Old motherboards may have one or more the following slots:
• AGP—for graphics cards (ranging from AGP 1x, 2x, 4x and 8x)
• PCI—for expansion cards and low end graphics cards
ATI still manufactures PCI graphics cards, but for better performance try a
card supporting PCI-Express. AGP is not a good idea, becuase it is a standard
that is on it's way out. You may come upon ancient motherboards with neither
AGP nor PCI, but please don't waste your time trying to reuse them.
Due to the evolution of new graphics cards on the serial PCI-Express Technology,
current newer motherboards have the following connections:
• PCI-Express 16x for mainstream graphics cards (4 times speed of AGP
8x)
• PCI-Express 1x for faster expansion cards (replacing older PCI)
• PCI for use of old expansion cards (will eventually be phased out)
Older AGP 8x graphics cards are generally being discontinued in favor of
PCI-Express 16x, as the speed and efficiency is about 4 times that of the AGP 8x
technology. Old PCI cards are either now built into the motherboard (for sound
cards, LAN cards, IEEE 1394 firewire and USB 2.0 interfaces) or becoming PCIExpress
variants.