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MikeD · Dec 17, 2002, 01:15 AM

Okay, this has to really do with my father in laws PC. Well, aparently, he's trying to play this Janes Flight Simulator type WWII game and he gets pauses/freezes etc. 1.4 ghz Athlon 256mb RAM... And just found out that he has NO Video card. Some sort of onboard graphics thing with shared memory. Using macs all my life, I have no idea what the heck is the deal because usually, macs are ready to play games and do whatever it is you need them to do. His computer was the first I've encountered where you buy it, but really still can't run what's out there. now, if we simply get him an AGP video card, should that solve a lot of the issues? Does the video card really make a bid difference?

And yes, I know, I'd love to tell him, "just get my setup... dual gig MAC!" but hey, you can please em all. Any advice would be great since I don't deal with working on the PC hardware that much.

Thanks,
mike

dn15 · Dec 17, 2002, 03:11 AM

I expect that a real AGP video card would help quite a bit. Before buying, you might want to check the motherboard's manual (or the computer's manual if it was pre-built) and see which cards it can use. I built a cheap Linux PC (currently using onboard video) and recently learned that the motherboard only accepts nVidia cards in its AGP slot. It's a good thing I hadn't already bought the ATI card I had been considering.

jhunt5247 · Dec 17, 2002, 08:15 AM

Originally posted by dn15:
I expect that a real AGP video card would help quite a bit. Before buying, you might want to check the motherboard's manual (or the computer's manual if it was pre-built) and see which cards it can use. I built a cheap Linux PC (currently using onboard video) and recently learned that the motherboard only accepts nVidia cards in its AGP slot. It's a good thing I hadn't already bought the ATI card I had been considering.

That is BS. The motherboard cannot limit the manufacturer you use in the AGP slot, as long as the video card is in specs with the type of AGP slot on the motherboard.

"Has to be an nVidia card" too funny..

jhunt5247 · Dec 17, 2002, 08:24 AM

Originally posted by MikeD:
And just found out that he has NO Video card. Some sort of onboard graphics thing with shared memory. Using macs all my life, I have no idea what the heck is the deal because usually, macs are ready to play games and do whatever it is you need them to do. His computer was the first I've encountered where you buy it, but really still can't run what's out there. now, if we simply get him an AGP video card, should that solve a lot of the issues? Does the video card really make a bid difference?

Does the motherboard even have an AGP slot? If so, then buy any 3d AGP card. Inside BIOS you can tell it which card to use (disable onboard video).

On board video is a very common thing in the computer industry, because most people don't care about playing games. Therefore, usually the default card is more than adequate for those peoples needs.

To answer your question though, yes the difference will be night and day. I would recommend you look into something along the lines of a GeForce 4 MX if you don't want to spend a lot of money and still get great performance. If you want to go balls to the wall, then get a ATI 9700 PRO, which is currently the fastest card on the market.

mac freak · Dec 17, 2002, 04:30 PM

A good compromise would be the Radeon 9500 Pro (which is PC only). It's faster than any of nVidia's offerings, yet costs only $199 ($200 less than the 9700 Pro).

www.ati.com

MikeD · Dec 19, 2002, 02:23 AM

Thanks everyone for your help and advice. What I went with was the ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 128mb Dual Head (whatever that means) and I got for a total of $110! Hopefully, this will be okay and there won't be any problems installing it. But I guess we'll find out on Christmas then huh! I just feel bad because he went from a no HD, floppy only PC, playing a hokey Chuck Yeager flight sim that looked like frogger (type of graphics w/ big polygons) to this newer computer and he can't even play this new flight sim too. So he's a bit frustrated. Not to mention the jump from windows 3.0 to XP. Anyway, thanks again and we'll see what happens. You guys are great helping us out even he does use PC's!! Sigh, unfortunately I'm posting from a PC... But that's because my mac is busy making a DVD!!

Take care everyone!
Mike