Graphic Card for Duron 1600

[freefred]

My spec is :

Duron 1600
Asrock K7S41GX Mobo (333 MHz FSB)
768 MB RAM ( minus 64 MB for shared video ram )
(256 MB DDR 266 + 512 MB DDR 400 thus running at 266)

Using onboard graphic chipset, especially one on a 30 bucks mobo, is of course not the optimal choice if you want to play today's 3D games. I am thinking of buying a new card, but since I have a rather slow processor, I wonder if using this processor together with mid-end graphic card like Radeon 9800 Pro would be a good idea ? Does 180 euro for a used (6 months old, still have guarantee left) Sapphire Atlantis 9800 Pro sound reasonable ?

 

[Malak]

A 9800 Pro is a solid card to get.

 

[freefred]

Doh, I browsed ebay again and found a new Gigabyte 6600 GT for sale at 195 ?, I guess that would make a better deal than 180 ? for a used 9800 Pro.

I wonder though, why 6600 GT series isnt even mentioned in the Video Card FAQ post (the one in the sticky thread)

 

[2Xtreme21]

The 6600GT is a newer card... the FAQ is an older guide. Do the math.

Anyway just wanted to add my 2 cents here: ANY recent graphics card coupled with that fossil of a processor (by today's standards) won't help it very much. Your best bet for any type of performance upgrade would be to first get a nice new proc / mobo (at the very least to a Athlon XP Barton with a compatible motherboard) and then worry about the graphics card.

 

[zakee00]

yeah 2xtreme is totally right, i bought a 9600pro to go with my old 800MHz P3 and it still sucked big time.

 

[dguy6789]

9600 pro sucked cause that cpu couldnt get the most out of a gf4mx let alone a 9600 pro.....

 

[freefred]

Currently, graphic card is the bottleneck. With this onboard Real 256E 3D graphic chipset, I cant even play Morrowind or Neverwinter Night. So I definetly need to buy a -real- graphic card... preferably one with some staying power so it will still be useful for a year or two. I am planning to buy a new proc+mobo when theyve become the bottlenecks, but right now they arent.

I just hope whatever card I buy will get along nicely with X.org and XFree since I use FreeBSD and Slackware Linux when I am not gaming.

 

[iversonyin]

I would not go for 9800PRO if I were you. I had a P4 1.7 ghz pair up with 9800PRO. It bottleneck the crap out of the 9800PRO

Geforce 4 Ti4 series is a better choice

 

[cubeless]

make sure that the 6600 is tha agp version, not pci-x...

 

[SneakyStuff]

Get a plain 9600, and mabye get an Athlon XP 2200+ to go in there provided youre using DDR RAM.

 

[skreet]

Get a 2500+ used, and ditch the DDR 266, put yourself at the back FSB then get the 9800 Pro because it's a kickass card. I think it will outpreform that 6600 even thought it's a newer card.

 

[nitromullet]

GeForce4 Ti4200 would be a great match for that cpu.