Help on temp upgrade

[aheartattack]

I'm looking to move to a temp graphics card before an eventual move to a conroe+ system. Here's my rig:

2.8E P4
MSI 875P NEO FIS2R motherboard
1GB DDR400
MSI fx5900xt vtd 128


As i said, I'll be getting a conroe+ system maybe march/april. I'll go all out then [my current rig was bought early 2004]. Until the, I want a card to play oblivion, fear and the like. I don't want to spend even a bit much as a. no dx10 support now and b. My current board has no PCIe. Any suggestions for the best cheap mid range AGP for me now? And will games like the two stated look better than on the 'high end' 5900xt wth a mid range card? Obviously oblivion won't run on full with anything near the price I'm considering, but will the temp upgrade be worth it?

 

[memories2002]

6600GT. Or x800GTO.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: memories2002
6600GT. Or x800GTO.

I've tested Oblivion with an X800 XTPE, that is great. The 6600 GT offers poor image quality by comparison (Medium Textures), though it's fast enough for a temporary solution. I had a FX myself -- 5900 Vanilla. It couldn't cut the deep woods, or a gate, or even a busy Imp. City scene. That's the PC that now has a 6600 GT. I think, if a cheap nVidia is your choice, look for a 256 MB version of a 6800 XT (same speed as a 6600 GT, but you get Large Textures).

 

[aheartattack]

I may be able to go around the $100-$130 range. I see that the x1600xt is available at that price. Will it be better than the aforementioned cards? Is there another card better than these three at that price? I will be selling it off soon, so a newer gen is more attractive. And will I see better performance than I currently have? What would the two most viable cards be from nVidia and ATI? Thanks.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

The X1600 XT is roughly where the X800 GT would be, if there was one (there isn't, so the X800 is faster), and the X1600 XT is both faster than a 6800 XT, and also offers the better image quality for Oblivion. Right now, the last few of the X800 cards are getting hard to find, they've been at clearance prices for several months, but when you find one at around $150, they are very good in Oblivion, however, pretty soon the discounters will run through their stocks, and only full price sellers will have any (above $200).

Almost anything that is relatively current, other than a 6200/ 6500, or X300/ X550, is faster than an FX 5900 of almost any kind, when running shader model two functions.