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Thread ID: 23317 2002-08-13 08:07:00 Replacing my Voodoo 3 Graphics Card taxboy4 (579) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
70611 2002-08-13 08:07:00 HELP. I have a 2 1/2 year old PC - running 384M of Ram, at 550 Mhz - everything works ok except my old Voodoo 3 PCI 16MB graphics card is not supported by any of the new games.

Am I able to upgrade to the one of the GeForce cards to improve performance? Will I be able to slot it in where my old Voodoo card sat or do I have a wrong type of "socket".

Any suggestions most gratefully appreciated. 		taxboy4 (579)
70612 2002-08-13 08:23:00 You can get G-force PCI cards but thay can be hard to find.

most new graphics cards are AGP slot. (which wont fix PCI slot)

the main thing a moden game wants is OpenGL.
the Voo-Doo cards offers GLIDE which was a cool thing in 1997 :-) 		robsonde (120)
70613 2002-08-13 08:39:00 Yah i Know what you mean. How can I tell if I have any AGP slots? taxboy4 (579)
70614 2002-08-13 08:44:00 AGP slot if fitted will be found beside PCI slot 1 (towards the middle of the motherboard) and is a dark coloured (red or brown?) socket set back a bit behind the white PCI socket line.

Its doubtful (but not impossible) that you would have a PCI card fitted if an AGP slot was available.

As you can see from the above you need to open up the case to see 		godfather (25)
70615 2002-08-13 08:48:00 the PCI slots are usaly white slots and you have 3-6 of them.

AGP slot looks much the same but is a brown colour and is the slot nearest the CPU it is about the same length as a PCI slot but is set a little but further the the edge of the motherboard. you only ever have one AGP slot.

if in you dont want to open you box then look in the motherboard hand book or post the board make/model and we can look it up for you. 		robsonde (120)
70616 2002-08-13 09:10:00 Appreciate the Help.

From all I can tell my mother board is?

Packard Bell
Geniune Intel
x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 1

The sticker that came with it said the original graphics card was a

"Intel 3D Graphics with Direct AGP (4MB Shared)" and i got a voodoo put it. 		taxboy4 (579)
70617 2002-08-13 09:21:00 Ok...

so what you have is a system with a built in AGP card and no AGP slot.

the onboard graphics card is almost always underpowered for games work.

your options are to get a PCI card (will never be that good)

or a new system box (mother board, CPU, ram, Graphics card, sound card.....)


I think you current system is comming to the end of its life as a games box.

sorry 		robsonde (120)
70618 2002-08-13 09:27:00 Robsonde, if you read the post he HAS a PCI card now, he wants an AGP.

You have to ask however, why a PCI card was fitted in the first place if they could have fitted an AGP. Points to no AGP slot, but you cannot easily find out unless you give us the Model number of the computer.

Packard Bell is the manufacturer, but they likely made many different variations with a 550 Mhz Intel chip.

Is it PIII chip, Celeron chip?
Has the PC a model number on it? 		godfather (25)
70619 2002-08-13 09:42:00 sorry if my last post was unclear.

you wont have an AGP slot based on your info of :

"Intel 3D Graphics with Direct AGP (4MB Shared)" and i got a voodoo put it.

this is a marketing line for a onboard graphics card which has an AGP style system in the motherboard but no AGP slot. packard bell made many systems like this.

often the sales people will upgrade it by putting in a PCI graphics card.

I ageree with godfather about "why a PCI card was fitted in the first place if they could have fitted an AGP. Points to no AGP slot" 		robsonde (120)
70620 2002-08-13 10:04:00 Some boards with onboard video to actually have AGP slots. -=JM=- (16)
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