To buy or not to buy...agp vs pci

[CaptTrips]

Well heres my delima. I just ordered a new system from newegg , should be here Thursday...
Soyo Dragon+, AMD XP+1800, Alpha 8045u, 256mb crucial ddr

BUT The best vid card i have laying around is a Geforce2 mx400 64ddr PCI card...
Would it really be worth it to buy a Gf3 or Gf4 (or radeon )now, or should i just use the pci card??? At least until the gf4's prove themselves and the gf3's drop in price....

I dont really understand HOW much of a speed difference AGP and PCI cards have. (dons flame proof suit)

Anyone care to enlighten me?

 

[BFG10K]

Your system will be heavily video card limited with such a fast CPU. Really, pairing that 1800 XP+ with a GF2 MX is really silly. Get a GF3 Ti200 or something faster.

I dont really understand HOW much of a speed difference AGP and PCI cards have. (dons flame proof suit)

The difference is not as much about the interface as it is about the actual fillrate of the cards. Quite simply a GF3/GF4 spanks any GF2 MX silly.

 

[hovenas]

Well, if you don't need a ferociously fast vid card and all you do is seti, mail, surf and word... By all means, hold on to the money.
Although, If RTCW and MOHAA is all the rage, GET REAL!

 

[rbenq]

Although the PCI card will probably be the bottleneck you can use it to see if it fullfills your needs for a while.
By the time you decide to replace it the price of GF3 or GF4 will have dropped considerably.
My Voodoo3 3500TV debutted with a K6-300 and now running with an Athlon 1.2 will be around for more than a year...

Regards, Ben.