Improve video without an upgrade?

After checking, I was able to determine my mobo type, and that it does have the AGP slot. I am enclosing a pic. If I am mistaken, please, somebody, let me know.



Thanks for the info. Once again, I have to comment on how helpful the members and moderaters here at 3DS are. Thanks, guys!

P.S.

As a post script, here is the info for my board.

GA-6VEML
VIA Apollo PLE133T AGPset

PROCESSOR

Universal socket 370 supports Intel® FC-PGA/FC-PGA2 Pentium® III (CopperMine/Tualatin)or other compatible processors
Auto/66/75*/83*/100/112*/124*/133/140*/150* MHz FSB
AUTO detect CPU voltage

CHIPSET
VIA VT8602 (PLE133T)
VIA VT82C686B
Chipset with Built-in enhanced graphics
AC97 codec
Realtek RTL8100(L) controller

DRAM
2 168-pin DIMM sockets
Supports PC-100 / PC-133 SDRAM and VCM SDRAM
Supports up to 1.0GB DRAM
Supports only 3.3V SDRAM DIMM

SLOT
1 x AMR (Audio Modem Riser) slot (optional)
3 x PCI slots support 33MHz & PCI 2.2 compliant
1 x ISA slot

I/O
2 x UDMA ATA 33/66/100 Bus Master IDE ports on board
1 x FDD, 1 x COM, 1 x LPT, PS/2 Keyboard, PS/2 Mouse on board
1 x VGA (DB15), 1 x Joystic, 1 x Line-in, 1 x Line-out, 1 x MIC on board
2 x USB ports on board
2 x USB & 1 x COM port by cable (optional accessary)
IrDA TX / RX header ready
1 x LAN port


POWER
ATX power connector
Supports USB device wake-up
Power-on by LAN, RTC, Modem & switch
Power-off by Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP shut down & switch


FORM FACTOR
Micro ATX , 4 layer PCB (24.4 x 19.4 cm)

H/W MONITORING
CPU/System fan revolution detect
CPU/System temperature detect
System voltage detect (Vcore,VDD ,Vcc,+12V)
CPU overheat shutdown detect


BIOS
2Mbit Flash RAM
Award BIOS with enhanced ACPI feature for PC98/Win98/Win2000/WinME/ XP compliance, Green, PnP, DMI, INT13 (>8.4GB) & Anti-Virus functions
IDE#1~#4, SCSI, LS120, ZIP & CD-ROM bootable
AC recovery ON/OFF control
Auto-detect & report system health status


OTHER FEATURES
Suspend-To-RAM(STR)
Supports Wake-On-LAN (WOL)
Supports Internal/External Modem Ring on
Includes 2 fan power connectors
Poly fuse for keyboard over-current protection
Supports Gigabyte EasyTune III™


DRIVER
Gigabyte Windows Utility Manager
VIA 4 in 1 service pack utility
Trident 8500 VGA driver


I thought I had Intel chipset, but I was obviously mistaken.

Unfortunately that is not an AGP slot for a video card.
But an Audeo Modem Riser (for connecting sound and modems)

If you check the image I posted you will see that the AGP slot is a longer slot than the one on your board. So your graphic upgrade would have to be a PCI video card.

The AMR is not of much use but there may be products out there that can be used with it similar to the devices available from Hercules for use with Intels CNR Riser (similar slot/port).

Edit : hehe you posted the Postscript while I was still finishing my post.... You have an Intel graphics chipset on your PC but a Via North and South bridge... (Controls IDE, Buses, Ports USB etc...)

So basically, I got screwed over by my computer dealer. This is a new upgrade I purchased a month or two ago, and he said that it would support AGP. AGP is in the board description, for Pete's sake. Guess I should have known when I saw the ISA slot that this mobo had a lot to be desired. But it was cheap!:rolleyes:

AGP probably refers to the fact that the onboard graphics chipset from Intel probably interfaces via AGP. Its just that there is no AGP slot for an expansion card. If you bought this because he told you it could take an AGP card I would go back to the dealer and complain. See if you can moan enough to get something done about it (motherboard swapped, cheap deal on a PCI video card, full refund and buy another motherboard)
Hope you get some graphics solution sorted out

Its easy to be ripped off (even just by the sales person being uninformed) as it happened to me not that long ago. I got ripped off by PCworld in the UK when I bought a PC without checking out the components first and ended up with a Gigabyte GA-7IXE4 which has an AGP slot that doesn't support anything over a Geforce2MX (which I found out after splashing out on a Geforce3).... I emailed Gigabyte to find this information out. Technical explanation that I found myself was that the board has a linear power regulator rather than a switching one which meant it couldn't supply peak power for the card which caused lockups/freezes and therefore meant I had to reboot constantly.
Kinda put me off gigabyte products... :rolleyes:

Thanks, Arris. I guess the main reason I wanted a video upgrade was the damn Star Trek Bridge Commander demo on this month's Maximum PC sampler CD. It hooked me, but I knew I needed better performance. Now that I know what my needs are, I will look around for some cheap second hand stuff. Thanks again for your advice.

You should be able to pick up a Geforce 2MX 400 PCI card which would blow away the onboard graphics...
You may even be able to get a Geforce 2 (non MX card) for the best performance...

good deal?

PCI Video card on Ebay

Newfie,

I own that card. It is a good card & about the best you can get (rea$onable) for a PCI. I thought prices had come down more than that, but a few searchs say that is the best price on that card. Lotsa places don't even have anymore.

I like the VisionTek lifetime warranty! I also have STBC Demo & have the graphics turned all the way up & get ~20 fps in the 'Quick Battle' w/10ships. Not 'killer', but darn good for the $$$ spent, IMO. :grinthumb

The only 'better' card is the GF4 MX420 64mb PCI for $67 by VisionTek here: http://www.compuplus.com/insidepage.php3?refer=pricegrabber.com&id=598 ,IMO.

HTH,

Thanks, Jav. I agree that this seems to be a good deal for the $.

Newfie,

My pleasure.

If it is like mine: there aren't any RAM heatsinks nor is there a fan. The RAM is 6ns & won't take a lot of overclocking. With 'Riva Tuner' I have oc'd the 'core' from 200 to 207.6 to 211.2 safely & the 'memory' from 334 (166.7) to 373 (186.1) to 386 (193.3) safely using the 29.20 Detenator Driver. The lower you stay: the better for the card. I also have a 'case cooling' fan blowing across my card to help keep it cool. :grinthumb

207.6 & 358 (179.0) is a 'safe' place to start/stay, IMO. Adequate cooling is the key.

HTH, have fun & if I can help further ... I'll be here.

PS: consider that GF4 MX420: for only $67 ... I sure am!

C$ suck!

Jav, you must realize that $67US is actually over $103 in Canadian dollars. That's more than I am willing to part with at the moment. We get killed with a low currency here.

testing sig....

testing signature

I'm not sure if anybody is still monitoring this thread anymore, but if you are, I wanted your opinions on the vid card I bought. I picked up an AOPEN nVidia TNT2 M64 32MB video card brand new for about $45US. It should be miles better than my 8MB onboard graphics chipset. What do you think?

It will be much better than your onboard graphics. For the price though, you may have been able to get something better.

I'm not famliar with many PCI cards, but www.newegg.com has a 32mb DDR ATI Radeon 7000 (Much faster than your TNT) for 40 dollars. It is AGP though.

But as I said, it should be a HUGE improvement. It still may not be adequate to play new games with detail however.

He can't have an AGP slot unless he upgrades the Mobo.

Better yet: Tell us what you think. :grinthumb

That way we can all learn from your experience rather than our opinions. OK? [Then we can all 'tweek' our opinions, he he] :approve:

Lotta views on this thread, so ppl are interested.

I have not installed the card yet. I am waiting for my new hard drive and memory, and will then install everything together. I had to get the PCI card, as there is no AGP slot on my mobo, and it is a recent upgrade. The price was good for me because I was able to buy it locally from a company I trust to give me good service if I have problems; if I had bought it through mail order or Ebay, I was not guarunteed that. As I am not a 'serious' gamer, I am comfortable with the card I bought. I'll be sure to let you all know how it all turns out when I finish the installs and try out my brand new Star Trek Bridge Commander.

Needing PCI based Graphics card upgrade

I'm pretty much in the same boat as Goofy Newbie. Although my mobo is, I believe, a bit better to start with.

Currently I have an onboard NVidia Aladdin TNT2 that uses 16MB of RAM. I've got 256 SDRAM installed.

I've got the same problem of only being able to upgrade with a PCI video card.

I've already upgraded to a Sound Blaster PCI 128 sound card from the original on-board CMI-8738 chip, so that leaves me 2 PCI slots.

I've read over this thread carefully since it pretty much covers the situation I came here to ask you'all about, eh?

Also, like Goofy Newbie, I'm a rather impoverished Cannuck, so I like the VisionTek XTASY GeForce2 MX400 64MB PCI. If I could snatch it for around $80 Can. I would be smilin'.

I think I would prefer to stay with NVidia based cards rather than ATI Radeon. Not certain, but I've heard questionable things about the ATIs. So, unless there's real convincing pro-ATI arguements

Thus, my 2 questions:

Would you expect that the GeForce2 MX400 card (or very similar one) would provide me with significant improvements over my present TNT2 making it well worthy of the expenditure?

Can anyone provide a listing of the top PCI graphics cards (or a link) in case what's locally available is somewhat spotty?

Comrade N,

2 ways we can do this: Go to nVidia, VisionTek or PNY & click on "Analyze my system" & the program will show you a graph of available cards & the % improvement over your present card &/or go to www.freshdevices.com & download "Fresh Diagnose" & run the "Display Adapter Benchmark" & post it here. I'll do the same on my GF2 MX400 & we can compare your TnT #'s against my MX400 #'s.

I'm running a 500Celeron & 320mb SDRAM on an Intel 810E mobo & you have ... ?

HTH,