pci vs. agp

[spense]

Hello,
I have a question that i know you guys will answer. I have made a few post asking about graphics cards. Because i have just bought a new graphics card, a evga geforce 4 ti 4200 128mb card :). I have been asking why i can not get good framerates and i think i may have just found the answer. Right now i have a s3 prosavage 32mb graphics card (piece of crap :() and i just remembered that it is a pci card. I have heard that pci run a lot slower than the agp and i would like to know this: should i get a fairly good framerate increase going from my old pci card to my new agp gf4 ti 4200 128mb card?

thanks

[Leif]

in short words, YES!

pci compared to agp is like t-ford to ferrari..:-)

//Leif

[tjkotula]

I'll second that. AGP slots perform many times the speed of PCI slots and have much greater memory bandwidth.

Tim Kotula

XP 1800+ o/ced to XP2000+ (1.67Ghz)
MSI KT3 Ultra Motherboard
512 MB Crucial PC2100 DDR
OC Systems Enhanced GeForce 4 Ti4200 64 MB DDR o/ced to 330/640 Mhz.
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1

Think you've got computer problems? You haven't until you've installed the latest version of FS!

[spense]

Thanks guys. Thats what i thought. I had just rememered that it was a pci card and went "thats the problem." So with my computer specs below could you give me a good estiment of the fps i can get with the sliders maxed. right now i have all the sliders about half way and get 16-18 fps wiht 3rd party software. now wiht the new card what do you think i could get.

amd 1600+
512mb sdram
gf4 ti 4200 128mb

[spense]

also, what is the advantage of a ti 4200 64mb to a 128mb exept that the ram is faster on the 64mb version. because i got the 128mb because i read that it is the smarter choice in the long run because fs 2004 might use like 80mb scenery textures.

[wsieffert]

Before you go and buy an AGP card, does your computer have a compliant ver 2.0 AGP slot. If not, don't buy an AGP card.

W. Sieffert

[tjkotula]

You shouldn't have much of a problem maxing the sliders and getting 20fps in default low to moderate density areas and 15-17 or so in default high density areas. That's what I get and I've got just a slightly faster processor after o/cing (266 Mhz faster I believe) If you use any third party shareware scenery (like Simflyers') however, don't expect to immediatley get 20+fps. You'll probably get 9-12fps on those 3rd party ultra-high detail shareware addons. Still marginally flyable in my opinion, but kinda on the choppy side. Plus you gotta remember I was used to getting 6-8fps almost everywhere on my old system so I'm used to flying with fps that low.

Other than the differences in memory speeds, I believe that's it on the differences between the 64 MB and 128 MB versions. You made a good choice for the future anyway. The only reason I got the 64 MB one was because I also wanted a new sound card. The VIA KT333 chipset's onboard sound wasn't cutting it for me. Too crackly and too soft.

Tim Kotula

XP 1800+ o/ced to XP2000+ (1.67Ghz)
MSI KT3 Ultra Motherboard
512 MB Crucial PC2100 DDR
OC Systems Enhanced GeForce 4 Ti4200 64 MB DDR o/ced to 330/640 Mhz.
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1

Think you've got computer problems? You haven't until you've installed the latest version of FS!

[spense]

my computer is only a year old but had a cheap card that was used in a pci slot, guess they were just trying to be cheap. i do know that i have 1 expandable agp slot but how do i know it is 2.0

[NonCon]

It really depends on the rest of your system.

KJ

[spense]

when you say that it depends on the rest of my system. what are you refering to. whether it is a agp 2.0 or if my system can handle a ti 4200

amg 1600+
512mb pc133 ram
soon to be gf4 ti4200 128mb