AGP 4x 0r 8x?

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I'm upgrading my system peice by piece, just popped in a Biostar M7VIW w/ an
AMD 2000+ XP chip, running fine, now I'm looking at video cards. I can't
spend a lot, got a baby on the way, and a 5 year old who eats like a horse
and grows out of shoes and clothes overnight. PCGamer magazine recommended
the GeForce FX 5200 Ultra as a good, reliable DX9 card and I found it at
Pricewatch.com for around $64. Then I noticed that it's an AGP 8x card, and
my motherboard's AGP slot is 4x. Could I, or even *should* I put an 8x
board in a 4x slot? I could get a highly recommended (a few years ago
costing around $200) GeForce MX 440 128 4x board for around $50. Would it
be better to stick with what the slot was designed for? I think it would be
nice to have the DX9 support, but if it's detrimental to the system...

TIA
 
The 8x card will just run default to 4x. There is no significant
performance gain between the two platforms, anyway. And, an MX card will
leave you 'greatly' disatisfied.

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news.verizon.net stood up, at show-n-tell, and said:
 
news.verizon.net said:
I'm upgrading my system peice by piece, just popped in a Biostar M7VIW w/ an
AMD 2000+ XP chip, running fine, now I'm looking at video cards. I can't
spend a lot, got a baby on the way, and a 5 year old who eats like a horse
and grows out of shoes and clothes overnight. PCGamer magazine recommended
the GeForce FX 5200 Ultra as a good, reliable DX9 card and I found it at
Pricewatch.com for around $64. Then I noticed that it's an AGP 8x card, and
my motherboard's AGP slot is 4x. Could I, or even *should* I put an 8x
board in a 4x slot? I could get a highly recommended (a few years ago
costing around $200) GeForce MX 440 128 4x board for around $50. Would it
be better to stick with what the slot was designed for? I think it would be
nice to have the DX9 support, but if it's detrimental to the system...
Click to expand...

Nearly all 8x cards are backwards compatible with 4x slots. The FX5200 is no
exception. And the good news is you won't lose any performance - 8x is more
marketting hype than anything else, it won't make any difference in speed
(yet).

Gareth
 
I'm upgrading my system peice by piece, just popped in a Biostar M7VIW w/ an
AMD 2000+ XP chip, running fine, now I'm looking at video cards. I can't
spend a lot, got a baby on the way, and a 5 year old who eats like a horse
and grows out of shoes and clothes overnight. PCGamer magazine recommended
the GeForce FX 5200 Ultra as a good, reliable DX9 card and I found it at
Pricewatch.com for around $64. Then I noticed that it's an AGP 8x card, and
my motherboard's AGP slot is 4x. Could I, or even *should* I put an 8x
board in a 4x slot? I could get a highly recommended (a few years ago
costing around $200) GeForce MX 440 128 4x board for around $50. Would it
be better to stick with what the slot was designed for? I think it would be
nice to have the DX9 support, but if it's detrimental to the system...

TIA
Click to expand...

Are you real sure that the FX 5200 is an Ultra? The only reason I question this
is that the Ultra 5200 is usually twice that price and the FX 5200 Not-An-Ultra
64m is around the $64.00 price range. I have the regular 5200 and it's just
Nvidia's new name for a MX 440. If that card is indeed an Ultra 5200 then it is
a really nice deal for $64. Just for a guide...

http://www.newegg.com/app/manufactory.asp?catalog=48&DEPA=0

Ed
 
Most times its possible to put an 8x card on a 4x AGP slot. The card
should default to 4x in that case. Just read the specs of the card in
question on the manufacturer's website for details.

The GeForce FX 5200 (€75 here) is an "ok" kind of card, but if I was
getting a new card I would spend just a little more and get the 5600
(€142 here) or Radeon 9500 (€121 here) or Ti4200 (€109 here).

I wouldn't touch the GF4 MX with a barge pole. It's shit.

Check out www.tomeshardware.com vga section for his vga charts to get an
indication of the relative performances of the cards.
 
Bas:

Appreciate the reply, but the 5600/9500 are $138 and $120 respectively and a
bit out of my price range. I'm upgrading from an ATI Rage Fury and I'd
settle for a more modest upgrade at this point. Can you recommend something
a little more (for me anyway) more economical? Maybe in the $50-70 range?

Thanks for the tips!
 
Check Ebay for used cards. I recently bought a TI4200 for $81.00 shipping
and all! It was a big improvement over the MX440 that was in my grandson's
PC.
 
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