How does an integrated 3d video solution work?

[jordibax]

I want to make a cheap pc to play low requirements games, and i don´t know wether to buy an agp mobo and plug an old geforce2 that i have in my tools case, or a mobo with the integrated solution "VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro IGP" that gets up to 256 mb from the system (i´ve 1gb). How can i compare specifications?core clock,pipelines,etc between a 3dcard and an integrated mobo card?I don´t even know if an integrated video solution actually uses a gpu and cpu does all the work.

[phranq]

I want to make a cheap pc to play low requirements games, and i don´t know wether to buy an agp mobo and plug an old geforce2 that i have in my tools case, or a mobo with the integrated solution "VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro IGP" that gets up to 256 mb from the system (i´ve 1gb). How can i compare specifications?core clock,pipelines,etc between a 3dcard and an integrated mobo card?I don´t even know if an integrated video solution actually uses a gpu and cpu does all the work.


If you tell us which parts you need and how much you're looking to spend we can probably suggest the best combination. What games are you looking to play (even one example would be nice). The geforce2 would probably be better in most cases, but it might not be compatible with some newer games.

[jordibax]

If you tell us which parts you need and how much you're looking to spend we can probably suggest the best combination. What games are you looking to play (even one example would be nice). The geforce2 would probably be better in most cases, but it might not be compatible with some newer games.

Hi Phranq. thanks for replying.It´s for playing games like warcraft3 and so.3 years ago games. the thing is that geforce2 mx200 has 166mhz sdr memory, and if the integrated card gets memory from the system, and the system has ddr400mhz memory, I suppose that a current integrated card is much better than an old card, since ddr 400mhz is much better than 166 mhz sdram.I don´t know if an integrated card means a gpu integrated in the mobo, or just something like a physical controller that supplies some properties to the cpu to process 3d applications with more efficiency.

[jordibax]

i forgot it. I already have 1gb kingston ddr400, a micro atx case with pow supply, and a 2800+ sempron that i oc. to 1.9ghz and gets the same Alu as athlon3000+. the mobo i am thinking about is "ASUS K8V-VM SK754 DDR PCX M-ATX"

[phranq]

Hi Phranq. thanks for replying.It´s for playing games like warcraft3 and so.3 years ago games. the thing is that geforce2 mx200 has 166mhz sdr memory, and if the integrated card gets memory from the system, and the system has ddr400mhz memory, I suppose that a current integrated card is much better than an old card, since ddr 400mhz is much better than 166 mhz sdram.I don´t know if an integrated card means a gpu integrated in the mobo, or just something like a physical controller that supplies some properties to the cpu to process 3d applications with more efficiency.

graphics cards tend to have higher memory bandwidth when they have their own memory on-board, so that's factored in too.

I play WC3 on a laptop with integrated graphics and 512 RAM, so you don't have too much to worry about. I've only ever lagged on this one Tower Defense that spawned an insane amount of enemies, and then add to that the shooting animations from the hundreds of towers... you get the picture.

edit: If you're taking suggestions I'd go http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157098
socket 754 and has a pci-e slot if you want to upgrade later. 6100 integrated graphics are relatively good as far as integrated goes, it's on par with a geforce 4 and cheezy fx cards, which for integrated is pretty good. You could honestly play games like Doom 3 at 800x600 with that, but it wouldn't be very pretty.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=457&num=1

[jordibax]

graphics cards tend to have higher memory bandwidth when they have their own memory on-board, so that's factored in too.

I play WC3 on a laptop with integrated graphics and 512 RAM, so you don't have too much to worry about. I've only ever lagged on this one Tower Defense that spawned an insane amount of enemies, and then add to that the shooting animations from the hundreds of towers... you get the picture.

edit: If you're taking suggestions I'd go http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157098
socket 754 and has a pci-e slot if you want to upgrade later. 6100 integrated graphics are relatively good as far as integrated goes, it's on par with a geforce 4 and cheezy fx cards, which for integrated is pretty good. You could honestly play games like Doom 3 at 800x600 with that, but it wouldn't be very pretty.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=457&num=1
thanks phrank.i´ll ask for that mobo.It looks perfect to I am looking for.By the way, a question about the geforce2 I have...When i turn on the pc, in the first bios message i can read "nvidia geforce2...64mb", but from windows, at dxdiag and nvidia advanced screen properties, there are only 32mb on board.it´s a 2nd hand card, so, maybe the last owner theaked the cardbios or maybe could be a matter of drivers.there are 4ram modules on board, but i can´t read nothing on them, what do you think?

[phranq]

thanks phrank.i´ll ask for that mobo.It looks perfect to I am looking for.By the way, a question about the geforce2 I have...When i turn on the pc, in the first bios message i can read "nvidia geforce2...64mb", but from windows, at dxdiag and nvidia advanced screen properties, there are only 32mb on board.it´s a 2nd hand card, so, maybe the last owner theaked the cardbios or maybe could be a matter of drivers.there are 4ram modules on board, but i can´t read nothing on them, what do you think?



are there any serial numbers or anything on the card? that and/or can you take a picture and put it online?

[jordibax]

are there any serial numbers or anything on the card? that and/or can you take a picture and put it online?
I can´t post a picture,i might be one of the few people in the world that still doesn´t have a digital camera or a cellphone with camera..:) well, i forced my sight to my very limits and i could read this info: on pcb AGP-SP400-REV 1.9,on a paper label a code bar,below,86L3A245(or S)99,and down below, LAMX400-64,on a chip CHRONTEL CH7007A-7(?) N(?)7A29, on a chip similar an square resistance NIKO L10845 DNB3218625, and on memory modules MALASYA 81F641642C-102FN 9908F55Z. (?)Means not sure of that number (in fact, i would´t bet my life for any number, they are almost erased).The pcb is red. Don´t broke your mind to get this enygma solved, i just asked you this for curiosity, it is the first time i see this and i thoutgh the answer was going to be interesting.

[phranq]

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.infortisa.com/spa/item/106008.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=4&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DLAMX400-64%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3DVRd%26sa%3DG


That's the closest thing I could find...

[jordibax]

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.infortisa.com/spa/item/106008.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=4&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DLAMX400-64%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3DVRd%26sa%3DG


That's the closest thing I could find...
It looks exactly the same. any idea about why bios shows 64mb and xdiag and nvidia properties 32?

[phranq]

It looks exactly the same. any idea about why bios shows 64mb and xdiag and nvidia properties 32?



I dunno to tell the truth. You could try downloading some sort of graphics card diagnostic tool like rivatuner or something. It's hard to get support for that old of a card.

[jordibax]

I dunno to tell the truth. You could try downloading some sort of graphics card diagnostic tool like rivatuner or something. It's hard to get support for that old of a card.
I run riva tuner and it shows 32mb ram on board.What I guess is that simply 2 ram modules of the card are dead and just they are not recognised by the system.Never mind.Nice replying.See you soon here phranq

[jordibax]

Since I see people keeps on viewing my post , i decided to post my research just to somehow finish the quest. Nvidia 6100 and 6150 have their own chip to process graphics with 1 vertex pipeline and 2 o 3 pixel pipelines (very poor) while geforce2 has 2 vertex shaders, so I guess that even an old card like geforce2 since it has (wider bandwith between mem an gpu) provides more performance. I found an old nvidia driver disk of a geforce2, and tough xp default drivers and last ngo nvidia drivers only recognises 32mb geforce2 onboard ram, the same card in a win98 system and that old nvidia driver disk recognises the entirely 64mb ram onboard. (misteries of life). bye all