video card upgrade-PCI or AGP better?

[Guest]

Well, I'm going to try a cheap upgrade to replace my old voodoo2 card and I'm looking at a Geforce 2 400 64 meg for my aging Pentium 2 400mhz system. Any suggestions as to why I should go for AGP over PCI or visa versa? Any other card suggestions would be appreciated. Main sims used are fs2002, cfs1 & 2,fu2&3, NFS series, GPL.

[Guest Joshieca]

For many people who are still using legacy motherboards without AGP slots the PCI version would be the appropriate upgrade. But what

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Since your system is a Pentium 2, it is very likely your MB may have trouble with an NVidia or ATI based AGP card. For that reason, I'd stick with the PCI card if you can find it. The quick answer as to why there may be trouble, is the way the Nvidia cards expect AGP voltage to be handled by the MB. It wasn't until the AGP 2.0 spec was fully evolved that this issue seemed to go away. I took a gamble on my Iwill MB, and installed a GEF 2 early last year and had no issues with it. But my MB was among the last of the BX boards to be released, and supported the P/III, all the way up to the '800 and beyond.You will see a marked improvement in graphics if you go with the GeF 2/400. Sounds like your a good hobbyist, if you've managed FS2002 with a P/400 and Voodoo 2!-John

[Guest]

I had the GeForce2 MX400 64Meg AGP card on my 400 Mhz machine. It worked like a champ. In fact, I kept it when I did a socket conversion upgrade to a 1.4 Gig Celeron. I kept the GeForce2 and it has performed very nicely on my aged motherboard/memory limited PC. I'd even recommend it over the GeForce4 MX series with your setup.It'll be there until my next PC change out. With the economy....who knows when?gwillmot

[Guest]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I failed to mention that after a HD crash and reinstall of fs2002, the PCI voodoo2 card was causing conflicts and I've been using the i7400 AGP since then! To be honest, I've been pretty content with the system up until I picked up Bill Lyon's classic custom planes. They have a lot of reflections that the i7400 or the voodoo 2 just weren't displaying. I think the GeForce2 MX400 64Meg AGP is the one I'll pick up. Any particular manufacturer of the GF2 MX400 you like or don't like? Thanks

[crvm 0]

I really hate to burst your bubble but changing your video card with your CPU speed won't make a significant differance. As to what brand of VC, it won't matter as long as you pick the 64m meg version. If you can you should try to find a bargin on a GF3 card.Best Wishes, Randy J. Smith[h5]San Jose Ca[/h5][h3]" A little learning is a dangerous thing"[/h3]AMD XP 2100 |MUNCHKIN 512 DDR RAM |ECS[/b ][i] K7S5A MB[/i] |GF3 64 MEG |WIN XP PRO |MITSUBISHI DIAMOND PLUS 91 19"