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Will Your
Motherboard Support the Video Card You're Purchasing? Here's the Answer...
Before you
buy - make sure your motherboard is compatible with this video card. For
example, PCI Express video cards won't work with motherboards designed
only for AGP or PCI video cards, and vice versa. Please read the specifications
carefully or call us for expert advice.
Close-Up:
PCI, AGP, and PCI-E (PCI Express)
Check
your motherboard and make sure you are purchasing the correct cardbus
type.
There are 3 types of cardbus slots currently available:
PCI, AGP, and PCI Express (PCIe 2.0 is compatible with PCIe slot)
PCI
- The most widely used I/O bus, it provides a shared data path between
the CPU and peripheral controllers, such as network, display, SCSI and
RAID cards. Though limited in terms of performance, they are considered
the best value when you upgrade your video capabilities on a PC. The PCI
interface can be found and used in nearly any motherboard.
Click
here to view our selection of PCI Cards
AGP
- The AGP slot is next in line of higher graphic performance. It was designed
especially for the throughput demands of 3-D graphics. It offers up to
8x improvement over a PCI card, is 32 bits wide and runs at 66 MHz. It
provides a direct connection between the card and memory, and only one
AGP slot is on the motherboard. The motherboard must be equipped with
an AGP bus slot for an AGP card to be compatible.(AGP 1x provided a data
transfer rate of 264 Mbytes/sec. AGP 2x is 528 Mbytes/sec. AGP 4x is 1
Gbyte/sec. AGP 8x is 2 Gbytes/sec.)
Click
here to view our selection of AGP Cards
PCI
Express - PCI Express is the newest technology that
is superior to both PCI and AGP, in terms of graphic performance. It offers
performance as much as 4x faster than the fastest AGP 8X slot. PCI Express
connections can support fast data transfer rates, which can be used to
connect high-speed devices such as high-end video cards. The slots come
in different variations and speeds, such as x1, x4, x8, and x16. Presently,
most high-end motherboards meant for design, video production, or gaming
come with PCI express slots. To use a PCI Express card, your computer
must have at least one available PCI Express slot.
Click
here to view our selection of PCI Express Cards
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