Mid to low-end AGP video card reccomendations

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MrBond

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Feb 5, 2000
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I've been thinking about upgrading my Ti4200 for some time now. The only game I've been playing recently was WoW and it ran that fine, but I'm bored with WoW and all the games coming out now seem to require Pixel Shader 2.0 (which my Ti4200 doesn't support, apparently).

I've got an Enermax 350watt power supply, I'm not sure what model, but it's fairly old. I bought it for my Athlon system, then moved it into my P4 2.6C when I built that. It runs great, but I suspect it won't be enough to run current video games. Currently I have 2 optical drives and 3 hard disks attached to it.

I'm in grad school and money is tight. Budget is $120 MAX, cheaper would be way better.

I don't want to upgrade my motherboard to something with PCI-E right now. I'd rather not upgrade my power supply if I can at all help it.

What do you guys suggest? My Ti4200 was a "long term" upgrade, I bought it in 2002 and it's lasted me 4 years working just fine. This will be more of a short term upgrade, I should have my masters degree in about a year and be working full time somewhere, so I'll probably do a completely new build at that time and buy something more future proof.
 
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MrBond

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Feb 5, 2000
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I was thinking 6600GT actually (it was the first card I considered as an upgrade) - would I need to upgrade my power supply though? I can check the voltages on it at lunch if that will help.

The other thought I had was a 9800Pro, but they were all way out of my budget on Newegg. I'll check out that x1600p as well.

Keep the suggestions coming guys, thanks!
 
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fishbits

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Apr 18, 2005
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Think the munky's pretty much got you covered, barring any one-of-a-kind deals you might find. Ought to be really happy moving up to any of those cards from the 4200.
 
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MrBond

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Feb 5, 2000
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aldamon

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Aug 2, 2000
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Originally posted by: MrBond
Joe
Click to expand...
That won't solve my power supply issues though, will it? I thought all the 7XXX series fom NVIDIA required a beefier power supply then what I already have?[/quote]

Why would you have PSU issues with a 350W Enermax?

 
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MrBond

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Feb 5, 2000
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Originally posted by: aldamon

Why would you have PSU issues with a 350W Enermax?
Click to expand...
I thought with the age of the power supply, it might be an issue. In the next 10 minutes or so, I'm heading home for lunch, I'll check the voltages in MBM and post them here.

I know a lot of the cards require a beefier power supply, I wasn't sure if that applied to the lower-end stuff too now.

Edit: Here's a link to MBM's dashboard with voltages displayed

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i130/mrbond06/volts.jpg
 
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mancunian

Senior member
May 19, 2006
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Originally posted by: MrBond
Originally posted by: aldamon

Why would you have PSU issues with a 350W Enermax?
Click to expand...
I thought with the age of the power supply, it might be an issue. In the next 10 minutes or so, I'm heading home for lunch, I'll check the voltages in MBM and post them here.

I know a lot of the cards require a beefier power supply, I wasn't sure if that applied to the lower-end stuff too now.
Click to expand...


I'd say that as long as your rails are ok on it now, that Enermax would be enough for a 6600GT.

As an aside, and as money is tight for you now, my upgrade ideas may be of use.

System as it was before last purchase:

XP2600 @ stock
1gb DDR400
128mb 256bit Radeon 9800Pro
Abit NF7 rev 2 board (apparently good for overclocking if you don't have sh!t RAM)

Last purchase;

Sapphire X800GTO AGP 256mb grafix card. (unlocked to 16 pipes) Now, here in the UK, this card costs 110 pounds. I am fairly certain it's been on NewEgg for about 160 dollars, and probably still is. The point is, I upgraded from the card you are looking at upgrading to. And the difference is night and day. So if you could find an extra 40 bux, which if you are considering spending 120 already, isn't *that* much more to find, the new gaming experience would just blow your mind. Sure, the best cards these days are PCI-E. But that doesn't mean you can't get very good performance from an AGP card. Just for an extra 40 bux.

You could also do what I plan to do and buy the asrock dual board with both PCI-E and AGP. Most people are extremely happy with it. I'm getting one this weekend, as the card was last month's purchase, but it may lie idle for 2-3 months as I then save up for a 939 processor. The board will cost me 40 quid (about 70 dollars I think, remember, UK prices) Either way, I've got a new and much better gaming experience *now*, and this card will still perform decently when paired with an X2 or Opteron dual core. It won't be as bottlenecked as it is now on this Barton. The Asrock board will be the only component lying around for any significant amount of time.


Think of it like this:

Now: grafix card

A few days from now: asrock board

2-3 months time: fat processor

Like I say, the point of this route is to give me a nice boost for now, but also be able to use this grafix card for another 9 months or so. For you, the point would be a massive increase in performance and purchasing a card that would at least have some life, albeit perhaps for 9-12 months, in a new A64/Opteron system when paired with that particular motherboard. Because that pentium you have is pretty ok, especially if it's a Northwood, which I think it is. I'd sooner have it than this Barton


On the subject of a PSU, you might also need one of those if you did think about going that way eventually, but given the way you'd do it you can pick that up when you need it. By the end of this year, I really don't think that a system running an X2 or Opteron @ about 2.5Ghz will be considered to be a 'slouch'.


And, by which time we'll know more about what's coming.

$0.02
 
Wreckage

Wreckage

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Jul 1, 2005
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Originally posted by: MrBond
I was thinking 6600GT actually (it was the first card I considered as an upgrade) - would I need to upgrade my power supply though? I can check the voltages on it at lunch if that will help.
Click to expand...
I run a 6600GT in a shuttle XPC which has a 300W PSU. You should be fine.


 
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aka1nas

Diamond Member
Aug 30, 2001
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if you are worried about power, then get the 6600GT over the 9800 Pro. I think the enermax will be fine for at least the 6600GT, but anything fairly recent in video cards that needs an aux power connector might be too much for the PSU.
 
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aldamon

Diamond Member
Aug 2, 2000
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I'm not a big fan of pre-emptive action. Wait to see if your PSU works, the address the problem. I think you'll be fine if those MBM readings are accurate.
 
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Netopia

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
4,793
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81
Originally posted by: Wreckage
Originally posted by: MrBond
I was thinking 6600GT actually (it was the first card I considered as an upgrade) - would I need to upgrade my power supply though? I can check the voltages on it at lunch if that will help.
Click to expand...
I run a 6600GT in a shuttle XPC which has a 300W PSU. You should be fine.
Click to expand...


And he's the third person I know with a 6600GT in a Shuttle box, but the other two only have 250W power supplies!

Joe
 
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OvErHeAtInG

Senior member
Jun 25, 2002
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Even a high-end (single-card) rig usually won't draw more than 250W under load. The problem is that many cheapo "450W" PSU's crap out at that level. If you've got at least say 14A on your 12V rail, you should be OK with anything w/in your budget.

And add my vote for the X1600 Pro.
 
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MrBond

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2000
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Thanks guys. I think I'm going to pull the trigger on that X1600 Pro at Newegg. I can't get a 256mb 6600GT for that price.

Hopefully I don't toast my power supply :D
 
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