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Question about Integrated Graphics

emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
edited April 2008 in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern
I bought an older HP desktop recently for cheap. But I'm not sure how it uses integrated graphics.

It has a gig of RAM and here's the motherboard: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00361570&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=460075&os=228

As you can see, it has three PCI-Standard slots free so does that mean I could see an improvement in graphics (if I did decide to play any older games on it) if I bought a cheap 64MB PCI video card, too? Or is it not worth the effort?

emnmnme on

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    BubbaTBubbaT Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    Yes, you should get a fairly substantial improvement from something like a Geforce 6200.

    7506.png

    http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2427&p=1


    That's a 50-frame increase over Intel's integrated GMA950, which is newer than the GMA900 that's on the 915GV mobo.
    PCI versions of the 6200 with 256MB dedicated memory - not Turbo Cache - are $40-50.

    BubbaT on
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    emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    Thanks.

    But how is it the 32MB card outperformed the 64 MB one?

    A quick look on ebay and I found this one. I don't want to get anything too modern since I don't want to stress out the power supply.

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    bobmyknobbobmyknob 3DS Friend Code 4553-9974-2186 Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    That video card has two things going against it. First it's a Quadro, which is pretty bad for games (although anything's better then the integrated video in your motherboard). Second it's a PCI-Express card, which is a newer standard then what your motherboard has.

    bobmyknob on
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    emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    Oops, I didn't notice it was PCI-E.

    Let me try again.

    emnmnme on
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    bobmyknobbobmyknob 3DS Friend Code 4553-9974-2186 Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    That should be fine. If the price ends up being around $50 though, you might as well buy it new somewhere else.

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    TransparentTransparent Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    And you don't need to worry about power supply strain, a 6200 will only raise your peak power consumption by 10 watts.

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    BubbaTBubbaT Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    I'd also keep an eye out for the ATI X1300. It's also available in a 256MB PCI form, and is just as good as the 6200. I suppose technically it's even better since it has hardware support for Shader Model 3.0, but I'm not sure that's a huge concern at this price point.

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    emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    BubbaT wrote: »
    I'd also keep an eye out for the ATI X1300. It's also available in a 256MB PCI form, and is just as good as the 6200. I suppose technically it's even better since it has hardware support for Shader Model 3.0, but I'm not sure that's a huge concern at this price point.

    But holy crap! $130!
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129072

    emnmnme on
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    TransparentTransparent Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    And it requires 30 watts at 3d peak. Not too bad but if power supply strain is a concern...

    Transparent on
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    emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    I have a year old 500 Watt power supply I can buy from my brother for peanuts. One less thing to worry about. 8-)

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    TM2 RampageTM2 Rampage Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    emnmnme wrote: »
    Thanks.

    But how is it the 32MB card outperformed the 64 MB one?
    Perhaps the 64 MB one uses slower video RAM.

    TM2 Rampage on
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    emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited April 2008
    Unless there's any reason not to (other than not having a fan), I think I'll bid for this used card.

    http://cgi.ebay.com/VisionTek-9250-128MB-PCI-Video-Card_W0QQitemZ270229687018QQihZ017QQcategoryZ3762QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

    That should acceptably run any game released before 2005.

    emnmnme on
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