Yet another question regarding updating my old PC (sorry, sorry and sorry!)

I'm uprating my old PIII 700mhz PC to pretty much maximum capacity. 512mb RAM, 160gb hard drive (on its way) and also have a Soundblaster Audigy card on its way too.

The original mobo had onboard sound and graphics, which are ok (though I think the sound chip was dodgy). I'd like to have better graphics/ sound capability by installing dedicated cards, plus the added benefit would be that it frees up the CPU allowing the computer to run faster.

Here's my mobo specs again:

http://www.active-hardware.com/english/reviews/mainboard/ga-6wmm7.htm

Now, the question is: which reasonable graphics card would be suitable for my mobo? There are so many out there, and I assume that a lot of the newer cards will not work with my old system. I'm not after top spec graphics so the latest and greatest is out of the equation. What I would like to do is to bring my PC up to date as much as possible as well as running it at high efficiency.

I'm thinking that something like this might be suitable:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....MEWA:IT&viewitem=&item=170084986967&rd=1&rd=1

Is this this suitable for my PC? Can I go better than this or should I go for less? Are there any recommendations? What should I be looking for specifications wise that means that a card will work with my machine?

I was kind of thinking that as the XBOX uses a PIII 700mhz processor and Nvidia graphics (custom made for XBOX afaik), something similar for my PC would be great.

Suggestions please!

the only issue is that it is PCI.

i'm struggling to think of any newer than a GF2MX that ran on PCI, so a card like that would be fine.

What sort of apps would you be looking to run? Have you got a spare PCI for a gfx card?
a FX5200 PCI
and ebay
imo, I wouldn't expect xbox results. The xbox setup was created for gfx output.

Being realistic I'm not expecting XBox quality graphics (would be nice though!) I would like to try and get my old PC running as fast and as efficiently as I can so I'd be able to run some reasonable games and emulators such as MAME, old 8 bit and 16 bit computer emulators (C64, Amiga). The ability to run some fairly recent games would be nice too though obviously I do realise my PC will have limitations. I'll also do a bit of Photoshop stuff, but nothing high level.

Am I right in thinking that adding a dedicated graphics card will free up the main CPU and make the PC run faster?

One thing that is confusing me though is that many of the 'PCI' cards on offer have three connectors whereas my computer PCI slots only have two. I'm aware that there are PCI Express connectors but am not sure which are suitable for mine? Do I have to use two slot PCI cards only or will the three slot cards also fit (using only two of the slots of course)?

Apologise for being such a newbie!

what os you got?

1986Uno45S said:

Am I right in thinking that adding a dedicated graphics card will free up the main CPU and make the PC run faster?

Click to expand...

Hmm, I wouldn't think by alot. Not in the same way by adding more ram. It will help graphic depended applications run smoother. I haven't used many EMUs but I would of thought they would of run on your pc without the need for a graphics card. I would make sure that you have a fairly clean PC as even really expensive PCs can run slow when filled with spyware or too many apps.

1986Uno45S said:

One thing that is confusing me though is that many of the 'PCI' cards on offer have three connectors whereas my computer PCI slots only have two. I'm aware that there are PCI Express connectors but am not sure which are suitable for mine? Do I have to use two slot PCI cards only or will the three slot cards also fit (using only two of the slots of course)?

Click to expand...

Apologises if I telling stuff you may already know but some background info...
There are few different types of slots depending the age of the machine. ISA (1 on your mobo) was the older style and then PCI replaced them (increased bus size and speed). The motherboards added a dedicated slot for graphic cards (gfx) called AGP. This had a higher bus speed so was better for gfx cards. PCI still remained popular for use like sound cards. AGP reached their limit at their speed and PCI-e (PCI express) replaced AGP in maximising gfx card power. The PCI-e interface is currently used on the top type of graphic cards. This is where it might get confusing looking for a gfx card on the PCI interface. PCI and PCI-e are not compatible with each other. Be sure to make sure your only looking at PCI cards. A PCI gfx card will take one PCI slot, I've not come across a 2slot PCI gfx card (well it was possible to use 2+ voodoo cards at the same time - but waste of time these days). I also don't think you'll find a PCI card much over £50 as PCI gfx cards have reached their limit.
With the current age of your PC, I wouldn't spend over £40 as it won't be worth it. It may be possible to pick up a fairly decent one on ebay for around £20ish. I never really bought radeons so I wouldn't know which model to recommend. As for Nvidia, a mx400 should do most tasks, although won't compare to a 5 series. mx400 were like a cut down on the 4 series. I think a 6 series would be wasted money. I wouldn't touch a matrox pci gfx card, a voodoo or nvidia quatro as they are a bit outdated or not suitable.

Sorry for all the writing but I hope it clears somethings up.

Voodoo soldout iirc, getting support for them nowadays isnt that easy. deffo go for a nvidia... straight forward installation with support. i had an MX440 on an old machine and was quite suprised with it tbh...

btw if XP drivers are an issue, XP is based on 2K, which is based on the NT platform, so you can often use 2K drivers on XP but not always so be careful

take your pic (not all of them are actually PCI because some ebay listers do not have a brain and cant even list an item correctly, so always double check by googling the model)

http://listings.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsoc...action=compare&copagenum=1&coentrypage=search

this one is almost good enough to play old games:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nvidia-Geforc...48QQihZ005QQcategoryZ3762QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

jug said:

take your pic (not all of them are actually PCI because some ebay listers do not have a brain and cant even list an item correctly, so always double check by googling the model)

http://listings.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsoc...action=compare&copagenum=1&coentrypage=search

this one is almost good enough to play old games:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nvidia-Geforc...48QQihZ005QQcategoryZ3762QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Click to expand...

Cheers Jug Yes, I think half the problem was that a lot of Ebayers listed the card interface incorrectly which added to my confusion.

I'd already looked through most of the cards in your first link! Been hunting through Ebay recently for some bits and pieces, but got really confused with the array of stuff on offer and the suitability with my machine.

The GeForce FX5500 looks pretty damn good, but will it work on a machine with my specs (700mhz PIII)? I don't run anything too challenging graphics wise, so really I just wanted to speed the machine up a bit and take some of the pressure off the mobo CPU.

Dave has an old graphics card that might be suitable so I'll get that off him at the ACE Cafe meet and give that a whirl. I also have a Creative Audigy Soundblaster on the way that should hopefully sort out the audio side of things. I'm fairly sure that my onboard sound is buggered because there is interference on the left channel, and sometimes when the PC starts working erratically switching off the sound controller in Device Manager gets it working properly again. Will find out for sure when the Audigy turns up shortly!

Thanks again everyone for helping a newbie :slayer:

1986Uno45S said:

The GeForce FX5500 looks pretty damn good, but will it work on a machine with my specs (700mhz PIII)? I don't run anything too challenging graphics wise, so really I just wanted to speed the machine up a bit and take some of the pressure off the mobo CPU.

Click to expand...

it will run on your machine fine
it was never a gaming card, but it did offer great features at a good price, and for a desktop pc it is still perfectly adequate. it can even do dual monitors and is a true directX9 card. you can also happily run plenty of old (pre04) games in 800x600 (without antialiasing and anisotropic filtering).