Graphic card question

  • Thread starter Thread starter ABC
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A

ABC

Just want to know if i can use and work with 64, 128 or 256 "bit" video
cards on my XP Pro? Such as Radeon 9800 Pro?
Is there any limitation in using those card on my 32 bit system? Do i have
to change any thing in hardware or software before using them?
Thanks in advance.
 
ABC said:
Just want to know if i can use and work with 64, 128 or 256 "bit"
video cards on my XP Pro? Such as Radeon 9800 Pro?
Is there any limitation in using those card on my 32 bit system? Do i
have to change any thing in hardware or software before using them?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

You're mixing up your terms. The 64-128-256 references on a video card
are not to "bits" but rather to the MB of memory on the card. This has
nothing to do with the architecture of the operating system (32 or
64-bit).

The only limitations to using particular hardware in a particular
machine with a specific operating system are 1) whether the computer is
physically capable of having the device (like cheap pc's with no agp
slot for better graphics cards for instance); 2) whether there are
drivers for the device to make it work with that operating system.

So the bottom line is if your computer has an agp slot, you can use a
video card with 64, 128, or 256MB memory on it. If you are considering
upgrading your computer to a higher-end video card for gaming, another
thing to check is if your power supply will support the new card. Most
higher-end video cards need to also be plugged into one of the power
supply connectors.

Malke
 
Two more minor points - Cooling should be adequate for a
mid to high end video card. Also, many motherboards share
the AGP IRQ with the first or adjacent PCI Slot. So if you
add an AGP and that first PCI slot is populated, move the
card that is in it to either Slot 2 or 5. Not a big issue with XP
but some peripheral cards don't play well with IRQ sharing.
 
Malke said:
You're mixing up your terms. The 64-128-256 references on a video card
are not to "bits" but rather to the MB of memory on the card. This has
nothing to do with the architecture of the operating system (32 or
64-bit).
Click to expand...

Actually, video cards have both reference, my PowerColor x800xl has
256MB of RAM running on a 256 bit Memory bus.
The only limitations to using particular hardware in a particular
machine with a specific operating system are 1) whether the computer
is physically capable of having the device (like cheap pc's with no
agp slot for better graphics cards for instance); 2) whether there are
drivers for the device to make it work with that operating system.

So the bottom line is if your computer has an agp slot, you can use a
video card with 64, 128, or 256MB memory on it. If you are considering
upgrading your computer to a higher-end video card for gaming, another
thing to check is if your power supply will support the new card. Most
higher-end video cards need to also be plugged into one of the power
supply connectors.

Malke
Click to expand...



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ABC said:
Just want to know if i can use and work with 64, 128 or 256 "bit"
video cards on my XP Pro? Such as Radeon 9800 Pro?
Is there any limitation in using those card on my 32 bit system? Do i
have to change any thing in hardware or software before using them?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

That is a measure of the Memory Bus on the video card and is independant
of any operating system. You'll see better video performance with the
larger memory bus bit width.

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Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com/mscommunity
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei"
 
Malke said:
You're mixing up your terms. The 64-128-256 references on a video card
are not to "bits" but rather to the MB of memory on the card. This has
nothing to do with the architecture of the operating system (32 or
64-bit). <snip>
Click to expand...

Actually, video cards have both reference(s), my PowerColor x800xl has
256MB of RAM running on a 256 bit Memory bus.

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com/mscommunity
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei"
 
Malke said:
You're mixing up your terms. The 64-128-256 references on a video card
are not to "bits" but rather to the MB of memory on the card. This has
nothing to do with the architecture of the operating system (32 or
64-bit). <snip>
Click to expand...

Actually, video cards have both reference(s), my PowerColor x800xl has
256MB of RAM running on a 256 bit Memory bus.
 
Thanks very much for the help.
Were can i find more information on the effects of memory card's BUS bit
width, so that i would buy the appropriate card?
 
Thanks very much for the help.

Malke said:
You're mixing up your terms. The 64-128-256 references on a video card
are not to "bits" but rather to the MB of memory on the card. This has
nothing to do with the architecture of the operating system (32 or
64-bit).

The only limitations to using particular hardware in a particular
machine with a specific operating system are 1) whether the computer is
physically capable of having the device (like cheap pc's with no agp
slot for better graphics cards for instance); 2) whether there are
drivers for the device to make it work with that operating system.

So the bottom line is if your computer has an agp slot, you can use a
video card with 64, 128, or 256MB memory on it. If you are considering
upgrading your computer to a higher-end video card for gaming, another
thing to check is if your power supply will support the new card. Most
higher-end video cards need to also be plugged into one of the power
supply connectors.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Click to expand...
 
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