Help Buying a Video Card For an Older Computer

[Yudo]

I have a one year old P4 3 GHz with (I think) a 400 MHz FSB and AGP 8x. I want to buy a new video card so I can run newer games at higher resolutions (I have to use an LCD now). I am willing to spend up to $500-550. However, I am concerned that my older computer will not be able to feed a newer card and thus will be pointless.

At what point does it become overkill? Is buying a x800 XT PE to much and a waste of money? Should I buy something less fancy and spend the difference on my rent?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Sonic587]

Welcome to AT!

IIRC, there were no 3GHz P4s with 400MHz FSB. There were only 533/800 FSB variations, unless I'm mistaken.

Second, what are your specs (including PSU wattage/brand) ? You have a nice budget, and that could prove useful if you have more than one weakness in your system.

 

[Yudo]

It has been a long time, so a few details may be off:

I have an Antec 420 Watt PSU
ASUS P4P Deluxe MB
1 GB of Corsair Twin X RAM
2 120 GB Seagate SATA 7200RM drives (not used in RAID)
1 NEC (2510?) 8x DVD+-R
1 old Lite-on 52x, semi-functional CD-RW
17 in Samsung LCD

My current video card is a Radeon 9800 Pro 128. It?s okay for 800x600, but with my LCD 800x600 looks awful. Anything above that is choppy in newer games. I want to use AA which is currently out of the question.

I should clarify: I am willing to spend a lot on a card, but spending less is not a bad thing.

 

[Peter]

You know that when you're running at a non-native resolution, the LCD panel does the anti-aliasing for you, for free?

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Peter
You know that when you're running at a non-native resolution, the LCD panel does the anti-aliasing for you, for free?

I don't get it. AA does'nt look like crap like an LCD at non native.

 

[forpey]

Originally posted by: Peter
You know that when you're running at a non-native resolution, the LCD panel does the anti-aliasing for you, for free?

You also get a free blurry effect.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: forpey

Originally posted by: Peter
You know that when you're running at a non-native resolution, the LCD panel does the anti-aliasing for you, for free?

You also get a free blurry effect.

 

[happy medium]

Yudo,looks like you have a 800 fsb if your systems only a year old so i'd go with a 6800Gt or a x800xt not the PE version.You could run at 1280x1024 without much of a bottleneck. I too have a p4 3 ghz but mines 533 fsb and i'm looking at a 6800nu. Hope this helps.

 

[Yudo]

Originally posted by: Zebo

Originally posted by: Peter
You know that when you're running at a non-native resolution, the LCD panel does the anti-aliasing for you, for free?

I don't get it. AA does'nt look like crap like an LCD at non native.

The problem is that my 9800 Pro cannot yeild good framerates at my LCDs native res and at non native res AA is still not really practical.

Originally posted by: Ultramags
Yudo,looks like you have a 800 fsb if your systems only a year old so i'd go with a 6800Gt or a x800xt not the PE version.You could run at 1280x1024 without much of a bottleneck. I too have a p4 3 ghz but mines 533 fsb and i'm looking at a 6800nu. Hope this helps.

thank you for the advice.

 

[gwag]

what games? what resolutions? this whole thing sounds like a loaded question shouldn't a 9800 Pro do well at just about anything with a 3Ghz P4?

 

[iversonyin]

looks like he might have a crippled 9800PRO (128-bit)

 

[Yudo]

Originally posted by: gwag
what games? what resolutions? this whole thing sounds like a loaded question shouldn't a 9800 Pro do well at just about anything with a 3Ghz P4?

I have an LCD that?s native resolution is 1280x1024. The 9800 pro 128mb can run games like Vampire the Masquerade and Half Life 2 okay at 800x600, but that resolution looks terrible on my LCD. That is why I need to invest in a card that can run these games at higher resolutions. My only question is at what point does my p4 3GHz become a bottle neck?

 

[Sonic587]

Originally posted by: Yudo

Originally posted by: gwag
what games? what resolutions? this whole thing sounds like a loaded question shouldn't a 9800 Pro do well at just about anything with a 3Ghz P4?

I have an LCD that?s native resolution is 1280x1024. The 9800 pro 128mb can run games like Vampire the Masquerade and Half Life 2 okay at 800x600, but that resolution looks terrible on my LCD. That is why I need to invest in a card that can run these games at higher resolutions. My only question is at what point does my p4 3GHz become a bottle neck?

Your P4, 533FSB or 800FSB, is still quite respectable. It shouldn't bottleneck you that much @1280X1024 w/AA

I'll second Ultramags suggestion of either a 6800GT or X800XT. Those should be plenty

Still, a 9800 Pro should be great for those titles even at your native res. What kind of FPS are you getting?

Even my Ti4200 @300/600 can push 800X600 max details w/4XAA & 8XAF and still get 30FPS+ indoors. Your card should be doing leaps and bounds better than mine.

 

[EvanAdams]

Do these recomondations still hold true?

I am P4 - 3ghz @ 533 I think

1 stick 512 Mushkin

My problem is a dell 2000fp native at 1600x1200

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: Yudo

Originally posted by: gwag
what games? what resolutions? this whole thing sounds like a loaded question shouldn't a 9800 Pro do well at just about anything with a 3Ghz P4?

I have an LCD that?s native resolution is 1280x1024. The 9800 pro 128mb can run games like Vampire the Masquerade and Half Life 2 okay at 800x600, but that resolution looks terrible on my LCD. That is why I need to invest in a card that can run these games at higher resolutions. My only question is at what point does my p4 3GHz become a bottle neck?

Are you joking? I have a 9800p(xt) 128 mb, and I run HL2 at 1280 no problem, with max detail and AA + AF. Also, I'm using an Athlon XP 2ghz, but a p4 at 3ghz should do fine. The only way I can see you not getting good performance is if you either have a crippled card, software problem (spyware, etc) or if you have less than 512mb RAM. And if you do have less than 512, then no card in the world is gonna give you good frame rates.

EDIT: ok, I see you have 1gig of ram, so it's not the problem.

 

[EvanAdams]

I unearthed this topic kinda for me not for the original poster.

 

[Fenuxx]

If I was to bet, I would say that he probably has the crippled 9800P. I also would suggest a 6800GT or an X800 XT. Those probably won't be crippled by your CPU (though you DO have Intel ). You should be fine at 1280x1024 with either of those cards, I know I am with my 6800GT.

 

[crazyeddie]

I just replaced an Athlon XP 2400+ and a Radeon 9700 (non Pro). The only games that it couldn't run at 1280x1024 to my satisfaction were Far Cry and Doom 3.

A P4 3Ghz CPU and a Radeon 9800 Pro (not SE/LE) should be able to run even Far Cry just fine at 1280x1024. Doom 3 would be playable but not smooth on such a configuration.

Something about this original post doesn't fit. What games can't you run at 1280x1024 with P4 3Ghz CPU and a Radeon 9800 Pro?

 

[Cheesetogo]

I have a friend who runs HL2 on his 128mb 9800pro with a 2.6 p4 at 1152x864 with full settings, so I'm not sure what's wrong.

 

[EvanAdams]

I am thinking 6600GT AGP. Seems to be the leader right now. Wish it did better at 16x12 but whatever.

 

[knyghtbyte]

I have two Dell PCs, an 8300 and 8400, both have same P4 3ghz 800fsb, same size HDD and same soundcards, differences are 8300 has 512mb ram, 8400 has 1gb, and the 8400 is PCI-E based.
Graphics wise, the 8300 has a 9800XT 256Mb and the 8400 has a 6800GTO (overclocked to 375/1050 with 16/6 pipes/vs)

Put on Doom3 and the 9800XT cant keep up in the slightest compared to the GTO, with all shiny options on at my screens native ressie, the framerate is around 35 frames different!!
On 3dmark03 there is around 4,500 points difference between the 2 systems.....

i cant believe the 1Gb of RAM makes THAT much difference.....

havnt tried HL2 yet on my 8300, but i cant see a 9800XT running HL2 with everything shiny AND AA/AF and actually have enjoyable playable frame rates. Even less so on a 9800 Pro 128mb (even o/c'ed XT speeds) on the system someone mentioned here......

I'd advise you go for the 6800GT if i was you, or X800XT if u can find one.....with some of the next gen games coming out anything less would be a waste of time, thats if you want things shiny with good frame rates......

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: knyghtbyte
I have two Dell PCs, an 8300 and 8400, both have same P4 3ghz 800fsb, same size HDD and same soundcards, differences are 8300 has 512mb ram, 8400 has 1gb, and the 8400 is PCI-E based.
Graphics wise, the 8300 has a 9800XT 256Mb and the 8400 has a 6800GTO (overclocked to 375/1050 with 16/6 pipes/vs)

Put on Doom3 and the 9800XT cant keep up in the slightest compared to the GTO, with all shiny options on at my screens native ressie, the framerate is around 35 frames different!!
On 3dmark03 there is around 4,500 points difference between the 2 systems.....

i cant believe the 1Gb of RAM makes THAT much difference.....

havnt tried HL2 yet on my 8300, but i cant see a 9800XT running HL2 with everything shiny AND AA/AF and actually have enjoyable playable frame rates. Even less so on a 9800 Pro 128mb (even o/c'ed XT speeds) on the system someone mentioned here......

I'd advise you go for the 6800GT if i was you, or X800XT if u can find one.....with some of the next gen games coming out anything less would be a waste of time, thats if you want things shiny with good frame rates......

The gig of ram makes a difference but I think the greater difference comes from the graphics cards. The one with a gig has the 6800GTO, of course that is better than the 9800XT, even a 6600GT beats that 9800 and by fairly decent margins. On top of that you are running Doom 3 which favors nVidia hardware over ATI by alot.

Running HL 2 might be more interesting as that favors ATI and even the "older" cards work well on it. My old 9600 pro ran it beautifully (not as good as my 6800GT, but still nice)

-spike

 

[knyghtbyte]

I'm going to test it one day, im just being lazy...lol

all im wondering is when people say they are running the games with AA & AF....despite the 9800XT favouring HL2 AA still makes a massive impact on performance and far as i was aware only the recent gens of cards are capable of using it at higher ressies (ie above 1024x768)with properly playable framerates. Certainly any tests i have done have shown AA to slow things down dramatically on the previous gen cards.

im also at work most times i post here, so i like to moan, whinge, argue etc as i cant do it on the phone to my customers....LOL....do forgive me ;-)