Is a 6600gt a worth while improvement over a 9600XT agp?

Sonikku

Lifer
Jun 23, 2005
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My specs are

Sempron Socket A 2400+
1 gig of Corsair Value Ram
9600XT

I'm only getting about 20-30fps in WoW and want to get something closer to 40-50. It is only for World of Warcraft as it's the only PC game I've been playing. Will a 6600gt be worth it for AGP? I don't care to invest $300 in a outdated video card standard...
 

BlingBlingArsch

Golden Member
May 10, 2005
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hm...tough decision, cuz i dont know exactly how much of a role CPU performance plays in WoW. all i can tell ya is that with my old athlonXP 3200+, 1gig of Ram and a 9800pro WoW is running smooth. iam getting about 40 fps, depending on how much action is goin on in the game. Like in a BWL raid it can decrease to 15 though. Iam playin on 1280x1024 and i had to play with the detail settings a bit but it looks still good to me though. Guess a 6600gt will do fine, unless WoW is more CPU than GPU bound which i dunno..
 

dug777

Lifer
Oct 13, 2004
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yes but no.

Yes it's a damn sight faster than the 9600xt, but no it's not really worth it in the long run...you are going from a rig that can't play cutting edge games at decent settings to another of the same...that 2400+(which is weak compared to a athlon 2400+ iirc) will be your bottleneck...

I have a 6600GT (AGP) heavily overclocked and it's a good match for my 2.1Ghz tbred B, but with that my min fps is DEFINITELY held back by my CPU (search for my FEAR benchmarks to see that)...
 

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
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alienbabeltech.com
Yes . . . absolutely.

The 9800p is a significant improvement over a 9600xt. . . .the 6600gt, more so ;)

The 6600GT has dropped - in Hot Deals - to ~$100 after MIR.

You might also consider the [new 256bit] x1700xt due shortly for ~$180 or the 6800GS for ~$200 [when they show up in AGP].

Also consider the 6800std if you like unlocking pipes.
 

Sonikku

Lifer
Jun 23, 2005
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Boy, I sure wish the X800GTO was available in AGP... Do PCI express16 cards offer a large boost in performance over their AGP variants with a machine using comparable specs? And how can a 2400+ Athlon blow a 2400+ Sempron out of the water? I mean sure, Socket A Sempron is older, but isn't a 2400+ (and 3000+, 3700+ 4400+ect.) designation universal? If the Socket A is so much slower it would otherwise then seem appropriate to call it a 1700+ or whatever is appropriate to keep performance in line with other cpu's and sockets. No?
 

Shortass

Senior member
May 13, 2004
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Well an AMD64 3000+ or 3200+ are significantly better than Socket A 3000+ and 3200+ chips, so it's not entirely universal. I'm not sure upgrading to a 2400+ would be that great of an upgrade though.
 

Sonikku

Lifer
Jun 23, 2005
15,886
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I thought the XXXX+ ratings were universal between sockets, which I kind of liked because I thought I had a good idea of where I stood with all of AMD's cpu's in regards to their speed, socket type and core clock be damned. That sucks to know.
 

imported_Kiwi

Golden Member
Jul 17, 2004
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Originally posted by: Sonikku
I thought the XXXX+ ratings were universal between sockets, which I kind of liked because I thought I had a good idea of where I stood with all of AMD's cpu's in regards to their speed, socket type and core clock be damned. That sucks to know.
Nope. The XP was officially supposed to be related to the Thunderbird's comparative performance, and in actuality it probably was set up to compare with the P4 Williamette. The Sempron number was supposed to relate officially to the Duron, while the practical comparison was with Celerons instead.

I assume that the A64 has some similar official story that I've forgotten, but the practical numeric result is how it compares to a Prescott. I don't really know what the numbers for Semprons in newer sockets that are related to A64's are related to, unless maybe it's the Celeron "D"?

Your Sempron has a much smaller L1/L2 than the XP had and it makes a difference of at least two hundred performance points. An XP 2200, I think, is about equal to your Sempron 2400.


:Q