Need AGP recommendation

[poorchap]

Been out of the scene for a while and could use some wisdom from the smarter people here. I'm an RTS player waiting for AOE3 to come out. I don't think my current system will handle all the new eye-candy.

Antec Sonata
Asus P4s8x
P4 Intel 2.53 Ghz Northwood w/ 533 FSB
1 Gb 333 (PC2700) Crucial (2x512)
GeForce FX5600
~700 Gb hd space (over 4 hdd's)
Zalman cooler (7000 AlCu)
550W Antec SmartPower 2.0
19" CRT Viewsonic

I use my system mostly for RTS's and the occasional home movie editing. I don't play any FPS's or sims. I want to upgrade to PCIE with an AMD X2 but my wife won't let me buy a new computer!! But I'm "permitted" to spend less than a few hundred bucks on a video card upgrade.

So here's my dilemma: What would be most cost effective here considering my somewhat outdated comp?

Would a 6800 GT or Ultra be overkill for my current system? Would I get all the eye candy in AOE3 with a 6600 GT? (probably in 1280x1024)

I could go with ATi but I've heard bad things about compatibility with my mobo. But I could try and RMA if I have probs. I know absolutely NOTHING about Ati cards.

 

[phaxmohdem]

100% honestly I'd recomment an AGP X800XL (ATI) I own one and will vouch for it all the way. You're likely to ignite an ATI VS nVidia flame war here, but my recommendations (if you're going to be hanging onto that AGP system for the next couple years) would be the X800XL or if you prefer nVidia an AGP 6800GT.

Just my .02

Edit: As per compatibility problems, you shouldn't have them, download new drivers, (dont' bother with included CD's) and you should be sittin pretty. (Also make sure 8X AGP is enabled in your BIOS if for some f'ed up reason it isn't already.

 

[dainthomas]

Agreed, it's hard to beat the X800XL or XT for the price.

 

[poorchap]

Thanks for the advice. I'm actually not partial to either vendor. I just want to eek out the last amount of enjoyment from my machine. My loyalty at the moment is only to my wallet (or my wife's wallet, it seems)...

I'm just confused by all the benchmarks floating around for these new cards since no one seems really interested in showing more numbers on RTS's like AOM or Rome. Just a bunch of FPS's that I'll probably never play.

Just to clarify, is it that the X800XL will let me turn on all the bells and whistles for AOE3, or that its the fastest card I can use without overwhelming the rest of my system?

 

[phaxmohdem]

Oh yeah, I play Far Cry at 1280x1024 with EVERYTHING turned to max, and that game doesn't even so much as hiccup on my x800XL. Its probably a little more advanced than AOE3 will be graphically (though I could be wrong) regardless, I don't forsee any problems for this generation of games, or the next as far as playability goes.

I think that it is a good matchup for the rest of your hardware. May be a little CPU restricted, but not by much. Should give you a great balance of performance, and price fro what you are looking to do.

 

[secretanchitman]

X800XL is a good choice. geforce 6800GT does all those things fine too. 6600GT might be a bit too less for your standards (eye candy maximum etc).

 

[Eureka]

6600GT will not run AOE3 with good eye-candy (my OC'd 6600GT couldn't run good settings in 1024*).

Norm