PCI Video Card

[swva_pilot21]

Well I've been doing some research lately and I've found that AGP is the way to go. Unfortunately after opening up my computer, I found that I don't have an AGP slot. I'm stuck with the PCI's. I'm just wondering if it's really worth the money to get a decent PCI graphics card or will it make that much of a difference.

My system:

HP Pavilion 752n
2.0 GHz
512 MB RAM
Integrated Intel Graphics (the reason I don't have an AGP slot)

I'm currently running FS2002 and it runs pretty smoothly but I'd like to go with FS2004 if I can.

[swva_pilot21]

I know the AGP's are going to be much better. I'm just stuck with the PCI so I don't even have a choice in the matter. I just want to know if buying a PCI graphics card is even going to be worth the money I spend on it or will it just be a slight upgrade?

[aafuss]

The performance could be a bit slower with a new PCI video card, and PCI graphics cards can be difficult to find and purchase.

[swva_pilot21]

Well I just took the plunge and got a PCI card. It turned out better than expected! I have my sliders almost all maxed out and I still get around 15 fps! Here's the results....http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/DCForumID8/35987.html

[RyanbATC]

It will make a difference, just pick up either A FX5200 PCI or GeForce 4 MX400 PCI, anything is better than the stupid i8xx chipsets.....argghhh.

[aafuss]

A PCI graphics card will be slower than a AGP one and you may not have as many choices in graphics chipsets as compared to AGP graphics cards. I was able to get good performance and good graphics quality with Intel Extreme Graphics in FS2004 (running on XP Pro SP1,with PV13.6 drivers)-as the below screenshot will show: