Videocard question: PCI vs. AGP

[Brax]

I'm a bit behind the times. My main computer is a 1ghz PIII. Someday it'll be retired to a MAME computer but today it's my primary. (I know the videocard isn't a big deal for mame, but it makes a big difference to me right now when this computer is being used as my principal machine) I'm not expecting to play modern games on it, but it does have enough juice to play some games a year or two old. Lately I've found that I'm limited by the videocard. Some games are asking for at least 64meg of video ram and some of the newer texture and lighting stuff...

My motherboard is limited to a 4X AGP card. The fastest 4X card I can find is something like a 64meg Radeon 7000. The biggest, fastest card I can get in PCI would be something like a 256meg Geforce FX5500 or 256meg Radeon 9250.

I don't want to start playing with 8x AGP cards and hoping they work. Some will, some won't depending on voltages. It's a pain and I don't want to get into it.

So here's my question. Which would be faster? The AGP or PCI? Would 4 times the memory and more modern graphics engines overcome the pipeline disadvantage of PCI? I'd guess yes, but I was wondering if anyone had a more informed opinion?

[tristan]

I think most AGP cards will work with no problem, depending on your power supply. If you have 15+ amps on the +5 volt rail, you should be able to run just about anything. If you're close (13-14), you would probably do well with a mid-ranged card.
If you're not close, you would have to stick to something a bit lower end, but I think AGP is definately the way to go.