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Best PCI Graphics Card?

Peteballaghaderreen

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Hi

I need a graphics card update for a standard PCI motherboard (not PCI-Express)

What's the best card out there for PCI?

Thanks

Pete
 

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Looks like the best things Newegg has are the Radeon X1550's. You really won't find anything too powerful for PCI.
 

Peteballaghaderreen

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thanks would that play medieval 2 total war on half decent settings anyone know?
 
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There are some 8500GT PCI floating around, idk where to get them tho.
 

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I am unsure of how much they would bottleneck but an 8600GT.

PS: And it would probably make a good Physx card for those few like myself that only have a single PCIe 16X slot.
 

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ive seen 8500 pci cards on Ebay a few times ,no idea how good they are tho,i did think about buying 1 as a backup for emergencys ,but didn't bother.
 
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I am unsure of how much they would bottleneck but an 8600GT.

PS: And it would probably make a good Physx card for those few like myself that only have a single PCIe 16X slot.

I wouldn't mind picking up an 8 or 9 series pci card for Physx myself, since both of my pci-e slots are taken up for crossfire.
 
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Seriously, i don't think that a computer that doesn't have at least a AGP port could run Medieval 2 Total war on "decent" settings.
 
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Seriously, i don't think that a computer that doesn't have at least a AGP port could run Medieval 2 Total war on "decent" settings.

Lots of pc manufacturers, like dell, didn't even bother putting agp slots on mother boards just to cut corners and save money or whatever. They often used onboard graphics for the vga, so they didn't even have to bother putting a vga socket on the motherboard.

So basically it doesn't mean the pc is total crap, its proprietary crap, lol
 
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I could sell you my old S3 virge DX pci;)
 
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Maybe you can go crossfire-x if you have onboard ati graphics and a pci ati card? Possible?
 

Peteballaghaderreen

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Thanks for all the replies.

I saw an ATI Radeon 9000 for a good price on eBay are they any good?
 
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My friend has an ATI 9600, it can play Oblivion on medium settings with avarege frame rates.
What's this PC going to be used for, anyway?
 
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i think the X1550pro or X1300 would be your best options, as pretty much 8000 series will be bottlenecked by the PCI bus and therefor not perform anywhere near what they should. Both of those should be able to pull Shader Verison 1 with med/low settings and play MTW2
 

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The best PCI cards are the new Albatron 8600gt / 8500gt lineup.
 
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i had a PC with PCI graphics, it was faster then some of my AGP equivalents.....
just remember that if you use PCI for gfx, you shouldn't use any PCI slots, as it can 1/2 or 1/3 your bandwidth....


P.S. depending on your case, you could possibly upgrade your mobo, and if you have 478-socket, you can upgrade to PCI-e
cuz the best PCI cards are ~$120, and you can get a mobo for $60 and a PCI-e gfx for $60 that would blow it away......for the same price


oh and they have hd2400 PCI....so i think that would be better than an X1550 no??
 
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I have the Sparkle 8500GT for PCI in a small PC built around a Via C7-D CPU.

You can read about it here: www.direwolf007.blogspot.com

Heck, it even runs Crysis, kinda. And the CPU is the bottleneck, rest assured.

If you have a P-4 system with no PCI-E or AGP slots, it isn't a bad buy, if you can find one for reasonable $$$.
 
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I think the 8600gt for nVidia & the 3850 for ATI would be about the most top rated cards.
 
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I think the 8600gt for nVidia & the 3850 for ATI would be about the most top rated cards.

The first by Albatron is the most powerful PCI video card and is next to impossible to find.

The HD3850 does not exist for the PCI, and with good reason.
 
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