PDA

View Full Version : would a pci videocard be better than integrated?



chevdo
12-20-2004, 04:17 PM
My new Celeron D 320 is powered by a motherboard with 'intel extreme graphics' video chipset, and it steals up to 64mb of system ram, which I don't like. Would it be faster if I threw an old PCI matrox mystique or millenium in that machine? I only use the machine for Saw, but would the old PCI video card bog it down more than the ram stealing the integrated video does?

SoundSuite
12-20-2004, 05:27 PM
Besides the memory that the onboard graphics is using, it's using a share of your cpu as well.
The answer to your question of better performance depends on the 'old' PCI card.

The onboard graphics will give you a decent screen resolution and refresh rate though it will 'rob your system' somewhat.

The 'old' PCI card may or may not meet or exceed the onboards screen res and refresh and very simply put, may not have enough memory on the card to handle large textures.
Though it surely is not going to rob the system whatsoever cpu/mem performance wise, it may degrade your video performance by comparison to the onboard.

Give it a shot if you are froggy :)

ps, a newer PCI vid card (they make 256MB versions now even), would definately be 'better' than the onboard in all facets.
However, if you have onboard video, I am assuming your case is small and board has limited PCI slots...PCI slots to fill with something else are like gold compared to slight performance differences sometimes.

chevdo
12-20-2004, 06:06 PM
Thanks Jon! Actually there is sort of an AGP slot, actually 'AGI' which I've gathered isn't entirely compatible with AGP, but if I were to get a new card I'd probably pick one that is compatible with that slot, to leave the PCI slots open. Would you happen to know if any of the other onboard options are robbing cpu & memory from me? Would there be a benefit to not using the onboard LAN, for example? I've got the onboard sound shut off since I don't need it, but I'm wondering what else might be a drag on the system.

SoundSuite
12-20-2004, 09:26 PM
AGI?
Is it this board?
http://www.asrockamerica.com/Products/775i65GV.htm

Audio is usually cutoff because it is 'under-quality' to us.
Network on-board should be fine, etc.
It's just mainly on-board graphics that leech.

chevdo
12-21-2004, 03:52 PM
Close! It's an Asrock P4i45GV. I found that the board conflicted with my soundcard/control surface (roland VM-3100pro+RPC-1) so I had to turn it off. I had hoped to leave it on to play mp3s without having to fire up the VM-3100. Maybe I'll try to work that issue out some day, but I'm happy with it so far.