Which Graphics Card - under £40

wombler

epz wrote:

for areo you will need a shader model 3 card, basicly a nvidia 6*** series or greater or an ati x1***.

are you sure its worth upgrading, very few sub 40 pound cards offer anything close to what would be called good 3d performance, these days a 6600gt is about the minimum most would consider worth upgrading to.

if its just the dvi and tv port you may want to look at stuff like nvidias 4600ti's they have vivo better performance than the cheap cards and go for buttons on ebay

But you don't need "good 3d performance" unless you want to play 3d games, which is pretty much all these expensive graphics cards are made for. If you don't play 3D games having a £25 or a £300 is going to make hardly any noticeable difference.

Also the NVidia 4600ti's won't run Aero, so they're not a good choice if that's what you want to do.

Blacksheep1979

actually with Vista the OS can offload some of the more graphically challenging aspects (the pretty stuff) to the graphics card so a decent graphics card will help. However the OP only has a 4x agp slot so all of this is a bit of a moot point.

Gib_Gib

I must admit I have always heard the advice that EPX said, but GoofyGAT does have evidence to back him up.

Bamber19

sorry to hijack a little but i ran that test on my laptop and didn't understand this line "You Have: 2.99 GHz Performance Rated at 4.49 GHz"

CAT-THE-FIFTH

Look for a second hand(or if you are lucky new) Nvidia 6600 or 6600GT AGP on Ebay.

Blacksheep1979

People you are still missing the point

AWOL wrote:

Can someone reccomend me a good graphics card.

I have an AGP x4 slot on my MB

He needs a new motherboard before buying any of the reccomended cards.

GoofyGAT

Blacksheep1979 wrote:

He needs a new motherboard before buying any of the reccomended cards.

That's not necessarily true, Blacksheep1979......

In this Features & Benefits for GeForce 6 Series GPUs it says (right at the bottom):

AGP 8X
Provides double the bandwidth of AGP 4X—2.1GB/sec. vs. 1.1GB/sec. AGP 8X enables more complex models and detailed textures, creating richer and more lifelike environments. Uninterrupted data flow allows for smoother video streaming and faster, more seamless gameplay. (AGP 8X/4X compliant)

I say 'not necessarily' also because some manufacturers may only make 8x 6600/6600GTs?? Finally, many of the other recommended cards in this thread are most definitely 4x compliant. G

GoofyGAT

Found some firsthand proof that you don't need a powerful graphics card to run Aero (they are using the RC1/2 builds).

Couple of pictures (off the wikipedia site) displaying the same desktop with & without Aero. I can see a difference but it isn't that noticeable, is it? I suppose it'll make a bigger impact if you have it on your system & can turn it on/off right before your very eyes! G