[amw_drizz]

Looking for input on what video card to get for one of my second systems that has integrated video from VIA technologies. The main board in the system is a BIOSTAR PM4890-M7 SE on the site it states PCI-E x16 but doesn't state revision 2.0 or 2.1 (which I highly doubt is supported as is in this old board which is 2-3 yrs old and was about a yr old when it was purchased) Here is a link to the specs on the system from the biostar site.

I am looking for a card that will increase the WEI in windows 7. The rest of the system is 4.1 - 4.9 except for the video card which is @ 1.0. I know the system can handle Aero (which is one of my goals to get that enabled) But the system lags when doing anything mildly intensive on the screen. Right now it lags even when running winxp instead of win7 for graphics. Just alot of stuttering, it is just annoying.

Anyways I am looking at the nVidia geforce 8 series but would like to put a 9400 instead (better stream and memory pipes, but they are all pci-e 2.0) So what do you guys recommend. My budget is less than $60.00 shipped prefer more like $40.00 shipped if possible

TIA Jon

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Pay no attention to Windows Experience Score Index figures, they realistically mean nothing. Their intention was so that programmers can stick labels on their games and what not saying that this game requires a score of 3.2 or higher to run. Four years later it's never happened. It probably will happen, just not in the lifetime of Vista.

Any separate card will beat the onboard graphics of that board. Also don't be taken in by the numbering scheme of Nvidia either. A 9000 series card isn't necessarily better than an 8000 series card.

[Neil Jones]

Pay no attention to Windows Experience Score Index figures, they realistically mean nothing. Their intention was so that programmers can stick labels on their games and what not saying that this game requires a score of 3.2 or higher to run. Four years later it's never happened. It probably will happen, just not in the lifetime of Vista.

Any separate card will beat the onboard graphics of that board. Also don't be taken in by the numbering scheme of Nvidia either. A 9000 series card isn't necessarily better than an 8000 series card.

[amw_drizz]

Well I know anything "would" be better than what I have now. I would like to get aero enabled, and the system to handle the basics as even moving windows around it stutters. Forget about doing any flash based content. The integrated GPU can't handle squat.

[SpywareDr]

P4M890-M7 SE Ver. 7.x Motherboard Manual
http://www.biostar-u...M7A_0411C_B.exe (contains P4M89-M7A_0411C_B.pdf)
Page 12

PCI-EX16: PCI-Express x16 Slot
- PCI-Express 1.0a compliant.
- Maximum theoretical realized bandwidth of 4GB/s simultaneously per
direction, f or an aggregate of 8GB/s totally.

So, here's a list of standard x16's on Newegg.com, sorted by price:
http://www.newegg.co...amp;Order=PRICE
(Note: Generally, the more stream processors, the higher the price).

[Ferrari]

Just an FYI... PCI-E 2.0 cards will run in 1.0 slots. It will just run at the 1.0 speeds. Like Neil said, anything will be better than onboard. My parents use a PCI-E 1.0 8600 GT and they are able to watch youtube, fancast, hulu, and run aero. Other systems specs are Athlon II x2 AMD Dual Core Processor, SATA II hard drive, and 2gb of DDR2 1066mhz RAM, Windows 7 64bit.

I'd definitely say anything in the 8k or 9k of Nvidia's cards will do what you are wanting.

Edited by Ferrari, 03 April 2010 - 08:54 AM.