K8N Neo2 question from a motherboard idiot

hi all, please be tolerant, I know precious little to nothing about motherboards.

I have a MSI K8N Neo2 motherboard, and I have a REALLY dumb question.
It has 1 AGP slot and 5 PCI slots...does this mean it can handle a PCI Express graphics card? I really do not understand the difference between AGP and PCI, except that the slots LOOK different...yet i keep reading that my board is an AGP board, yet is has PCI slots? I don't get it.

So...am I safe getting a new high-end PCE-X graphics card with this board?

Thanks VERY MUCH for you time!

-matt

ps all i read about is the MSI K8N Neo2 PLATINUM....mine is NOT a PLATINUM....does that make a difference?

pps for the life of me, I can't get my USB ports to run high speed. I am running XP SP2, still no luck.

 

Hope to help !

Dear friend:

I have been in similar situations like yours, and Nobody has given me any answer. I hope it'd not too late.

The answer is NO, I f you have a motherboard with an AGP slot, you have to get an AGP graphics card, you can also get a PCI card, but the AGP is always better.

PCI Express slots are different and have different specifications, You will not be able to use PCI express cards on regular PCI slots. They are different.

In order to use a PCI Express graphics card, you gotta have a motherboard WITH a PCI express slot. In a similar way, in order to use an AGP card you need to have an AGP slot, you can NOT use it on a regular PCI slot.

I hope it's clear enough.

Regards

 

about your highspeed 2.0 USb ports

I was looking at the specifications of your mother board at MSI website, they say explicitly that your motherboard has USB 2.0 ports (High speed), wichh means that probably you need to update the drivers for the Built-in USB 2.0 ports.

If for some reason those "Enhanced" USB ports don't work at HIgh speed, you can always get a new "HIgh speed" PCI card that will give you "High speed" USB 2.0 ports, those cards are installed on your regular (5 PCI ports), you can choose anyone.

Hope it helps.

Regards