New TForce 6100

[Neos]

I know it is slower - but is it much slower?

I am looking at a Biostar baord - and would upgrade later to PCI16 for a new graphics card.

Anyone used one of these yet?

Thanks

 

[Zap]

Slower than what? Slower than 7800GT? Yes. Slower than Intel Extreme Graphics? No. What are you wanting it compared to?

 

[Neos]

I am using an MSI mATX board now with an Asus 128 Nvidia AGP & Athlon XP1500. I am looking to upgrade to a A64 - Sempron 64 to start.

There are some mATX 754 boards that will take the Sempron & they have AGP (so I could use my Asus card) - but it will stop with the Sempron. These boards so far as I see mostly have the VIA 800 chipset.

There are 939 boards (like the Microstar) that use NVidia - thus the 1000 spd bus - and the built in 6100 graphics. They also use the PCI 16 for a vid upgrade - and some will take the Sempron - and also the Athlon 64.

What I want to do if the 6100 is up to par with my Asus is to start with a Sempron on that board - and upgrade later to the better Athlon and a new PCI 16 graphics card. I do not do any heavy gaming - just MS Office, web, and simple games (like Whatword, Zuma).

Does that soumd like a good plan?

 

[Zap]

Yes, the 6100 onboard graphics will work just fine for your uses. 3D graphics performance only benefits 3D games.

BTW, which Nvidia chipset did that card use? There were a LOT of different ones.

 

[Neos]

G Force MX4000 - if you are referring to the Asus video card.

One other question. The Asus vid card - of course - has it's 128 meg of onboard ram.

The 6100 onboard setup - would you know if it gets it's power from the system ram? If that is the case - then when I do go with a 939 board with on-board video - I should make sure that I have a goodly amount of system ram. Am I correct in this?

Thanks again.

 

[Zap]

The video on the 6100 should be faster. Yes, it uses your RAM in most implementations, though IIRC a mobo manufacturer can opt to have discreet video RAM. Socket 939 boards should be better because of dual channel memory operation, with the only drawback being that you can't get a cheap Sempron for it. 1GB dual channel RAM should be plenty.