Looking for Radeon 9800 PRO upgrade

[slicknick1986]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking for a video card upgrade for my current (fairly old) system, just something to tide me over until I put together a brand new system next year when the Nehalem chips are out for a bit.

Currently, I'm just playing World of Warcraft which the Radeon 9800 Pro handles well enough, though I recently got a 22 inch 1680x1050 monitor, and the game's performance at that res on my system isn't as good as I'd like.

I'd like a card that will play WoW on my system near 60fp, all graphics settings max (except AA, not a priority).

My specs (no overlocks):

CPU: 2.8 ghz P4 w/HT
GPU: Radeon 9800 Pro
RAM: 2GB DDR2
MOBO: Abit IC-7
PSU: 430w Antec TruPower II
HDD: Seagate SATA 250GB


I was looking at either the Radeon HD 3850 512MB or the X1650PRO 512MB as an upgrade. The X1650 is obviously much cheaper, but will it give me that much of a performance improvement in WoW over the R9800? If not, is the 3850 -too- powerful for my system, leading to bottlenecks? Is there another AGP card besides these two, preferably ATI, that you would recommend for WoW @ 1680x1050, near 60fps?

Thanks for your time, I appreciate any advice.

- Nicholas

 

[Piuc2020]

If all you play is WoW then save your cash and get the X1650, if you plan on playing other games then get the HD 3850, at least then you'll have a good card to carry on as you upgrade the rest of your components.

 

[Roguestar]

^ That 3850 is AGP so he'll be throwing it out next time he upgrades his motherboard anyway.

Go with the X1650, it's more than enough for the meagre requirements of WoW.

 

[slicknick1986]

Yeah whatever I get will not be going into my next system of course.

Thanks guys for the help.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I picked up a 3850 AGP card for my old P4 3.06HT system and the cpu was a MAJOR bottleneck. I'd recommend the 1650

 

[antsct]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
I picked up a 3850 AGP card for my old P4 3.06HT system and the cpu was a MAJOR bottleneck. I'd recommend the 1650

Agreed 100%. I put a AGP 3850 into an Athlon XP 3200+ (slightly faster than the 2.8GHz) and my CPU was a massive bottleneck. Big waste of money. Thankfully I sold it for a decent price a week later.

 

[Operandi]

How about the 3650? I'm considering that GPU to put in my HTPC for Folding@Home and HD video acceleration.