Don't understand expansion slot info...

[matthewmcbride28]

Hello, i bought a medion desktop with i3 processor about 3 years ago and the info below seems to show that the only graphics card i could add would be an old pci (non express) can anyone confirm if this is correct for me?

Expansion Slot(s)
AGP : AGP 32-bit +3.3V Shared PME Half Used
PCI1 (1h) : PCI 32-bit +3.3V Shared PME Half Available
PCI2 (2h) : PCI 32-bit +3.3V Shared PME Half Available
PCI3 (3h) : PCI 32-bit +3.3V Shared PME Half Available


basically I dont understand what this information is telling me exactly any help would be appreciated.

 

[SchizTech]

Where did you find this information? If you could post the full model number that would help us. AGP is an old, outdated standard for video cards - that shouldn't exist in an i3 based system.

 

[teaser]

I would think you could use an AGP card,which would be the slot to use,not the pci...AGP= Accelerated Graphics Port.....which has better bandwith than the PCI slot,but they are both old interfaces,that arent used for graphics cards anymore......

 

[SchizTech]

Actually, why don't you just open the side of the case and take a look. What slots do you see?

PCI --> http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSwGM87eWJC0EVnPh0e6EhywqHlV7RLwWpLvSccM6SWHoe1ftFgcA

AGP (brown) --> http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRjEeXYWinhR7Rg9HvaYK9PErVy87l4sOuWXfSLtERQ5-qsQoWl

PCIe --> http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/PCI_und_PCIe_Slots.jpg

 

[Wolfshadw]

I agree with SchizTech. There should not be any CoreI3 compatible motherboards with AGP slots. We need a system model number.

-Wolf sends

 

[The_OGS]

Well, you have AGP video.
This was the previous standard (early 2000's).
You can still get AGP vidcards, but nothing too powerful or 'new'.
Actually I have a couple of high-performance (for their day) AGP vidcards kicking around here someplace, heheh...
So are you trying to update or improve your existing AGP vidcard?
That could prove challenging! Probably a bad plan.
PCs can be built so cheap today, it's sad but the truth is any AGP rig has reached its dead end...
AGP vidcards typically used 64-bit DDR3 memory, with the faster using 128-bit or even (modern) 256-bit - but still only DDR3.
Todays vidcards using GDDR5 memory will be faster even if only 128-bit...
Actually the current trend at nVidia is to use very fast memory, then sneak the bandwidth down from 256-bit to 192-bit, giving the same throughput as 256-bit memory from only a couple of years ago.
Anyway, in this context AGP is ancient!
Still works though (but not so much as a gaming platform).
Regards

 

[matthewmcbride28]

thanks for quck replies!

Schiz, i think the full model number is : medion akoya p4208 d (thats off the box) ive used a system scanner tool called sisoftware sandra and the above info looked like the relevant portion of the results to me?

teaser, I thought that as well but it says 'used' also the lad in pcworld said AGP was pretty much as dated as pci.

I was originally wondering if the agp slot used by the integrated chip could (agp )could be made avaliable for new grapic card?

if theres any more info I can provide please let me know i.e. more from system scanner?

thanks a lot guys.

 

[SchizTech]

The medion support site is kind of crappy and doesn't offer product specs, but references to that model are pretty recent on google and it looks like a newer model based on the picture. It seems like it's in the range that should have PCI express.

Can you take a quick peek and try to match up the slots with the pictures posted above?

 

[matthewmcbride28]

yeah thanks schiztech im gonna do that. ive only got a stupid multi-tool with crap screwdriver with me though. just to clarify, if I locate the appropriate slot am I good to go with a midrange graphics card. Do I need to think about my psu?

 

[SchizTech]

You may need to think about the PSU, many prebuilt PCs come with pretty low wattage lowest-common-denominator kind of PSUs. If you can, take a look and post the numbers listed on the side of the PSU when you open the case. That should help us determine what you need.

 

[maxalge]

yeah thanks schiztech im gonna do that. ive only got a stupid multi-tool with crap screwdriver with me though. just to clarify, if I locate the appropriate slot am I good to go with a midrange graphics card. Do I need to think about my psu?

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html


Install this tool.


Post back with your processor name, click the mainboard tab at the top then post back the mainboard manufacturer and model plus the graphic interface version and link width.


And yes the power supply will dictate on what kind of video card you can run, so letting us know the manufacturer and wattage is necessary before a recommendation.