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Thread ID: 71365 2006-08-03 10:08:00 Which is worse Integrated Graphics or old PCI graphics? RusEvo (3572) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
475830 2006-08-03 10:08:00 OK I have a Dell with Intel Integrated "Extreme" graphics, it goes OK and serves me well.

Sometimes I think about upgrading the graphics but it has no PCI express nor any AGP slot unfortunately. Upgrading the motherboard means complications with CPUs & RAM too perhaps.

So that makes me wonder, are there any PCI graphics cards which would actually do better than the extreme integrated graphics which probably take about a quarter of my 504 megs of RAM?

Any thoughts would be appreciated but it is hardly a life or death problem!!!!
RusEvo (3572)
475831 2006-08-03 10:47:00 depends on what graphics chip it has. the pci bus limits the graphics quite a bit and good onboard graphics can outperform them. however majority of onboard graphibs are made for cost reasons rather than performance. tweak'e (69)
475832 2006-08-03 12:46:00 Which is worse?

Yes.
Metla (12)
475833 2006-08-03 15:38:00 Which is worse?

Yes.Similarily, what's the difference between a monkey and a bicycle? They both climb trees except the bicycle.
Greg (193)
475834 2006-08-03 20:39:00 I am in the same situation - Dell, intergrated Intel "Extreme" graphics, no PCI-E or AGP slot - wanted a PCI card to upgrade to Vista. But now, I have a Vista skin for XP. pcuser42 (130)
475835 2006-08-03 21:49:00 Don't buy chainstore computers in the first place. This is one of the reasons. pctek (84)
475836 2006-08-03 22:32:00 I am in the same situation - Dell, intergrated Intel "Extreme" graphics, no PCI-E or AGP slot - wanted a PCI card to upgrade to Vista. But now, I have a Vista skin for XP.

Dell :groan:
systm (9904)
475837 2006-08-04 00:13:00 Remember it also depends what you want the graphics for, and how much you need the RAM. If you're just doing office work etc, then most PCI cards will do the job just fine, and you'll free up the RAM. If you're trying to do any kind of 3D rendering though, it's probably better to stick with the onboard graphics. As mentioned above, the PCI bus is quite a bottleneck if you're trying to run a decent video card through it. The onboard will probably vastly outperform almost any PCI card.

You may also be able to limit the amount of memory that onboard graphics uses - often this is a BIOS setting, but occasionally it's a driver one. The lowest limit will probably be around 8MB or so.
Erayd (23)
475838 2006-08-04 08:18:00 Remember it also depends what you want the graphics for, and how much you need the RAM .

If you're trying to do any kind of 3D rendering though, it's probably better to stick with the onboard graphics . .
Er . . . if you're doing anything other than office work, rendering, gaming whatever - then upgrade the thing so that you can put in a modern, decent PCI-E graphics card .

That will involve a new motherboard and likely a new CPU too, and probably a PSU capable of running the graphics card too .
But anything else is pointless .
pctek (84)
475839 2006-08-04 21:43:00 I can't change the motherboard! I don't have the standard I/O ports inside! pcuser42 (130)
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