AGP options?

[mikehende]

If your pc comes with a motherboard which does not have an AGP slot, what options do you have to get and use an AGP card? Do you have to change the Mobo with one that has an AGP slot or is there AGP expansion cards available or is there any other way?

[jagabo]

If your pc comes with a motherboard which does not have an AGP slot, what options do you have to get and use an AGP card?

None.

Do you have to change the Mobo with one that has an AGP slot

Yes. Or get a graphics card that will work in the motherboard you have. PCI Express?

[dwill123]

You can also get a straight up PCI (not PCI Express) graphic card. Some I understand are very good and there are plenty to be found. Here's an example.

[waheed]

If you dont have a PCI-E motherboard and no AGP slot, then I agree with the poster above. A regular PCI graphics card will do the job.

[ROF]

If you do not have AGP or PCi-Express I would not invest more than $30USD on a PCI card. You will get more boost by upgrading your system rather than wasting money on a graphics bus card that was replaced by AGP years ago. AGP is now being replaced by PCI-Express. No need to spend alot of money on extremely old and inefficient graphics technology.

[ozymango]

A quick glance at your computer specs makes me wonder, is it that you have a relatively new computer with an internal ("built-in') video card but no AGP slot? I know at least some of the new Dells I've worked with (I work for a university, hundreds of computers) have an "internal" AGP bus for video, no AGP slot, and just a PCI-E x1 slot, little tiny slot that you wouldn't think could hold a very nice card. But it can, so you may have an mb with a small slot you didn't notice, a x1 slot, and you could put a video card there.

If you give us the specs on your mb or system, we can give you some more options!

[mikehende]

This is the documentation for my pc, any help will be appreciated, thanks.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim3000/en/SM/specs.htm#wp1075781

[ozymango]

Okay, that helps a lot. And now it's good news/bad news time --

Bad news: The Dell Dimension 3000 doesn't have an external AGP or PCI-E bus for video, so you're stuck with either tweaking the onboard video, or getting a PCI video card.

Good news: This ain't at all a bad machine and I'll bet you could get it behaving pretty decently, in the video department. The onboard graphics (Intel) are not spectacular, but they should be pretty solid.

For starters, check in the BIOS to see how much memory is being alotted to the graphics card -- somewhere in the BIOS (can't remember off hand where it is, but it should be pretty easy to find) there'll be a setting for "amount of video memory" or something like that. I think the Dells default to 8mb, and you can max is to 64mb of RAM. So max it to 64 as you've got 512mb of system ram and should have no problem swapping out a bit more.

Are you having specific video problems, or do you just want a bigger, badder, faster video card for the heck of it? You can still get a very nice PCI video card for your system that'll probably make you very happy, depending on your needs. And if there's something special you're looking for (e.g. want to pay games mostly, want an integrated tuner, etc.), let us know and we can give some PCI card recommendations.

[mikehende]

The only things I am seeing in the Bios concerning "memory" are:

Installed System Memory 512mb

System Memory Speed 333mhz

System Memory Channel Mode Dual

AGP Aperture 128mb

Before we go any further, can you explain what the last 2 items mean please?

[ozymango]

"System Memory Channel Mode Dual" means that your motherboard "doubles" the transfer rate of RAM memory between the RAM chips and your mb memory controller. Let's say the "normal" data channel (of a RAM chip) is a 64-bit channel -- a dual channel memory controller can use two channels at the same time, so you've got a 128-bit bandwidth channel moving data between the CPU and the memory chips.

Or in laymans terms -- it's faster. You may see that your system takes "DDR" ram -- that just means "Double Data Rate," so it'll work with a dual-mode controller (like your system).

As for aperture size, this one gives me headaches sometimes to try to figure out, but there's a good article on what it means at:

http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/Speed_Demonz/New_BIOS_Guide/AGP_Aperture_Size.htm

Bottom line: You current AGP aperture size seems about right for your system, based on your system RAM and your card (as described in the specs, anyway). So I don't think tweaking it will make much difference. But it may be worth a shot -- can you change the AGP aperture size, or is it just a display value set by the system? If you can change it, try setting it to "256" and see what happens. It may make everything run slower, or faster. Won't do any damage to try it, anyway, and if you notice either no results, or poor results, just set it back to 128.

Hope that helps!

[ROF]

For this computer it should also be noted that in order to disable your onboard video you will have to remove your power supply from the computer. On the motherboard sitting behind (or underneath if computer is on it's side) is a small black jumper that must be switched from the j11-12 pins to j12-13pins in order to disable onboard and make available your PCI bus to accept a graphics adapter(card). When done correctly and computer is turned on a small yellow light in the back will blink and then glow steady the whole time the PC is on.

[mikehende]

Are you having specific video problems, or do you just want a bigger, badder, faster video card for the heck of it? You can still get a very nice PCI video card for your system that'll probably make you very happy, depending on your needs. And if there's something special you're looking for (e.g. want to pay games mostly, want an integrated tuner, etc.), let us know and we can give some PCI card recommendations.

Thanks for the link on the Aperture! To answer the questions above, as far as video goes, I have no problem with my system so I never saw the need to get an additional graphics card. I only started looking into AGP since I have to get another graphics card as I had purchased a Leadtek RM Version Tuner card to capture footage from anything that comes across my TV screen no matter the source of the footage, this card works great and I have no problems with it but now I also need to send whatever's showing on my pc monitor to my TV screen since we purchase cheap movies online from Verizon and these can only be viewed on a pc monitor.

If I had know in the beginning that we would have been needing all of these things I would have bought just one card that does everything. Since my Tuner card works great I am thinking that I should just get a simple but good card that has an S-Video OUT to transfer the signal from my monitor to the TV. So this is where I'm at with this whole video scenario. I have gotten referrals to get Radeon 9200, 9250 e.t.c which are cheap and has S-Video OUT so you figure I will spend about $40 for such a card which is good when compared to shelling out over $100 for a card that does everything [Capture and has S-Video OUT]. Besides deciding which is my best option here, I also have been told that getting PCI Graphics card may cause "heat" problems for me since I only have one PCI slot free, I am being told that the heat generated from these graphics cards might hamper the other cards performance which are next to it in the slots.

So what do you guys make of all of this and what would you all do in this situation?

[ROF]

No need to worry. You will however need to move one of the cards to the PCI3 slot from the PCI1. PCI3 is the slot closest to the floor of this tower. Your graphics card will go in the PCI1 slot, your half height modem card is in slot 2 so the fan on your new graphics card will not be blowing hot air directly on to it. If this is a concern, buy a graphics card with a passive cooling(heatsink only, no fan) system.

[ROF]

So what do you guys make of all of this and what would you all do in this situation?

If it were me I would keep my onboard the way it is. The Extreme Graphics 2 in 128MB configuration is great for most applications. You will find that the 9250 is actually a step down from this integrated chip. For ATI cards the 9600 and higher is where you should be looking, but in the case of your computer I would not spend the money unless you know someone who can get one that "fell off the back of a truck".

[mikehende]

[quote="ROF
The Extreme Graphics 2 in 128MB configuration is great for most applications. You will find that the 9250 is actually a step down from this integrated chip. For ATI cards the 9600 and higher is where you should be looking, but in the case of your computer I would not spend the money unless you know someone who can get one that "fell off the back of a truck".[/quote]

These are my 2 choices as I see it, either get a Tuner card that can capture as good as my present Leadtek card and also one that has an S-Video OUT or get a simple card with an S-Video OUT, if I should do the latter, then yes, it does not make sense for me to get a card that's a "step down" as you put it from what I already have so I guess I will have to go look at some 9600 or higher as you've suggested, thanks.

[ROF]

You also need to factor in what must be done in order to install a graphics card. see my post above. If this sounds like something you are not capable of or do not know somebody who can do it for you a typical shop will charge $50.

[mikehende]

I have installed all of my pci cards myself and will have no problems doing this. I wish I could get a listing of all Tuners cards that have S-Video OUT before going after a Radeon 9600 or higher, any ideas of how I can go about finding such a list? I have done the searching on google but haven't gotten much, also I need to know that such a card can capture as good as my Leadtek.

[MOVIEGEEK]

I have installed all of my pci cards myself and will have no problems doing this. I wish I could get a listing of all Tuners cards that have S-Video OUT before going after a Radeon 9600 or higher, any ideas of how I can go about finding such a list? I have done the searching on google but haven't gotten much, also I need to know that such a card can capture as good as my Leadtek.

The problem is nobody makes a 9600 in PCI anymore,they are all 9250 or less.The link that dwill123 posted is the best deal you will find.As for a list have you looked at "Capture Cards" in the top left?

[ROF]

Since your onboard graphics is sufficient why not purchase a dedicated PCI capture card? A good relatively cheap one I usually recommend is the turtle beach 1510 capture card. The software included in the retail package with this card is great for under $100.

[mikehende]

I was hoping there would be a list somewhere of all Tuner cards that have S-Video OUT. Yes, I have a watch on the 9250 linked above.

I think that Turtle Beach card has an S-Video "input" and not an OUT?

[mikehende]

Can you guys tell me if a PCI-E card will work for me? Don't know much about this type of card and I am seeing a great deal on one.

[jagabo]

An AGP card requires an AGP slot on the motherboard.

A PCI-Express card requires a PCI-Express slot on the motherboard. PCI-Express is not equivalent to PCI. It's an unfortunate choice of name on Intel's part.

Most computers have have PCI slots so a PCI card will work in just about any computer. But it's the slowest of the options.

Nobody can tell you if a PCI Express card will work on your computer without knowing knowing what slot (if any) your motherboard has for adding a graphics card. The link you provided for your computer doesn't list AGP or PCI-Express slots.

The motherboard diagram on this page:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim3000/en/SM/techov.htm#wp1043338

doesn't show PCI-Express or AGP slots. They would normally appear next to the PCI slots, between the Processor and PCI slots:

[mikehende]

Appreciate the explanation, thanks!