Need advise on AGP Video Card

[xlushx]

I know there are tons of these threads out there, but I need help for my specific system. If I'm just repeating someone elses thread please direct me to it, but so far I haven't found anything that's exactly the same. ANYWAY.. these are the relevant specs (or at least I think matter)..

Pentium 4 2.80GHz
2.81 GHz, 1.00 GM of RAM
AGP x8 slot
Current Card: GeForce FX 5600

Okay, so, my current card is pretty bad, and finally I'm willing to put out the money for a good one. It played everything perfectly until ES4: Oblivion came out, and I just didn't get around to purchasing a good one, considering that I wasn't buying newer games either. However, I want to be able to play things like Sims2, Oblivion, Gothic, Bioshock, etc, without any problems.

I've seen that many people just foget the AGP and go for the new Dual Core, but I don't have enough to buy a whole new system, and besides, my current system has worked great for me for the last 3-4 years. In any case, I noticed that most people suggest to go for the ATI X1950 Pro. Is this the best option? Or are my needs not requiring this kind of card? At $275 CND I'm willing to fork out the money, but I want to make sure it'll work with my current setup, and that it's not overkill.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks! ^_^

 

[happy medium]

Look for the cheapest card out of these cards. 1950gt or 7900gs. A 7600gt would be good also.

 

[xlushx]

I was looking at this one..

http://www.ncix.com/products/i...1KUDF3&manufacture=XFX

And was about to buy it, but then started to research more and became undecided. Any remarks?

 

[BlueAcolyte]

That's expensive! You could upgrade your motherboard and everything with that kind of money... Then you would still need a new vid card, but it would be PCI-E... The X19XX series from ATi beats anything from Nvidia...

 

[Syntax Error]

That's a little high for a 7900GS, if you ask me. Then again, AGP has its price premium.

I don't think you should rule out getting a whole new system altogether, it does require a bit of patience, but it doesn't seem you absolutely need a new graphics card right now anyways. Besides, a powerful card such as a 7900GS may be bottlenecked by the P4 you have. If you were willing to pay up to $250 CDN for a new AGP graphics card, I don't think it's that much more to ask to wait a bit more and upgrade your whole computer to modernity. The price of upgrading has gone down a LOT since last year, believe me, with some clever deals, MIRs, and price hunting and even getting used video cards in PCI-e off of forums, I've seen people pull off the big upgrade with little more than $300.

 

[xlushx]

I understand how getting everythng new would be easier in some ways, but I honestly don't want to buy a new setup. I just want the card. I want it good eough to get me through the next 2-3 years before having to buy everything new.

I know this is rather stubborn and narrow minded of me, but I kind of was looking for a quick fix that'll allow me to play the games and not worry for some time. I was also considering attaching a second hard drive and running the games off of that with the system all on the current one; would that make any kind of diference?

 

[Syntax Error]

Believe me, going through another 2-3 years on that system is really beating a dead horse and is going to be torture, new games and such will come out that will definitely need a computer more powerful than the one you have currently...if gaming is a concern, then that strategy, to be quite frank, is a bad idea.

IMHO, do yourself a favor and go dual core, even if not for gaming, the perceived performance increases and quickness will be appreciated, even when not gaming.

If you simply twant to play the games you listed, I suppose getting a new card would do you good, though I still think that 7900GS is a bit overpriced. Look for X1950s in AGP for cheaper, and I believe they outperform or at least perform similarly to the 7900.

 

[happy medium]

If you buy the 7900gs or 1950gt , your computers cpu will be the bottleneck.
It still will triple the performance of the 5600 you have now.

 

[xlushx]

Is there anyway to avoid bottlenecking and still get a good video card? (I'm kind of new at this stuff. Sorry.) If this entire thing makes no sense, then I will look into buying a new system, but I'd like to avoid it if possible.

 

[Syntax Error]

Bottlenecking can only be avoided by 1) overclocking your parts so it gets a bit more performance or 2) getting newer, better, faster parts.

The video card is not the only component that is critical for a smooth gaming experience. Like a car, you could have a very fast engine with huge displacement, but without proper wheels or a good transmission, that power will go to waste. In your case, a bottleneck would be a fast graphics card, but a slow processor (P4s aren't the best processors...).

 

[xlushx]

Okay, I see.

So.. either I upgrade with a mediocre card so that everything matches up power-wise or just get everything new?

 

[Syntax Error]

That's about the scope of your options at this point...there's no further development on the Pentium 4 or the socket your motherboard mounts the processor on, you're probably better off getting a new computer, if you ask me...

 

[xlushx]

Heh. Thanks so much! I'll definately look more into financing a new system.

 

[imported_clockerspiel]

Here is an interesting discussion...

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1246999

You may want to read through this...

 

[xgsound]

Another important consideration will be if your current PSU has enough 12V amps to drive the better AGP cards. Check the AMP requirements on the 12V rails for each card and compare to your existing PSU. I believe they require 24A (total for all 12V rails) and up. When the p4s were popular, many 500W PSUs had lots of amps on the 5V rail and only 20A on the 12V.


Jim