Viewing Thread:
"PCI.....AGP???"

Errrr. I don't know what these mean but I know that PCI works on older PCs, but AGP is better but only works on newer PCs. I got my PC about two years ago. It was a brand new Dell back then. Does that classify as old?

Errrr. I don't know what these mean but I know that PCI works on older PCs, but AGP is better but only works on newer PCs. I got my PC about two years ago. It was a brand new Dell back then. Does that classify as old?

I'm talking about Graphics Cards by the way.

most pc's have AGP and PCI slots. take the cover off your pc and have a look, if you have a modem, sound card and/or network card they will be in the PCI slots, if you look closely on the motherboard at one end of these slots it will tell you which are pci and which are agp.

remember to turn the power the off before you open you take the covers off.

PCI cards go into the PCI slot.
AGP cards go into the AGP slot.

Hope I have been of help.

Your Dell should have an AGP slot, usually AGP cards are cheaper than their PCI equivalents.
AGP also have 2x, 4x or even 8x data transfer rates so I would go for the AGP option if I was you.
If not, you can get a Geforce 4 PCI card nowadays but they are a bit more expensive.
Have you not got a motherboard manual ?

Just for the record, when you are looking for the AGP slot in your comp, it'll be the *brown* coloured slot usually situated between the CPU socket and the row of PCI slots. Just for reference, the PCI slots are usually white.

Oh and if you haven't got a AGP slot on your Mobo, then you might want to get a new one. A PCI G card is a bad move dude. Even if you buy a decent PCI card (GeForce 4), it'll choke under the crap bandwidth of the PCI bus.

In the near future (late next year), we should begin to see AGP (including the new x8 standard) being phased out by the PCI Express interface, which goes at slightly faster speeds than AGPx8. Which should translate to more convenience, and no confusing quesitons over AGP and PCI.

Thanks everyone!

DavidJ wrote:
> Errrr. I don't know what these mean but I know that PCI works on
> older PCs, but AGP is better but only works on newer PCs. I got my PC
> about two years ago. It was a brand new Dell back then. Does that
> classify as old?


I constantly find (to my continued amazement although I should be used to it by now) that the moment you buy a PC (like you buy a car) its immediately "old news" and "slow, rubbish" as the following week something far superior comes onto the market.

You know what---call me paranoid, but I can't help thinking that theres a conspiracy with all the computer manufacturers, who are sitting on an alien discovery of a super-computer, and know how to make an ideal model, but want to squeeze money out of all us dopes for the next 20 years.....by slowly releasing marginal improvements every few weeks/months/years...lol

AGP, accelerated graphics port.

Its specifically for graphics cards. Nothing more, nothing less. Meaning that AGP graphics cards will be alot better than PCI cards.

PCI slots are all sorts of things, modems and all sorts.

I have a 5year old PB with no AGP slots.. so I bought a PCI Voodoo32000.. 16mb.. which I cant really tell the difference between that and my old 4mb one.

PCI cards suck.

Your pc should have an AGP slot. Most computers that are younger than 3years old will have AGP. Should do anyways..

Blade2003, your so right there..

They have a 20Ghz cpu, just dont wanna release it yet.