this extra PCI video card laying around... Someone told me that PCI video cards are crap and I should just use it as a coaster, is this true? I know in a high-end PC that AGP is better for video cards, but why? Is there any use for this 128MB PCI video card now? Reason being is I'm thinking of building a low-budget system for my mom, and why spend the extra cash for a new 4X/8X AGP card when I have a 2 month old PCI one laying around? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco Posted September 24, 2003 Posted September 24, 2003 If she is not a gamer then ya the card would be fine for that not to mention saving you the money, I find that a PCI is way better then Onboard but PCI cannot touch a AGP card, unless the AGP card sucks like a Rage Pro or something like that <_> Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrusk Posted September 24, 2003 Posted September 24, 2003 (edited) If youre gonna build a cheap budget system and the person youre building it for doesnt care about game performance then the pci board will be fine. Its just the pci doesnt have the kind of bandwidth neccesary to perform well for gaming. Other than a budget system the only other use i could see for a pci card were if it was used in conjunction with an agp card so you could run two or more monitors. Edited September 24, 2003 by andrusk Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
O(V)eGA_l2el) Posted September 24, 2003 Posted September 24, 2003 I would do just that with the pci card or if the agp card has both agp and dvi ports I would use a dvi-vga converter and boom! dual monitors B) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayMeow Posted September 24, 2003 Posted September 24, 2003 If youre gonna build a cheap budget system and the person youre building it for doesnt care about game performance then the pci board will be fine. Its just the pci doesnt have the kind of bandwidth neccesary to perform well for gaming. Other than a budget system the only other use i could see for a pci card were if it was used in conjunction with an agp card so you could run two or more monitors. it also depends on what type of game. One of my comps has a tnt2 pci card, and my bro has played madden 2003 on that fine. I doubt it would work as well if he tried to play it online though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuclear Posted September 24, 2003 Posted September 24, 2003 thanks She's definitely not a gamer, LOL!! She wants to learn more about computers so I figured I'd build her a good, solid, system to learn basic (Office, Browsing, etc..) computer stuff on. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevilMB3017 Posted September 24, 2003 Posted September 24, 2003 Since now one gave a "real" answer, and I'm "learning" this stuff in school, i'll post on the subject. PCI Bus cards all run on the same bandwith. They share the speed with each other...with AGP, only video goes on it. (hence the Accelatred Graphics Port title) So, AGP is directly video, less confusion on the CPU to find memory adresses for the PCI card everytime. The AGP will always be in the same place... PCI cards are slower also becuase they offer 133 MB/sec compared to up to 2.7 GB/s a sec fo 8x AGP. Good? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred Posted September 24, 2003 Posted September 24, 2003 it's still an fx 5200. it won't be much better in the agp version anyway Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sainou-Kun Posted September 24, 2003 Posted September 24, 2003 A pci card is alot better then Onboard, so If your building a system for your mom you may as well use it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrusk Posted September 25, 2003 Posted September 25, 2003 Since now one gave a "real" answer, and I'm "learning" this stuff in school, i'll post on the subject. How is everyone elses answer not "real"? Just cause we didnt give detailed specs on the differences between pci and agp doesnt mean we didnt answer the question. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco Posted September 25, 2003 Posted September 25, 2003 Since now one gave a "real" answer, and I'm "learning" this stuff in school, i'll post on the subject. How is everyone elses answer not "real"? Just cause we didnt give detailed specs on the differences between pci and agp doesnt mean we didnt answer the question. ROFL hes just being a smart$ss likes always Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overclocker16 Posted September 25, 2003 Posted September 25, 2003 Since now one gave a "real" answer, and I'm "learning" this stuff in school, i'll post on the subject. How is everyone elses answer not "real"? Just cause we didnt give detailed specs on the differences between pci and agp doesnt mean we didnt answer the question. ROFL hes just being a smart$ss likes always So true Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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