Help choosing the proper vid card

[dbal]

I am ready to replace my GFFX5700 with something more powerful after the recent memory and cpu upgrades on my pc. Question is, which video card would be on par with the rest of my system specs (plz check) meaning that it wouldn't either hog the cpu as it happens now, or be 2 scales above the system having me throw my precious money out of the window without any significant gain in game performance.

Plz keep in mind that it has to be AGP, nVidia limited and able to satisfy my casual gaming needs at high detail settings in 1280x1024 resolution, without extra candy if needed while keeping a pace of at least 30-40 fps.

Thanx in advance for all the proposals

 

[AVP]

What kind of games do you like to play? I mean, anything that is AGP won't scale horribly with your system so that the performance increase will be negligible. If you want to play the newest games at the highest settings, even at that resolution you have to look at the top 2-3 AGP cards out there. Worse comes to worse, you drop some money on an AGP card and a year down the line you get a Core2duo board with an AGP slot on it and get another year out of it. I wouldn't be as worried as some people here are about poor scaling.

I plan on getting an 8800gts or 8600u on my amd 64 3000+ with 1gig of Corsair VS system this summer. Obviously it won't perform like others, but at least when I do a full upgrade I can keep the videocard. I Do not imagine that a high end videocard on your system will perform worse or even on par with a slower offering. I could be off base here, but I haven't scene anything to demonstrate otherwise.

You can get a 7800gs for $160 after $50 mir. That might be the way to go. Or you could go for an x1950pro for $200 after mir. I think both would work fine with your system. Though at your resolution, a 7800gs would be great I think.

*edited for clarity, sorry a little tired.

 

[happy medium]

7800gs! Mine does all you ask.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: happy medium
7800gs! Mine does all you ask.

yeah a 7800GS is a decent card...I like mine, but I must say now that I have a X1950Pro 512mb, the 7800GS just seems second rate now....

 

[swtethan]

x1950pro for $250 is yummy

 

[happy medium]

I'd recommend the 1950 pro too but I'd bet his psu won't handle it and the 2.8 pent 4 is a little slow.

Edit: wow 10 amp, 12v rail sucks. might go for a 6600 series

 

[AVP]

Ouch. Very good find happy medium. Not sure what he can do now other than a 6600- like you mentioned. The 7800gs needs 400+ watts with 20amps.

 

[happy medium]

My Enermax psu (350 watt with 26 amp rail) handles my overclocked cpu and 7800gs gpu and can be had for around 50 or 60 bucks. I still don't think it would power a 1950 pro. If you could swallow the price of a 7800gs 160.00$ and another psu 60.00$ it would more than double your framerate.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: AVP
Ouch. Very good find happy medium. Not sure what he can do now other than a 6600- like you mentioned. The 7800gs needs 400+ watts with 20amps.

ummm nope, I have used a Antec SP350W with 16A on the 12v with my BFG 7800GS OC and I have had no problems. see my sig (P4 3.06@3.45) for the rest of the system specs.


I would probably say that my SP350 is the bare minimum for a 7800GS...but it does work 100%

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: Stumps

Originally posted by: AVP
Ouch. Very good find happy medium. Not sure what he can do now other than a 6600- like you mentioned. The 7800gs needs 400+ watts with 20amps.

ummm nope, I have used a Antec SP350W with 16A on the 12v with my BFG 7800GS OC and I have had no problems. see my sig (P4 3.06@3.45) for the rest of the system specs.


I would probably say that my SP350 is the bare minimum for a 7800GS...but it does work 100%

So the op's psu being it only has a 10 amp rail wont cut it.
Yea my Dell had a 15 amp rail and ran my 7800gs BFG too.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: happy medium

Originally posted by: Stumps

Originally posted by: AVP
Ouch. Very good find happy medium. Not sure what he can do now other than a 6600- like you mentioned. The 7800gs needs 400+ watts with 20amps.

ummm nope, I have used a Antec SP350W with 16A on the 12v with my BFG 7800GS OC and I have had no problems. see my sig (P4 3.06@3.45) for the rest of the system specs.


I would probably say that my SP350 is the bare minimum for a 7800GS...but it does work 100%

So the op's psu being it only has a 10 amp rail wont cut it.
Yea my Dell had a 15 amp rail and ran my 7800gs BFG too.

I wouldn't try it either with a 7800GS...or even a 6800 series Video card...

Just one question for the OP, how old is your PSU?

 

[rogue1979]

A little long in the tooth these days, but a 7600GT would be a reasonable match for the cpu and uses relatively low power. A huge improvement over the 5700.

 

[dbal]

Thanks again for all the input guys...!
I see you rise a PSU issue that I hadn't taken in notice-do you mean that 420W of a branded PSU like TTake are not enough? Of course I won't ask for the 8000 series cards due to their price but can't I electrically afford a 7600 VGA?

P.S: As a reminder, only nVidia cards accepted (don't ask why plz), no res higher than 1280 needed, but 40 fps under all gaming conditions without AA or AF enabled, would be highly appreciated. Typical games for testing? Farcry, Doom3 (casual gamer, I told ya!)

 

[happy medium]

Looks like you need a new psu unless the 10 amp rail I researched was wrong.
For casual games like farcry ,doom 3,at 1280 x 1024 at 40 fps + go for a 6800gt and up.
I'd grab one used for under 100.00$ Also make sure your psu has a 18+ amp 12v rail also .

 

[daveybrat]

Originally posted by: happy medium
Looks like you need a new psu unless the 10 amp rail I researched was wrong.
For casual games like farcry ,doom 3,at 1280 x 1024 at 40 fps + go for a 6800gt and up.
I'd grab one used for under 100.00$ Also make sure your psu has a 18+ amp 12v rail also .

You are wrong.

His power supply has the following:

12v1 = 10A
12v2 = 15A

so he has dual rails and 25A total!! You only saw the 10Amps on the first rail.

Here's the link to his power supply:

Text

So basically the OP can run almost any video card he chooses!

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: daveybrat

Originally posted by: happy medium
Looks like you need a new psu unless the 10 amp rail I researched was wrong.
For casual games like farcry ,doom 3,at 1280 x 1024 at 40 fps + go for a 6800gt and up.
I'd grab one used for under 100.00$ Also make sure your psu has a 18+ amp 12v rail also .

You are wrong.

His power supply has the following:

12v1 = 10A
12v2 = 15A

so he has dual rails and 25A total!! You only saw the 10Amps on the first rail.

Here's the link to his power supply:

Text

So basically the OP can run almost any video card he chooses!

Sorry Dbal I missed that and thanks for the correction daveybrat.


So 7800gs it is!

 

[daveybrat]

Agreed, i think the 7800GS after rebate is your best bang for the buck Nvidia card. :thumbsup:

 

[dbal]

I knew I had a good PSU..!!
Now that we solved this issue, checking the prices I see that the only affordable solution for me is up to a 7600GT card. Do you think I will satisfy my "needs" with such a chipset? No AA/AF special needs but high detail settings @1280x1024 with a 40sth framerate that is...
And by the way, as the nVidia site section referring to the 7600 series is temporarily off :frown:, can someone remind me the engine/memory speeds for the 7600 flavored cards (GS,GT etc).
Cheers to all

 

[Cookie Monster]

I think the perfect choice here is the leadtek or XFX 7600GT AGP.

The specs of it is

90nm
560mhz core clock (one of the XFX variants clocked at 580mhz)
1400mhz memory speed
12 pipelines
12 TMUs
5 vertex shaders
8 ROPs
128bit GDDR3
256mb

These can give 7800GS a run for its money based on the firing squad benchmarks. They are roughly 10~20% faster than a 6800 ultra. Therefore, it would be around 5~6 times faster than your FX 5700 literally. (i have one too and has upgraded to a 6800GT AGP )

Currently the XFX 7600GT AGP at newegg has a 30 dollar AR. Ie its $145 AR right now.

You would be able to enable AA/AF as well as maintaining 40 fps in most old and newish games.

 

[dbal]

Exactly this was the card I was looking for yesterday! Thanx for the detailed reply