I am looking to upgrade my video card and am looking for advice on which card to purchase?

I own a HP XT948 and am not sure which card is better(max performance). The board has 1 AGP slot and 2 PCI slots. Is one particular kind of card better? My choices are a GeForce 5500 (PCI), ATI Radeon 9550 (PCI), or the Nvidia GeForce 6200 (AGP). It seems the AGP numbers go higher Than the PCI on the Nvidia cards, probably due to PCI-Express being introduced. I understand that AGP slots are pretty much phased out now and the card will be pretty much useless but I am more concerned about getting max performance from this machine. Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated and thank you for your time.|||If you have a choice between AGP and PCI express, from several different sources I have heard that PCI express is the way to go.



Depending on how old your computer is (sounds like you only have AGP for video) you have to choose the card type that works in it. I use the GEForce 5500 AGP (mostly because my system is a bit older and has only AGP).



Check your system on the HP website and see what type of video card slot it comes with (most come only with one). If it can handle PCI express, go with that (preferably GeForce type). If only AGP, then go with the GEForce AGP. Also you might try adding some more RAM memory to your system (if you don't have a gig of RAM already, do so... 2 would be better!). Those work hand-in-hand for system performance.|||The GeForce 6200 will be best. AGP is much faster than PCI. However, do not plan on playing any of the newest games on even this card, as it is stall rather old.|||If you don't have the capability to do PCIe go with AGP. AGP has a direct connection between the video circuitry and the PC's memory.



Yes, AGP is slowly being weeded out but I myself use a GeForce 7600GS AGP and i have just as good frame rates as people I know that use PCIe.|||I pretty much did what you are talking about a few months ago. I have an AMD 3200+ with a Gigabyte mobo that runs AGP. I sold my old ATI 9800 Pro and purchased an ATI 1950 Pro AGP. You can find them now for under $200 and it is the best AGP card available in my opinion... especially for that price. It will definately extend the lifespan of almost any older AGP system as I can play just about anything out nowadays. Just make sure you have a power supply that is up to spec for whatever card you do choose. I had to upgrade mine from a 350W to a 550W, and not because of the wattage, but the amps. So do your homework either way and good luck!!