It has both x8 AGP and x16 PCI-Express slots yes?, sounds very cool!.

Must go google it & have a look. One of the members of a bike club I'm doing a website for is in need of a computer, that would be ideal for him.

I mean if he didn't want to spend a lot of ££ in one go, with a board like that he could use an AGP card to begin with then upgrade to a PCI-E card at a later date whenever it suited him.

(in reply to MP3Mogul)

Yes I actually use one and have 2 monitors on it, I can flash back and forth between LCD and CRT.

(in reply to Esskie)

Is it an NVidia graphics card you are using there?, Twinview or NView does the same thing. This 6600 card of mine allows multiple displays but I don't use it. Did have Quake 3 out onto a wide screen but my better half got a bit pi**ed coz she couldn't watch her soaps etc, when I was fraggin. I was in danger of getting fragged myself!

I particularly like the way you can move an open window off the side of display #1 & it slides into view on display #2.

There's someone I know who has a TV Tuner card in his PC who uses 2 monitors, one for regular PC usage & the other for watching TV on , that's pretty cool but needless to say his computer is on all the time! .

(in reply to MP3Mogul)

Yes, I have a TV tuner... this is why I have the two monitors....

(in reply to Esskie)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Esskie

Hi There,
PCI-Express is the new graphics card slot/interface & runs at x16 speed opposed to.....

It might be worth considering the PCI-Express graphics interface though as the word on the vine is that AGP is being phased out gradually, I can't comment on this myself? but Im presuming AGP will be around for a while yet as there are still new AGP cards being shipped?.

All I know is that Doom 3 looks amazing running at 1024 x 768 and above with 32-bit colour with my PCI-E card compared to my 128Mb GeForce4-4400 (x8 AGP) & I'm achieving consistent frame rates in the multiple hundreds range with Quake 3.

Regards, Esskie.

I almost fell asleep while reading dis... chill chika !!

So to sum it all up, motherboards with PCIe is enough for games like Doom 3 right? A frend-a-mine bot an intel motherboard with PCIe but his NFS MW grafix sucks !! I get betta grafix wid my GeForce FX 5200 128MB. I'm really confused here !

(in reply to Esskie)

quote:

ORIGINAL: MP3Mogul

This is why I personally choose the P4P800-VM, it has an 8x AGP and it has a PCI slot as well, giving you full choice.

I couldnt find dis in da specs here -
http://in.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=12&l3=33&model=184&modelmenu=1

(in reply to MP3Mogul)

Hi There,

quote:

So to sum it all up, motherboards with PCIe is enough for games like Doom 3 right?

Most new motherboards have PCI-Express, it runs faster than an AGP bus (AGP bus speed= x4 or x8 / PCI-E bus speed= x16).

So yes PCI-E is faster then AGP but you have to take into account the 'System Requirements' for Doom 3, if you look on the back of the box of the game you want to run it will tell you the minimum system requirements needed to run the game.

quote:

A frend-a-mine bot an intel motherboard with PCIe but his NFS MW grafix sucks !! I get betta grafix wid my GeForce FX 5200 128MB.

A good graphics card alone won't make a good PC!, you cannot make a cow jump like a gazelle .

Basically, imho, the more RAM (preferably DDR400) the better, 1Gb DDR400 is good, also a good, fast CPU does not do any harm.

Check www.activision.com/support for more information for Doom3, Quake3 etc. You will find the compatable hardware list there too.

What version of Direct-X do you have?, Doom3 supports/requires v9.0(c) to run at it's best. Maybe you're friend did not have the latest video drivers?, currently 81.98_forceware <-- click here to d/l 81.98 for XP/W2K.

Regards, Esskie.

(in reply to Dsypher)

Yes, I just went to Asus and checked.  The current P4P800-VM does not have both PCI and AGP.... shame... I have 3 MB's from them that do (earlier versions).....I guess they are trying to save a few dollars...

(in reply to Esskie)

Tbh, I haven't seen any motherboards that have both AGP(x4/x8) and PCI-Express (x16), AGP and standard PCI x1 yes.

I must say though Asus do make good motherboards!!, I have an Asus A7A266 in another system which originally had an Athlon [email=1400@1592]1400@1592[/email] in it but now has a XP2400+, 512Mb RAM (the system with the GF4 Ti-4400 in it), it can achieve an average of 300fps running Quake3 at 800x600 on XP Pro. Thats not using everything maxxed up in the graphic settings though but it still looks pretty damn good.

MP3Mogul can tell you more about Asus motherboards with Intel CPU's than I can but I can vouch for their AMD compatable boards.

Suppose you'll have to decide which route you want to go CPU wise?, AMD or Intel?  

(in reply to MP3Mogul)

I use ASUS boards for both Intel and AMD... though I now prefer AMD.  You can't go wrong if you do your homework before buying your ASUS mb.  I suggest Intel chipsets for Intel CPU's and nVidia for AMD -- But if you wait a while, I expect ATI will eventually get the Crossfire chipset right... Asus has a new one coming for them and I am looking forward to reviews, though I am still happy with my A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4).  Just added a 3800+ X2 (dual-core) and love it!

(in reply to Esskie)

quote:

I am still happy with my A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4).

Another benifit of PCI-Express, the ability to use SLI again  but now with more than a couple of 12Mb Voodoo2 cards .

(in reply to SithTracy)

I think as of right now, SLI is an interesting approach for the hardcore gamer, but I think nVidia (SLI) and ATI (Crossfire) need to find a way to leverage there products on a workstaion for graphics rendering in a CAD type applications.  Not sure what it will take for them to do that... but the technology needs to appeal to the masses and become more affodable to survive.  Right now, I'm not sold on SLI, though I have an SLI board... I have only one PCI-e graphics board (I'm not a huge gamer, but enjoy a few).  Vista is going to change computing and hardware, so we need to see what it means.

Heck, a year ago, I though socket 939 was going to last a while and now socket AM2 is upon us with support for DDR2.  I few years ago AGP was rising fast and it topped out at 8x and was quickly replaced by PCI-e.  My next system upgrade will be post Vista, and perhaps even post Vista-SP1.  I waited until SP1 for XP... Windows 2000 is still a fine OS.  I am also interested in Linux, but to be realistic, Linux hardware support is drivin by Windows... My linux disto is running on an old Intel BX chipset PC with SCSI U2W drives.... which leads me to this question for Dsypher... What are the specs on your current system and what are you wanting to do that you can't do now?

(in reply to Esskie)

quote:

ORIGINAL: SithTracy
which leads me to this question for Dsypher... What are the specs on your current system and what are you wanting to do that you can't do now?

My current sys config is:

Intel Pentium 4 1.7 Ghz
384 MB SDRAM
Intel Motherboard ( Dont remember the chipset num. :D Sorry) 
GeForce FX 5200 128MB

I want to upgrade my sys so that I can play games like FEAR, Rainbow 6 Lockdown etc without my pc freezing !! Im playin FEAR right now and Im havin a tuf time !! So here's what I have decided to buy:

ASUS P5LD2 SE Motherboard 533 FSB
512 MB DDR2 RAM ( 533 )
Intel® Pentium® 4 processor 660
supporting Hyper-Threading Technology [90 nm,LGA775] [2MB L2] [3.60 GHz] [800 MHz]
nVidia GeForce FX 6200 256MB with 16 MB Turbo-cache

So what do you think?? Should I go for it?? My budget is around 440-500 USD. Will it be enough??

(in reply to SithTracy)

Depending on the chipset of the current Intel board, your money may be better spent on 1GB of Corsair RAM, a better AGP video adapter (and better than the 6200... at least a 6600) and whatever upgrade you can get for the CPU socket. 

Additionally, if you were to build a gaming rig, you have to consider an AMD64/nForce4 platform above anything else at the moment.  As I mentioned before, I am not a big gamer and consider the AMD64 to be the best current solution for an everyday use and/or gaming rig.

(in reply to Dsypher)

I don't know if you are aware of this, but Microsoft has a new policy on replacing motherboards.

Here is what Microsoft has to say:

“An upgrade of the motherboard is considered to result in a “new personal computer” to which Microsoft® OEM operating system software cannot be transferred from another computer. If the motherboard is upgraded or replaced for reasons other than a defect, then a new computer has been created and the license of new operating system software is required.”

This doesn't apply if you purchased windows by yourself and it didn't come installed when you bought the computer.

(in reply to Dsypher)

quote:

ORIGINAL: SithTracy

Depending on the chipset of the current Intel board, your money may be better spent on 1GB of Corsair RAM, a better AGP video adapter (and better than the 6200... at least a 6600) and whatever upgrade you can get for the CPU socket. 

Additionally, if you were to build a gaming rig, you have to consider an AMD64/nForce4 platform above anything else at the moment.  As I mentioned before, I am not a big gamer and consider the AMD64 to be the best current solution for an everyday use and/or gaming rig.

Actually I aint got dat kinda cash 2 build an "actual" gaming rig... But I think my new config is gud enuf dont u think??

And btw, they are called GPU's now not AGP after the arrival of PCIe.

I 4got to mention that my current motherboard doesnt support DDR RAM and SD RAMs are outta market in my part of the world. Thats why Im forced to buy a new motherboard and the rest is history....

(in reply to SithTracy)