Please help!!!! Nvidia geforce4 mx

[twin2kie]

Ok, I am a heavy pogo.com player and my current graphics card just isn't cutting it! The games are starting to delay for 10 seconds or so. Right now I have a S3 Graphics Pro Savage DDR card. (32 MB) The card I want to upgrade to is a nVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000 http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3371501 The card says that it supports AGP 8X.

So basically I'm asking: 1) Is the MX 4000 card better than the one i have now? and
2) Will my computer support the AGP 8X card?

My puter specs are Compaq Presario S4020WM; AMD Athlon XP 2400+; 2.00GHz; 352 MB RAM; Microsoft XP Home Edition Version 2002 Service Pack 1. I hope this is enough information

 

[sallad]

That card should probably work on your computer, but even if it dosent, Wal-Mart will take anything back...

 

[bombasschicken]

hah i use to have one of those savage cards back in the day.. damn thing was a work horse.. heh

 

[Anoobis]

Do you have to buy from WalMart???

If you can buy online you might want to try these:

XFX FX5200

Or for a little more money there is this Radeon 9250 which is a nice card too.

According tp Compaq's website, you have a 1.5V AGP slot so either should work well and either one will be better than the GeForce4 MX 4000, especially the Radeon 9250.

 

[IDEV]

The MX4 is a reasonable card in it's day.. It's nothing compared to the newest offerings, but it is definitely faster than an S3 savage.

Anoobis is right though - if you can buy from newegg, the FX5200 is better still for the same price range.

Good luck with you're upgrade!
IDEV

 

[twin2kie]

Thank you sooooo much!!!! Which card is the better one the nvidia or the radeon. I only picked Nvidia because I looked at the card on my work puter and the manufacturer was Nvidia.

 

[twin2kie]

Thanks you guys are so much faster than cnet. I will look into both the 5200 and the radeon on newegg. Which one is better do you know?

 

[IDEV]

I'm personally a bigger fan of NVIDIA - every ATI card I've personally owned has had stability issues. Mind you I've built many systems with ATI cards that worked great, but they have had more issues in general than NVIDIA cards (in my experience). Perhaps I've just had bad luck with them.

YMMV.

IDEV

 

[Anoobis]

Personally I think the Radeon would be a much better card. However, either one will more than qualify for what you want to do with it.

Do you really want to justify spending $10.00 more for the Radeon?

Well, ask yourself how long you plan to keep this system. If you plan on upgrading to a new system in say...6 months (or sooner), I would get the FX5200 and put as little money as possible into this machine. However if you plan to upgrade in say...12 months, I would think $10.00 is justified for the added performance of the Radeon 9250.

Again, this is just my opinion.

 

[twin2kie]

Whats overclocking? And will I be doing it by adding this video card?

 

[twin2kie]

The 5200 that was suggested, I don't see a fan on it. Do I need a fan?

 

[Anoobis]

Overclocking is basically making your equipment run faster than it is spec'd to do. I.E...setting up your processor to run at 2.2 GHZ instead of it's stock 2.0 GHZ.

In your case, no you will not be overclocking, nor can I recommend you try it with your system. You have a store bought machine which means the option for overclocking will be very limited, if any. OEMs don't want customers to overclock their machines because it makes it very difficult for them to "Tech Support" it. You can also damage your equipment if you don't know what you're doing.

Don't worry about it. From what you said you do with your system you don't need to. Maybe wait until you get a new system and then maybe play around with it on your old one to get the basics. There is plenty of information available on the web about overclocking processors and video cards. You should do some SERIOUS reading long before you try it.

EDIT: I doubt you'll need a fan since it only comes with a heatsink.