I don't want to make a habit of discussing things other than the internet here, but I feel the need to pass this on to anyone who plays games or watches videos on their computer... BEWARE of the different types of video cards and KNOW their differences!
I say this because recently one of my computers started to show signs of video card failure. Normally, I would have installed a new card myself, but lacking the time and the proper diagnostics, I decided to send it out to a local shop to be repaired. This shop advertised next day pick-up, but 5 days and $180.00 later, my computer was "fixed". Oh, I forget to tell you that I was informed that I needed a new video card and I requested that they install the same card that was in the computer, this being the NVIDA GeForce 8400.
I took the computer home and plugged it in...it appeared that the problem had been corrected, the monitor now showed the proper resolution and the vertical bands were gone from the display. However it wasn't until we tried to play a game that we discovered the game's performance was actually worse than before. The frame rate was so low it became extremely frustrating, and the slow bandwidth left so much to be desired, we quickly realized that something was terribly wrong.
Opening the case of the computer, I found that the repairman had installed a GeForce 8400, BUT, he had installed a PCI card rather than a PCI Express. I visited their establishment the next day and told them of my dissatisfaction in their services and asked why they would have installed a PCI card to replace the PCI Express card that was in the computer.. I was informed that "there is NO difference between a PCI card and a PCI Express card"!
I was AMAZED that no one in this establishment knew the differences between the 3 types of video cards. And these guys were SUPPOSED to be the professionals? WOW!
Anyway, here's the rundown...
PCI cards date way back to the very beginning of computer technology. The PCI bus allowed the addition of better graphics and sound through the use of PCI sound and video cards. PCI is SLOW. The average Maximum bandwidth for a PCI bus is approximately 132 MB/s. However, many new computers still come with PCI slots, mainly for the use of sound cards.
The standard AGP card was next in the line of video technology, and lasted up until a few years ago.
The speed of the AGP bus was much better than the PCI, and many of today's computers still sport a slot to install an AGP card.
(Remember that a standard PCI bus bandwidth is about 132MB/s, and the average AGP 8X is about 2,100MB/s.)
Along comes PCI Express at an incredible bandwidth speed of 4000 MS/s (PCI Express 16X)!
The moral of this story is to KNOW that you should ALWAYS use the most recent technology to get optimum performance from your computer.
Oh Yeah, and watch out for some computer "professionals"!
