Page 1 of PCI or PCI Express

Do PCI- Express cards fit in PCI cards. I have a new Dell computer without an AGP card so im confused with which graphics card to buy... If I were to buy a PCI card which one would I be recommended to buy?

Ben

There should be a pci express slot if theres not an agp. the normal 2.1 PCI slots are of a lower bandwidth than both agp and pci express.
It may be the case that this pc doesn`t have either port and just has on board graphics - in which case ur bummered.

I think someone will back me up here.............
WAITING FOR CONFIRMATION FROM DVD REVIEWER PC BOFFINS :B

KaTz

www.myspace.com/kattri

This item was edited on Friday, 4th November 2005, 22:31

Actually Katz, the standard Dell models don`t tend to have AGP or PCI-E, they`re shipped only with the on-board graphics (to cut down on cost & space).
So a standard PCI graphics card is the only choice to replace the on-board gfx chip.
However, these don`t tend to be great, compared to the AGP/PCI-E cards (due to the bandwidth limitations of PCI 2.1).

Take a look at these ones for some idea of what you can get:
www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=12734935079&action=c2hvd3N1YmNhdGVnb3J5X3BhZ2U=&subcat_uid=672

HTH
Miles

oops. my bad :/
yep, pci graphics card are available. but don`t expect fast performance like agp or pci express.

KaTz

www.myspace.com/kattri
:/ :/ :/

thanks all, much appreciated advice :D

is there any way to get these slots i need for a higher end graphics card?

Ben

This item was edited on Saturday, 5th November 2005, 09:50

The only way to allow for PCI-E x16 (which is used for graphics and NOT PCI -E of other type) or AGP is to change the board. I suspect your system has fairly rudimentary components (with all due respect) so a new board will not be expensive - probably under £30.

If you go the PCI-E x16 or AGP route be careful you don`t choose a card that is of too high a performance. If the CPU cannot receive the data at the rate the graphics card is pumping it then it doesn`t make sense to spend too much on the graphics setup.

I assume that in addition to a new motherboard a windows XP cd would have to be bought since on the dell its going to be a dell pc specific restore partition or cdrom