ATI Xpress 200 integrated gpu vs geforce4 4400

[Marcus Seneca Cato]

I need a new motherboard, and while the benchmarks of the integrated graphics on this board are not great by any means, I was wondering how it compares to my old geforce4 4400 (I *think* thats what it is, long time ago and no labelling aside from MSI). If they are about equivalent for a Athlon 64 3200 or 3000, then I'll buy that, with good hope for upgrading to a PCIe video card instead of having to stick with an AGP card for the next couple or more years.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc....-130-485&depa=1

[Pent uP Rage]

Personally, I would say avoid onboard graphics like the plague. But in your case, I would say that the onboard is better. It uses 128Mb(your GF4 is only 64Mb), andI'm sure has a faster clock speed than the your GF4(although I couldn't find a detailed spec sheet for that motherboard). If you DEFINITELY plan on getting a good graphics card in the near future, then I'd say this will do...for now.

[Marcus Seneca Cato]

Actually, the 4400 of mine is a 128 meg card. (http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-Microstar_G4_Ti4400_VTD)

I really dislike the situation I'm in right now... either keep the AGP card and forgo future upgrades past what is out or what will come out in the next year or get the PCIe board but have to deal with integrated graphics, which is... depressing.

Man, I remember thinking when AGP came out in the first place that at some point it would have nowhere to go. It wasn't like the PCI and ISA cards where you could gradually move from one to the other. AGP was for one kind of card only. That sounded like a bad idea, in the long haul. Little did I know...

[Shadownomad]

When did AGP come out incidentially? I'm trying to remember how long I've had a computer with an AGP video card.

[Marcus Seneca Cato]

Sometime around the K6, as I remember when I was building my uber-elite gaming rig with a K6-233 128 megs of ram, Riva 128 and the "kneel and worship me" Voodoo1. So, 1997 or 1998 or so.

I remember the early benchmarks for AGPx1 were usually slower than a comperably priced PCI card. Ah... progress :grin

[Shadownomad]

Ah, cool. Okies. Thanks for letting me know

[Pent uP Rage]

There will still be new AGP chips...ATI is developing a "bridge chip" that will allow a PCIe card to be used in an AGP slot. I would get a better mobo and keep the NVIDIA for now.

I know how you feel, I'm running a 3.2Ghz P4(2.6 @ 3.2) with an old 64Mb Gforce2 Ti.
But as long as you plan on a new card in the near future...go for it.

[Marcus Seneca Cato]

I wish they would just come up with a new standard slot type.... just make all pcie cards x16... not all the pins *have* to be functional and it would make life so much easier for future upgrades.... phase out the older architecture... this agp and pcie x16 stuff is just grrrr blech!

The bridge chip thing is not super great because it will mean the part will have to be more expensive. An adapter socket or something would be great, if... ya know, it could fit in the case which it couldn't.

This kind of stuff is what makes me despair for the PC as a gaming platform... instead of offering a way to seemlessly upgrade parts over time, they choose mass obsolesence. Eventually, it may just not be worth it anymore :mellow

Pent uP, you've been a great help to me, btw

[Pent uP Rage]

I wish they would just come up with a new standard slot type

It's supposed to be PCIe...but AGP has been around so long that its gonna take time. We're in the "evolutionary" stage of the conversion.

An adapter socket or something would be great,

I believe that's the idea...plug in the adapter to an AGP slot...insert PCIe card into AGP adapter.



Made your purchase yet?

[squeaky]

the ATI Xpress 200's integrated video is basically an X300 that's been put directly onto the motherboard. It'll perform better than older generations, ie geforce MXs and low level FXs, but it's not a game to play Doom3 on. The nice thing about it, though, is that if you upgrade your video card, the Xpress 200's integrated video is not rendered useless, you can still use two monitors on your video card and use a 3rd attatched to the Xpress 200's video port. Assuming you have 3 monitors to work with, that is, but it's nice in general not to have to toss out your original card

[Pent uP Rage]

Except for the three monitors bit, I just said all of that.

[squeaky]

except for the equivalence to the X300 performance-wise too