[iamroot]

I have a motherboard with an AGP 4X slot and i'm interested in buying a new graphics card but i see that all of the latest cards are all AGP 8X. I would like to know if an 8x card can be used with my 4x motherboard. Could some1 enlighten me on this.

[danleff]

Depends on the voltage that the agp runs on your motherboard and the video card that you buy. Check your users manual and look at the folowing link.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,9831279~mode=flat

[shadowmatrix]

From what I understand as long as the voltages are ok then yes you can. It will only run at 4x though.

[jimf43]

Originally posted by shadowmatrix:

Quote:

From what I understand as long as the voltages are ok then yes you can. It will only run at 4x though.

Correct, but you need to make sure that the card states that it has backward compatibility... most do. Since it will only run at 4x you might try to get one of the older 4x cards. You can usually get a top of the line with a lot more memory for a lot less money than the latest hot numbers. Do a search on Pricewatch.

http://www.pricewatch.com/

[iamroot]

which is more important ? the memory of the graphics card or the model?

[jimf43]

What do you intend to do with the card? Games, graphics, general purpose?

[danleff]

Also, consider a NVIDIA based card and stay away from the ATI models. The ATI's can cause some issues in Linux, especially assuring that you have them set up properly for gaming.

[shadowmatrix]

I am using an NVidia 5200 agp 4x 128 mb card and it works great. Had a few issues getting it going but it was all taken care of. You may want to take a peek at the thread I had for the nvidia card.

[jimf43]

Originally posted by danleff:

Quote:

Also, consider a NVIDIA based card and stay away from the ATI models. The ATI's can cause some issues in Linux, especially assuring that you have them set up properly for gaming.

I've had 'no' problems with my ATI 8500-128. From the post that I've seen, that's more than you can say for nVidia.

[Dapper Dan]

ATI makes great cards, but if playing Windows games via wine is important to you, you can save yourself a lot of headaches by using Nvidia. I've been a member of Transgaming.com for a little while now, and the forums over there are just rife with complaints about ATI cards not working properly with Winex. If this isn't important to you, I think either ATI or Nvidia will be good choices. I've used both, and personally think Nvidia is more user friendly for Linux users.

[iamroot]

I'm using a nvidia geforce 2 mx now but soon to change to a geforce FX 5500. Btw, is the Xfree86 graphic drivers in linux sufficient for playing games in linux or must i download the latest nvidia drivers?