[greenbaron]

i have a k8 trition nforce3 ultra motherboard that has a slot for an AGP 8x (separate from the PCI slots of course, which is what confused me to begin with), yet i have never heard of an AGP card slot =(

is there a difference between a graphics card and a video card (can you only use one or the other or both!?)? because i always asumed they were the same =p

this is my first time building a computer so any help would be appreciated dearly.

thanks,
-tay

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Graphics card & video card are just different terms for the same thing.
An AGP video card though is completely different to PCI or PCI Express.

The AGP (Accelerated graphics port) slot is on the AGP bus which is a seperate bus on a motherboard. It is only used for video & runs at the base frequency (FSB) of the motherboard. eg on a mobo running at 133MHz FSB, the PCI slots will run at 33MHz (1/4 of fsb) but the agp bus will run at the full 133MHz.

AGP cards & ports have different mode ratings, from 1x upto 8x. The higher the mode, the higher the bandwidth (data transfer rate).
Also, different modes require different voltages. AGP 1x & 2x use 3.3V - same a PCI cards. 4x agp normally requires 1.5V & agp 8x requires 1.5 or 0.8V.

The x rating determines the max frequency the card will support. This is essentially 33MHz multiplied by X. (4x = 33 x 4 = 133MHz).

So if your motherboard has an 8x agp slot, you want to buy a video card that supports AGP 8x (AGP standard 3.0).

[Samm]

Graphics card & video card are just different terms for the same thing.
An AGP video card though is completely different to PCI or PCI Express.

The AGP (Accelerated graphics port) slot is on the AGP bus which is a seperate bus on a motherboard. It is only used for video & runs at the base frequency (FSB) of the motherboard. eg on a mobo running at 133MHz FSB, the PCI slots will run at 33MHz (1/4 of fsb) but the agp bus will run at the full 133MHz.

AGP cards & ports have different mode ratings, from 1x upto 8x. The higher the mode, the higher the bandwidth (data transfer rate).
Also, different modes require different voltages. AGP 1x & 2x use 3.3V - same a PCI cards. 4x agp normally requires 1.5V & agp 8x requires 1.5 or 0.8V.

The x rating determines the max frequency the card will support. This is essentially 33MHz multiplied by X. (4x = 33 x 4 = 133MHz).

So if your motherboard has an 8x agp slot, you want to buy a video card that supports AGP 8x (AGP standard 3.0).

[greenbaron]

k thanks sam, appreciate the help. cleared alot up for me man i appreciate it =)

take care,
-tay

[Samm]

You're welcome