on board or agp graphics on old system?

kevinheb

I am trying to upgrade an old system, socket a athlon 2600, 512mb ddr with on board real256e graphics, running xp, it is only used for internet and office work, no gaming. I have an extra 256mb to add to the board, but I also have an ati rage pro agp video card, which I know is ancient, but would that speed up the system rather than using the on board graphics that take some of the main memory.

thanks

totalsolutions

No not really faster Is the screen redraw that slow?
I like to match memory modules, no problems then with blue screens and timing glitches later. Try it but be prepared to pull it, if giving problems.

BillScarab

The card won't speed things up directly. however it will mean you're not using any of the system memory for graphics so you'll have a few more MB of RAM available for the system.

If you've got the card you may as well stick it in. It won't do any harm.

nomoneytoday

Maxing the ram and tidying up the HDD is probably the best way to get a sizeable speed increase. The video card will add a little extra on top

CHR15

It only takes a few minutes, just whack it in and play about with it (so to speak!)

chrisjw37

A graphics card will sahre the CPU load when it comes to drawing the screen

YES, use it.

Drivers may be an issue, not any new ones about.
So no games possible.

JasX

if your serious about speeding it up a reformat and rebuild would be your best bet... esp if it came with a factory restore CD that'll put in all the original drivers for you automatically

kevinheb

thanks for everyone's advice, I will be putting the video card into the machine