I need to upgrade my video card

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I

inverse

Member
Jan 31, 2004
58
0
0
First my system specs:

430W Antec PSU
4 80mm case fans
2 DVD drives
3 Hard Drives
NIC
Sound Card
2.4g Pentium 4 HT
2gb ram
GeForce FX 5900XT

The card has to be AGP and Nvidia. I've had bad experience with ATi cards, wavy lines that scrolled down my old CRT, switched back to Nvidia and problem solved.

Not sure how high of a card I can get before my systems becomes a bottleneck to the card. I'm not looking for the best card, just a card to play WoW (maybe some CS:S) at max settings at this res at 60FPS or so in a Raid. Is it possible with 100$? Noise is also a concern of mines and I'd like a quiet card. Don't know if power is an issue, so I listed my devices connected to the PSU.

Thank you.
 
AVP

AVP

Senior member
Jan 19, 2005
885
0
76
7600gt should do it. In my experience both games look good with a scaled down resolution too. But 7600gt will be good for that resolution. Here

Actually I would go with this, this is a great deal. 7800gs
 
P

Phantomaniac

Senior member
Jan 12, 2007
268
0
76
Too bad you're preferential to brands. An X1950GT or Pro would get you a good deal more performance for the money on AGP than either of those cards.

You should only be preferential to Nvidia cards if you use Linux. :D
 
J

JustaGeek

Platinum Member
Jan 27, 2007
2,827
0
71
Originally posted by: AVP
7600gt should do it. In my experience both games look good with a scaled down resolution too. But 7600gt will be good for that resolution. Here

Actually I would go with this, this is a great deal. 7800gs
Click to expand...

7800GS is a great card.

I am still using the BFG version, and my wife plays Sims 2 at 1280x1024 with no stuttering and all the settings maxed-out - except the AA.

Great price at ~$130, too - I paid ~$300 in April 06.
 
onlyCOpunk

onlyCOpunk

Platinum Member
May 25, 2003
2,532
1
0
I was in your same boat. Untrusting of ATI, but I bought an AGP version of the x1950gt and I have been thoroughly pleased with it's performance on my dying system. BTW I have similar system specs as you.
 
I

inverse

Member
Jan 31, 2004
58
0
0
Well I'd like to get the ATI but I just don't want to go through the hassle of returning it if the same problem happens. I lived with those lines scrolling down my screen for months and that left a bad taste. Thanks for the recommendations :)
 
I

inverse

Member
Jan 31, 2004
58
0
0
Originally posted by: JustaGeek
Originally posted by: AVP
7600gt should do it. In my experience both games look good with a scaled down resolution too. But 7600gt will be good for that resolution. Here

Actually I would go with this, this is a great deal. 7800gs
Click to expand...

7800GS is a great card.

I am still using the BFG version, and my wife plays Sims 2 at 1280x1024 with no stuttering and all the settings maxed-out - except the AA.

Great price at ~$130, too - I paid ~$300 in April 06.
Click to expand...

How's the noise level on it?
 
J

JustaGeek

Platinum Member
Jan 27, 2007
2,827
0
71
Originally posted by: inverse
Originally posted by: JustaGeek
Originally posted by: AVP
7600gt should do it. In my experience both games look good with a scaled down resolution too. But 7600gt will be good for that resolution. Here

Actually I would go with this, this is a great deal. 7800gs
Click to expand...

7800GS is a great card.

I am still using the BFG version, and my wife plays Sims 2 at 1280x1024 with no stuttering and all the settings maxed-out - except the AA.

Great price at ~$130, too - I paid ~$300 in April 06.
Click to expand...

How's the noise level on it?
Click to expand...

Funny you asked...

Well, the BFG 7800GS had a fan that sounded like a hair dryer!

I couldn't take it, so I called them to ask for the aftermarket solution that would fit. But they seemed totally oblivious to my concerns. And the heatsink hole layout on the BFG card is proprietory, so I could not fit anything!

Long story short... I removed the fan, and attached a standard 80 mm fan to the BFG heatsink with a makeshift bracket. It's been working quietly for about a year now.

Fot my 7950GT I went to eVGA, hoping for a quieter cooling solution, and I have not been disappointed! My eVGA card is exceptionally quiet, and I will continue buying their product.

Anyway, I hope that the eVGA 7800GS is as quiet as my eVGA 7950GT.
 
N

nonameo

Diamond Member
Mar 13, 2006
5,902
2
76
Another option is to go with a used 6800GT. Although, that will also sound like a hair dryer.
 
S

Skott

Diamond Member
Oct 4, 2005
5,730
1
76
When I played WoW I used a eVGA 7800GS CO Superclock card in a P4 3.0GHz, 2Gb RAM, PC and WoW looked gorgeous and ran fine. Back then it cost $320 so it wasnt cheap.
 
I

inverse

Member
Jan 31, 2004
58
0
0
Thanks guys I went ahead and got the eVGA 7800GS.

And about noise level, my old leadtek geforce something used to sound like a hair dryer. Used to give me a headache and had to go back.
 
J

jonmcc33

Banned
Feb 24, 2002
1,504
0
0
Originally posted by: onlyCOpunk
I was in your same boat. Untrusting of ATI, but I bought an AGP version of the x1950gt and I have been thoroughly pleased with it's performance on my dying system. BTW I have similar system specs as you.
Click to expand...

Untrusting of ATi? I've used only ATi since the 9700 Pro came out. I then upgraded to an X800XT AIW and then X1900XT. Never been disappointed.
 
bryanW1995

bryanW1995

Lifer
May 22, 2007
11,144
32
91
I don't trust either one of them. They're both in it to make as much money off of us as they can. I trust my own ability to research cards and make an intelligent decision based upon what I want out of a card: ie, low heat, low noise, high performance in current games I play and potential future games. I also want it to score really really high in 3dmark06 because some guy with 3 posts here told me the other day that 3dmark06 is the best way to evaluate a video card.
 
bryanW1995

bryanW1995

Lifer
May 22, 2007
11,144
32
91
if it's all about performance then 1950xt agp is the way to go. that's a little bit expensive, however...
 
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