Need advice on video card

[Rabidwerewolf]

Hello all. New here to the forums at Anandtech, but have visited the site a good bit over the past few years. Member of a couple of other tech forum sites, but they aren't as active so hopefully I can get some good advice from you peeps.

I have an aging socket754 system, specs in sig, that I needing to upgrade the agp card. I can still play games like BF2142, F.E.A.R. and Oblivion, but of course not on the highest settings and to get decent frame rates, at a res of 800 x 600. My current card is an MSI RX9800Pro with an R350 core which overclocks fairly well to XT speeds. I've been looking at cards for the last month or so and have narrowed down to 4, unless one of you guys or gals has a better suggestion:

SAPPHIRE Radeon X1950GT 256MB, 256 bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102093

XFX GeForce 7600GT 256MB, 128bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814150210

BFG Tech GeForce 7800GS 256MB, 256 bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814143046

Open Box: HIS Hightech Radeon X1650XT 256MB 128-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16814161064R

Of the four, I'm really leaning to the 256 bit cards the Radeon X1950GT and the Geforce 7800GS. Not sure if I really want to spend money on a card with just 128 bit. I'm not a fan boy of either nVidia or ATI as I just buy the best bang for my buck so to speak. My other concern is not getting too much card so that I'm wasting $$$ because it is being bottle necked by my cpu and board. Which is the best card for my system that will be worth spending my hard earned $$$ for that will give me a noticeable performance boost over my current card?

Appreciate any and all advice.

edit: fixed, sorry used to html code lol

 

[tuteja1986]

Battlefield 2 1600x1200x32 4xAA 8xAF
X1900XT 256MB : 80.1
7900GTO : 77.3
X1950PRO : 64.2
7900GT : 59.7

Halflife 2 Lost Coast 1600x1200x32 4xAA 8xAF
X1900XT 256MB : 57.2
7900GTO : 51.9
X1950PRO : 43.5
7900GT : 40.9

Fear 1600x1200 0xAA 8xAF
X1900XT 256MB : 47
7900GTO : 41
X1950PRO : 35
7900GT : 34

Quake 4 1600x1200x32 4xAA 8xAF
X1900XT 256MB : 55.1
7900GTO : 55.5
X1950PRO : 40.1
7900GT : 45.4

Call of Duty 2 1600x1200 4xAA 8xAF
X1900XT 256MB : 40.5
7900GTO : 34.9
X1950PRO : 32
7900GT : 30.7

Farcry HDR 1600x1200 0xAA 8xAF
X1900XT 256MB : 54.1
7900GTO : 50
X1950PRO : 44.1
7900GT : 39.5


Oblivion HDR Mountain Area 1600x1200 0xAA 8xAF
X1900XT 256MB : 39.1
7900GTO : 32.5
X1950PRO : 31.3
7900GT : 24.1

Oblivion HDR Foliage Area 1600x1200 0xAA 8xAF
X1900XT 256MB : 26.8
7900GTO : 16.9
X1950PRO : 21.3
7900GT : 12

http://www.firingsquad.com/har.../ati_radeon_x1950_pro/

X1950gt = 256MB , 500Mhz , 1200Mhz , 16(48 Pixel shader processor)
x1950pro = 256MB/512MB , 580Mhz , 1400Mhz , 12(36 Pixel shader processor)
X1900XT = 256MB , 625Mhz , 1450Mhz , 16(48 Pixel shader processor)
X1950XT = 256MB/512MB , 625Mhz , 1800Mhz , 16(48 Pixel shader processor)
7950gt agp = 256MB , 550MHz , 1400MHz , 24 PixelPipelines

 

[will889]

Bang for buck for your CPU is going to be either an 512MB X1950 Pro AGP or 7950GT 512 AGP (IMO).

 

[coolpurplefan]

I can tell you that's an expensive price for the X1650 XT. I got mine at case-mod.com and it's the fanless model, that's usually more expensive anyway.

Mine is acceptable. I know I could have spent a little more and gotten the X1950 Pro but I wanted the silence over the difference in performance.

 

[Rage3kMoiz]

@OP, the X1950PRO is an excellent card for your system and my recommendation.
@will889, is there a 7950GT AGP? Any links to one?

 

[Munky]

I'd get the 1950gt. It's basically an underclocked 1950pro, and many of those can run at 1950pro speeds (the core at least, not sure about the mem...). Anyway, even at stock speeds, it's the fastest out of the 4 cards you listed. Here's a good article that compares numerous AGP cards:
http://www.behardware.com/arti...hic-cards-in-2007.html

 

[f4phantom2500]

Originally posted by: munky
I'd get the 1950gt. It's basically an underclocked 1950pro, and many of those can run at 1950pro speeds (the core at least, not sure about the mem...). Anyway, even at stock speeds, it's the fastest out of the 4 cards you listed. Here's a good article that compares numerous AGP cards:
http://www.behardware.com/arti...hic-cards-in-2007.html

i agree; plus that's a really cheap AR price, especially since it's agp, and especially compared to the other cards you're considering. the 7800GS is pretty comparable to a 7600GT actually, as is the X1650XT. So the X1950GT is the fastest of those cards, and yeah from what I've read they seem to overclock pretty well. You should go with that.

 

[will889]

Originally posted by: Rage3kMoiz
@OP, the X1950PRO is an excellent card for your system and my recommendation.
@will889, is there a 7950GT AGP? Any links to one?

http://e3wwwtest.newegg.com/Pr...x?Item=N82E16814150223

A bit expensive, but that's the cost of a good GPU on an older AGP system. X1950 Pro or GT would also be great and generally more affordable. The 7950 512 would drive an LCD better @ 16*10 though.

 

[Rabidwerewolf]

Thanks all for the replies and advice. I've narrowed it down to between the X1950Pro, http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161081 and the X1950GT, http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102093. I just have to decide if I want to spend the extra 40 bucks on the Pro card, or save the $$$ and oc the GT.

 

[tuteja1986]

SAPPHIRE 100209L Radeon X1950GT just go with that its got more shaders but do remember you need a decent PSU.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817182016 something like this if you running on your gear on a 250W/300W ancient pus

 

[PepperBreath]

Where does a 6800gt sit in this comparison? I've always thought my CPU was a limiting factor (A64 3000+) but I'm wondering if I could bump up the video card for another boost before I upgrade.

 

[Rage3kMoiz]

@PepperBreath, you might be able to bump up the card to Ultra speeds and beyond as well, but for the latter you'd probably need a good cooler like the Accelero X2. You can try to push the clocks to 400/1100, which is what a stock Ultra runs at.

 

[PepperBreath]

I have an Arctic Cooler v5 on there already. Do you think that's good enough? It idles at 50c.

 

[Rage3kMoiz]

50C is around the general temperature of the NV40 core so I think that it should be ok. Is it a factory-OC'd one like from XFX or BFG? I think that you might be able to pull it off though with your cooler. Check this link for more details.

 

[Rabidwerewolf]

Originally posted by: tuteja1986
SAPPHIRE 100209L Radeon X1950GT just go with that its got more shaders but do remember you need a decent PSU.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817182016 something like this if you running on your gear on a 250W/300W ancient pus

Running an Enermax 460W PSU in my rig right now which actually carries more voltage on the 12V rails than that Rosewill psu so I should be ok. I also calculated the voltages and am good as I still have wattage to spare even if overclocking the card with my cpu oc'ed.

 

[PepperBreath]

Originally posted by: Rage3kMoiz
50C is around the general temperature of the NV40 core so I think that it should be ok. Is it a factory-OC'd one like from XFX or BFG? I think that you might be able to pull it off though with your cooler. Check this link for more details.

I went ahead and clocked it to Ultra levels and it seems like it's working fine. Temp hovered around 62c when I played Tomb Raider Anniversary for about an hour.

Not too much of an improvement in that particular game though so I think I'm CPU limited.