So you only have PCI slots and want to game?

[Tha General]

That PCI-e slot is 1.0 so any 2.0 cards you buy will not exceed 1.0 specs in bandwidth.

Not sure if you are aware , the rig i have now has 3 pcie slots, one of them being a full x16 slot. So the cards i am buying will work. The other 2 slots are pcie 1.0, but i am buying the bridge so i can have 2 extra x16 slots.

I am moving on to pcie with this rig, but with the quad core, its pci gaming for life

 

[teklord]

Not sure if you are aware , the rig i have now has 3 pcie slots, one of them being a full x16 slot.

a full x16 slot for PCI-e 1.0. The Newegg listing doesn't specify if it is 2.0 or not so it is 1.0 by default. Yes, the PCI-e x16 cards you buy will fully work with that slot but if they exceed PCI-e 1.0 bandwidth specs, they won't be able to run at PCI-e 2.0 speeds. Chances are they won't, so you are okay unless you buy a high end PCI-e 2.0 card.

The other two slots are PCI-e x1 which means unless you have excellent soldering skills and can reprogram a mobo, you have one PCI-e X16 1.0 slot and two PCI-e x1 slots for things like sound cards or low end video cards like what you have been using for PCI. And of course there is the obligatory PCI slot for that crucial PCI GPU that cannot be missed or done without.

 

[LinkedKube]

You can game with what you want General, but the title of this thread is "So you only have PCI slots and want to game?", not "So you have PCI-e slots but like to torture yourself with PCI cards anyways?" A lot of people looking for help on this thread bought OEM PC's not realizing their GPU situation and are stuck with PCI slots only.

a hard classical lol.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Not sure if you are aware , the rig i have now has 3 pcie slots, one of them being a full x16 slot. So the cards i am buying will work. The other 2 slots are pcie 1.0, but i am buying the bridge so i can have 2 extra x16 slots.

You do realize that the bridge just acts like a slot, without actually allowing for x16 speeds? It will severely throttle an x16 card down to x1 speeds. So the whole idea seems pretty pointless to me.

 

[LinkedKube]

You do realize that the bridge just acts like a slot, without actually allowing for x16 speeds? It will severely throttle an x16 card down to x1 speeds. So the whole idea seems pretty pointless to me.

No he doesn't apparently.

 

[Habylab]

http://www.kikatek.com/product_info.php?products_id=83884&source=froogle

Is this a good one?? I searched for the ones you mentioned in Uk shops, and found this, but It doesn't look the same.
Any good??

 

[Yukikaze]

http://www.kikatek.com/product_info.php?products_id=83884&source=froogle

Is this a good one?? I searched for the ones you mentioned in Uk shops, and found this, but It doesn't look the same.
Any good??

This isn't a PCI card, it is a PCI-E card.

 

[Tha General]

You do realize that the bridge just acts like a slot, without actually allowing for x16 speeds? It will severely throttle an x16 card down to x1 speeds. So the whole idea seems pretty pointless to me.

Doesn't matter, i have them in the rig, and i am not going to let them go a waste. So buying the extra bridge and using a x16 there , will be fun to try out.

 

[teklord]

Here is my GPU-Z screenie as promised. This card is over ten times more powerful than my old FX 5500. My HD 3850 is acting crazy, ATi Tool isn't recognizing it right now and stuff is running slow. Hope to work out the kinks soon.

NM, this card is too new for ATi Tool, Riva Tuner also. Also, it isn't factory OC'ed like I read at GPUReview, comes at stock HD 3850 clock speeds. That was the whole reason I got this over the cheaper Powercolor version. Drat

 

[Tha General]

That card is a beast. Nice stats, the fillrate could of been more tho, but overall very good. Btw, what do you mean ATI tool is acting crazy, you trying to OC the card already?
wHY don't you keep everything at stock and use CCC? or CCC and att?

 

[teklord]

That card is a beast. Nice stats, the fillrate could of been more tho, but overall very good. Btw, what do you mean ATI tool is acting crazy, you trying to OC the card already?
wHY don't you keep everything at stock and use CCC? or CCC and att?

Thx for the compliment. ATi Tool was never programmed for this card evidently as I get an error message stating that the chipset of the card cannot be overclocked. I'm using Riva Tuner to OC and then I use the fuzzy cube Artifact Check in ATi Tool to look for artifacts. So far, I've OC'ed to 12.4 GB/sec Pixel Fill Rate and 12.4 GB/sec Texture Fill Rate and I may be able to push it further while remaining stable.

CCC is a nice driver program but only lets me OC so far and this card can go far beyond that. This card is truly a quantum leap for me as I went from a FX 5500 that was bottlenecked by PCI even to a card that is close to 35 times more powerful at stock settings. One problem I have with ATi's drivers is that they erase the Intel Integrated Graphics, which is very handy when changing graphics cards.

In comparison to the most powerful card I ever owned before this, the 8500GT PCI, it is about 5 times more powerful at stock settings per the FPS count in ATi Tool. I saw it get up to about 765 FPS in ATi Tool vs. 145 FPS or so with the 8500GT PCI.

BTW, I wasn't putting you down when I was talking about your setup, but I wouldn't be honest if I didn't point out that PCI cards in a PCI-e system is not good sense. :dead:

 

[teklord]

sorry for double post, it took a while to upload here

 

[n0tepad]

hello?, how about GeForce 6200 OC 256MB PCI DDR?? hehehe .. anyway how much that VGA nowaday? that 6200 128MB??

 

[n0tepad]

http://www.bfgtech.com/ , for specs ..

but i didn't see the 6200 128MB, only just 256MB ,,

 

[teklord]

Would an additional 128MB in RAM be that terrible on a slow as heck PCI card? Might actually give you an extra FPS or two. 8400GS should be about the same price.

 

[Tha General]

hello?, how about GeForce 6200 OC 256MB PCI DDR?? hehehe .. anyway how much that VGA nowaday? that 6200 128MB??

Wait, whats your budget? and where are you buying it from?
I have the BFG 6200 OC PCI card, its 256MB and the best drivers to use is the 81.98. I also have the BFG 8400GS, they said its 2x over the 6200, but its really 4x the performance. I would just buy the BFG version, but if you are shopping at newegg, buy the EVGA 8400GS version, the stats are better then the BFG.

Thx for the compliment. ATi Tool was never programmed for this card evidently as I get an error message stating that the chipset of the card cannot be overclocked. I'm using Riva Tuner to OC and then I use the fuzzy cube Artifact Check in ATi Tool to look for artifacts. So far, I've OC'ed to 12.4 GB/sec Pixel Fill Rate and 12.4 GB/sec Texture Fill Rate and I may be able to push it further while remaining stable.

CCC is a nice driver program but only lets me OC so far and this card can go far beyond that. This card is truly a quantum leap for me as I went from a FX 5500 that was bottlenecked by PCI even to a card that is close to 35 times more powerful at stock settings. One problem I have with ATi's drivers is that they erase the Intel Integrated Graphics, which is very handy when changing graphics cards.

In comparison to the most powerful card I ever owned before this, the 8500GT PCI, it is about 5 times more powerful at stock settings per the FPS count in ATi Tool. I saw it get up to about 765 FPS in ATi Tool vs. 145 FPS or so with the 8500GT PCI.

BTW, I wasn't putting you down when I was talking about your setup, but I wouldn't be honest if I didn't point out that PCI cards in a PCI-e system is not good sense. :dead:

Thats a nice OC, but why not just use stock settings lol. Seems like everyone OC's the card now, i stop doing it, because i don't see the point. Stock is fine with me.
Anyways, well its no secret that i like PCI cards and with the rig i have now, my 2400HD and 8400gs is working amazing, but i have a pcie slot x16 in my rig, so i will be moving on to pcie soon.

But i want to keep my pci cards and keep buying them, so i said i would use it in a quad core. A video card is a video card, doesn't seem like a big deal to me and i am very curious to know how a 8600gt pci card will run in a quad core, so it should be interesting IMO.

PEACE

 

[teklord]

Thats a nice OC, but why not just use stock settings lol. Seems like everyone OC's the card now, i stop doing it, because i don't see the point. Stock is fine with me.

But i want to keep my pci cards and keep buying them, so i said i would use it in a quad core. A video card is a video card, doesn't seem like a big deal to me and i am very curious to know how a 8600gt pci card will run in a quad core, so it should be interesting IMO.

PEACE

I keep the card at stock all the time and never OC unless I'm playing a game I really want to play and I can't get a constant 30 FPS which is the minimum I require to play a PC game. Also, I have to OC my CPU because OC'ing my GPU alone is useless because my processor can't process any more data at all. I flashed the BIOS of my HD 3850 AGP so it doesn't scale down the core clock to 300 MHz in 2D anymore, so I can surf the internet slightly faster. Seems like my old 8500GT PCI was faster in 2D than my HD 3850 AGP, could be because the 8500GT used WHQL certified nVidia drivers and my HD 3850 uses the HotFix AGP ATI version which aren't WHQL certified.

There is no point in investing in a quad core right now unless you really want to max GTA IV which is the only application I am aware of that can harness the power of a quad-core and that's only because of Rockstar's wretched port job to PC. I personally am not even interested in the i7 quads as most apps look at the clock speed of the individual core and nothing is really utilizing anything beyond the dual core right now. I recommend the E8500 Dual Core which is the performance to price champ IMO. When i7 quads reach the 3GHz mark and the prices become reasonable looking more like the current generation of dual cores, then I would consider that for your rig.

BTW, I can tell you how your 8600GT PCI will run in a quad/dual core rig and that is slow and painful. I just saved you some time and money, now go get a GTX 260 like you know you should!

 

[Tha General]

I keep the card at stock all the time and never OC unless I'm playing a game I really want to play and I can't get a constant 30 FPS which is the minimum I require to play a PC game. I flashed the BIOS of my HD 3850 AGP so it doesn't scale down the core clock to 300 MHz in 2D anymore, so I can surf the internet slightly faster. Seems like my old 8500GT PCI was faster in 2D than my HD 3850 AGP, could be because the 8500GT used WHQL certified nVidia drivers and my HD 3850 uses the HotFix AGP ATI version which aren't WHQL certified.

What is 2D?
About OC, i would be careful with that, you can mess up your warrarty on it(from what i am told ) and you also damage your card.

There is no point in investing in a quad core right now unless you really want to max GTA IV which is the only application I am aware of that can harness the power of a quad-core and that's only because of Rockstar's wretched port job to PC.

Well i am not interested in the Quad core, but i wanted a gateway computer , and 500 for one, which happens to be a quad core is just fine with me. Also GTA works just fine without a quad core, there are youtube videos all over where people are using non quads and using 3650's to play the game just fine.

BTW, I can tell you how your 8600GT PCI will run in a quad/dual core rig and that is slow and painful. I just saved you some time and money, now go get a GTX 260 like you know you should!

Well as i said like PCI cards and i don't want the ones i have now which is 12 to just sit around for nothing. Thus, i also wanted a secondary rig, so buying a quad core and using XP on it with PCI cards, for old gaming is a fine by me.
The Quad is going to be my secondary rig, just for the older games, or games that do not run on Vista because of the OS problem.

As for the GTX260, i don't buy video cards that require power connectors, and i never will. I game just fine with low profile cards or mid range cards. The new cards i am buying in order are this:

For this system
Visiontek 4350 512MB pcie
Galaxy 9500GT 1GB PCIE
Visiontek 4670 1GB PCIE

For the Quad Core
Albatron 8600GT DDR3 PCI
Sparkle 9500GT 1GB PCI

I really hope someone releases another ATI PCI card, but i think PCI is nearing its death door.

 

[teklord]

What is 2D?
About OC, i would be careful with that, you can mess up your warrarty on it(from what i am told ) and you also damage your card.

I only OC for games and I can't even do that unless I OC my CPU because I have hit the bottleneck cap for my system. I've OC'ed the GPU in a couple of games like CoD4 and there is no difference in FPS. Flashing the BIOS voids the warranty, so I have to restore it to it's original values if I want to send it back. I always try to go easy on OC unless my game needs it and I always return to stock settings in vanilla XP.

Also GTA works just fine without a quad core, there are youtube videos all over where people are using non quads and using 3650's to play the game just fine.

It works just fine if you can accept 5-10 FPS like what you play with General.

Well as i said like PCI cards and i don't want the ones i have now which is 12 to just sit around for nothing.

You can take all those cards and sell them on eBay for a small return and get a card that you can actually use to get decent results with.

As for the GTX260, i don't buy video cards that require power connectors, and i never will. I game just fine with low profile cards or mid range cards.

I had to use power connectors on this HD 3850 AGP, and it isn't an issue really. It's easy to do just make sure your PSU meets the requirements stated by the GPU manufacturer. GTX 260 is the best GPU you can get right now for the money IMO. I would get one but this AGP fix I did to my P4 system was way cheaper then buying what I needed for the dual core system I want. I'm also getting awesome results with it also.

I really hope someone releases another ATI PCI card, but i think PCI is nearing its death door.

I think everyone that reads how you keep proliferating your PCI GPU collection would breath a sigh of relief that that would be the case. PCI cards really help some people but I would never take one over a PCI-e card, even the same model like a 9500GT.

 

[Tha General]

I admit, i am a little uncomfortable about moving on to PCIE , i don't know why, but i am haha. But i am also very excited to see how a pcie card is way faster then a pci card. Anyways, i will let you guys know when i get some new cards.

But teklord i will post more over at gamestop soon, also hook up a youtube site, i want to see how your card performs. Or you can just post some benchamarks.

Do we have a benchmarking forum or thread on this forum, i think we should make one?

 

[teklord]

I admit, i am a little uncomfortable about moving on to PCIE , i don't know why, but i am haha. But i am also very excited to see how a pcie card is way faster then a pci card. Anyways, i will let you guys know when i get some new cards.

So you don't want to use a PCI-e card because you don't want to screw something up with your computer? That is understandable but it really is almost as simple as plugging in your PCI card collection. Maybe hook a power connection in but the process is the same. I think this is why you continue to use PCI cards is because you feel your tech understanding is limited but I encourage you to expand your horizons as you will really see a radical change by magnitude of orders in your PC performance by switching to PCI-e GPU's.

But teklord i will post more over at gamestop soon, also hook up a youtube site, i want to see how your card performs. Or you can just post some benchamarks.

Wouldn't mind doing that but my CPU is bottlenecking everything I run and making movies would look slow and unproductive. I may post some benchmark stats though. I have a YouTube account but I haven't uploaded any videos yet and I hope to do so in the future.

Do we have a benchmarking forum or thread on this forum, i think we should make one?

That might be cool, of course people like me and you wouldn't be able to post benchmarks close to some of these people with i7 rigs but I am doing my personal best regardless.

 

[Yukikaze]

Overclocking something like the HD2400Pro is almost useless, since even a 50% overclock leaves you with a weakling card, but it does generate some improvement.

PCI is still a major bottleneck, so the increase in performance isn't much.

 

[Yukikaze]

I only OC for games and I can't even do that unless I OC my CPU because I have hit the bottleneck cap for my system. I've OC'ed the GPU in a couple of games like CoD4 and there is no difference in FPS. Flashing the BIOS voids the warranty, so I have to restore it to it's original values if I want to send it back. I always try to go easy on OC unless my game needs it and I always return to stock settings in vanilla XP.

OC your CPU then I have a similar system running a P4 at 4.2Ghz along with an OC'ed HD3850 AGP (Sapphire) and the GPU scores are only around 15% lower on benchmarks such as 3DMark06 when compared to the same card on a C2D or a C2Q (Yes, there are people out there with Q6600s and AGP). You are probably suffering from a far more serious bottleneck, at least at the lower resolutions where the application is not purely GPU bound.

 

[teklord]

OC your CPU then I have a similar system running a P4 at 4.2Ghz along with an OC'ed HD3850 AGP (Sapphire) and the GPU scores are only around 15% lower on benchmarks such as 3DMark06 when compared to the same card on a C2D or a C2Q (Yes, there are people out there with Q6600s and AGP). You are probably suffering from a far more serious bottleneck, at least at the lower resolutions where the application is not purely GPU bound.

Unfortunately, the highest I can OC this P4 and remain stable without crashes is 3.5 GHz approximately. That helps a lot in load times and FPS in games but still shows no change in FPS in games when I OC my HD 3850 AGP along with CPU. The bottleneck is frustrating but it is nice not to have to OC my GPU so I know it won't be as stressed out and possibly last longer. My PC is too slow to run SSF Sega Saturn emulator and that is really frustrating as well since my PC with this HD 3850 AGP is like at least 50 times more powerful than a Sega Saturn.

 

[Tha General]

Did you build that computer?(I AM guessing you did and its not a prebuilt, because from what i hear you can't OC prebuilts)
If so , maybe you need to buy a cheap MB from newegg