Intel GMA x3000 v/s ati cards

[aoe3]

Hi Guys,

Newbie to hardware... I recently bought a C2D E4300, Intel DG965RY, 1GB DDR2, 250GB along with a ATI Radeon x1550 pro card. few basic questions...

1. How does the Intel GMA x3000 match with the ATI Radeon x1550 pro card, is this card better than the GMA?
2. The GMA gets disabled once the PCI card is inserted, is there anyway to enable it along with the card so that I can choose either device based on the game?

If the card is inferior to the GMA x3000, then can I remove it and live with the x3000 to play the usual games like AoE3, Ghost REcon, farcry and so on?

Appreciate your help guys...

cheers,
Arv
C2D E4300, Intel DG965RY with GMA x3000,
1GB DDR2, 250GB SATA, ATI Radeon x1550 pro card

 

[hans007]

the card is going to be a lot better than the gma x3000.


the x3000 is maybe on par with the more ancient x300SE . i'd say the x1550 is probably in the neighbor hood of 3 times faster (i think its a x1300pro, that amd / ati renamed x1550)

 

[aoe3]

cool.... thats a relief for my impulsive card selection....

Whats the best buy card in the market today... keeping Directx10 in mind along with the new Neon gaming engine used in Colin Mcrae's DIRT and to be used in 2008 games...

Cheers,
Core 2 Duo E4300 @ Stock - 1.80Ghz
Intel DG965RY Mobo with Intel GMA x3000
ATI Radeon PCI x1550 Pro 256MB
Transcend 1GB DDR2-800
250 GB SATA Seagate
Acer 17" Widescreen AL1716
On-Board SigmaTel Audio
---------------------------------
[Long live the AoE & AoM series]

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: hans007
the card is going to be a lot better than the gma x3000.

the x3000 is maybe on par with the more ancient x300SE . i'd say the x1550 is probably in the neighbor hood of 3 times faster (i think its a x1300pro, that amd / ati renamed x1550)

I am not at all certain of that, given the OP's reference to "PCI". If it's plain PCI instead of the real thing (PCI-e), it is horribly crippled, and barely better than Intel IGP, while entirely likely to be inferior to ATI or nVidia IGP offerings.

So let's find out. Why was the term "PCI" used when asking the question, instead of PCI-e?

 

[aoe3]

Newbie mistake Kiwi....

It is a PCI-Express card...

Thanks for pointing it out