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Video Cards: Is AGP Dead?

If you've been looking to upgrade your computer video card you've probably heard a great deal about PCI Express and SLI. Don't run out and buy a new computer just yet and take that AGP motherboard you just threw away out of the trash. The truth is you can probably make some simple upgrades to your current computer to get a couple more years of gaming out of it. Of course if you have an extremely slow processor and/or less than an 8x AGP motherboard, you will need to do more than upgrade your graphics card. However, in most cases people's computers are only a couple of years old and really have plenty of processing power.

The three things to look at are your memory, motherboard, and video card. To get the most out of the more recent games you want to have at least 1GB of RAM. This is a very simple upgrade and only takes a couple of minutes. For more information on upgrading your memory you can visit my website. Second, check to be sure your AGP slot on your current motherboard is 8x. If your memory and motherboard meet these standards you're in luck. A new video card will probably float you for at least another year, likely two if you get a top of the line card. The thing to remember is that PCI Express is new technology and not nearly as widespread as AGP is. Game companies want to make as much money as possible from each game. For this reason, they will try to make the games play well on the widest array of platforms. When you think about it like this, it is easy to see how AGP will be useful for a while longer. For more information on AGP video cards visit the Video Card review section of my website.

If your motherboard isn't up to par or your processor is outdated it is time for an upgrade. If you are a do-it-yourselfer like I am, you should look into building your own computer. It's not as difficult as you might think and can save you a good deal of money.

Nathan Holsing is the editor of Gaming-Computers.net a website about building and upgrading computers.

MORE RESOURCES:

Yahoo! News Search Results for hardware
Yahoo! News Search Results for hardware

• Mooney's hustle nets hardware (Daily Herald)
If North Suburban Conference teams didn't already know it, it's official now. Lake Zurich guard Connor Mooney is a hustler. And he's got the hardware to prove it.
• Aishwarya Tele gets 3 acre in electronic hardware SEZ (Business Standard India)
Aishwarya Telecom Limited, a Hyderabad-based player in the telecom testing and measurement segment, has been allotted three acres at the electronic hardware special economic zone (SEZ) on the outskirts of Hyderabad by the Electronic Industries Association of Andhra Pradesh (ELIAP).
• Hardware Is Cheap, Programmers Are Expensive (Slashdot)
Sportsqs points out a story at Coding Horror which begins: "Given the rapid advance of Moore's Law, when does it make sense to throw hardware at a programming problem? As a general rule, I'd say almost always. Consider the average programmer salary here in the US. You probably have several of these programmer guys or gals on staff. I can't speak to how much your servers may cost, or how many of ...
• The Hardware Behind WebOS: Palm Pre (Digital Trends)
Palm has released a smoking new piece of hardware to accompany its long-awaited OS, and it brings many of the features hardcore smartphone users have been waiting for.
• IBM layoffs will impact hardware workers (Muzi)
Employees of IBM's hardware segment are likely to be most affected by the axe hanging over the jobs of 16,000 Big Blue staff. Media reports of 16,000 job cuts have created a sense of fear and insecurity in the minds of IBM employees here in Bangalore.

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