Need an AGP card

[AgentUnknown]

I am running an old comp. It's a 2.4ghz w/ 2GB of DDR memory. Yes, old school PC3200 DDR. It also has a 9800pro vid card 256mb. My mobo only has AGP, so what would be a good upgrade AGP card.

 

[postmortemIA]

Ati X1650

 

[SickBeast]

What's the CPU? It may work out cheaper/better to get a new motherboard and an 8800GT.

 

[AgentUnknown]

Old P4. I just want to play TF2 and BF2. And is it that much better to get a Pro version? Ebay is showing $90-$100 for the non pro version.

 

[Rockhound1]

What is you budget? The x1650 is not much of a step up from your 9800PRO.

The x1950PRO is probably the best upgrade route you could go with, but it requires a strong power supply unit. The x1950GT is another good upgrade and is a little cheaper than the PRO. On the nVidia side, you might consider the 7600GT. It uses less power than the x19xx units and would still give you a significant boost from your 9800PRO.

 

[ManWithNoName]

I agree Rockhound, you can find the 7600GT AGP relatively cheap on EBay as well, since I see you've been looking there. If you're leaning to the ATI side and don't want to spend much money, the X1600XT is much better than the Pro. Also listen to Rock's warning about power supplies and the X1950 series. Many have been forced to upgrade their power supplies to run these cards. Give us your power supply specs, if you're interested.

This chart may also be of some use to you just to give you a rough idea of the performance level on various cards. The chart isn't perfect but it isn't bad for a quick comparison .....

http://www23.tomshardware.com/...6&model2=735&chart=275

 

[Ronni3]

Hey guys not to steal the OP thread, but I am in the same boat. I have a Dell Optiplex 270GX with most of its original stock parts for the exception that I placed 2GB of PC3200 RAM and an old 5.1 soundcard. I'd like to be able to play some of the new games out, if not at least Bioshock.

Do you think the 2600 Pro is worth $200 bucks? Or should I consider something else? I would like DX10 graphics, but I have no idea how it would look on my old system.

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: Ronni3

Do you think the 2600 Pro is worth $200 bucks? Or should I consider something else? I would like DX10 graphics, but I have no idea how it would look on my old system.

A 2600 Pro isn't worth that much, and isn't really powerful enough for DX10 games.

 

[tno]

You're both going to be CPU limited to some degree, if you can save up $200 for a video card then go ahead and save up $450 for a bigger upgrade (C2D $100, Mobo $100, DDR2 2GB $50, 8800GT $200). But if you have to throw money towards your rig now, x1950GT it's just about the fastest AGP card at a reasonable price. Don't throw money at a DX10 AGP card, save up till you can put together a really Vista worthy system.

I had a Gainward 6800GT Golden Sample, clocked past Ultra speeds this thing was awesome and played Oblivion, Bioshock, FEAR etc and decent speeds at decent rez's, nothing mind blowing but a good card for my purposes.

Good luck on the upgrade,

tno

 

[onlyCOpunk]

I used to be in the OP's boat. I upgrade my 6800 to an x1950gt. The switch from nVidia to ATI was a little weird for me, but overall I haven't looked back and this card has been able to play everything I've thrown at it. It gave my XP 2600+ an extra boost of life.

 

[AgentUnknown]

Just looking for a cheap but effective upgrade from a 9800pro. U all are talking about the 512MB versions of all your cards right?

 

[clickynext]

Honestly, AGP cards are so overpriced that it works out better just to buy a new PCI-E mobo and vid card, and sell the old stuff.

Your 9800Pro is pretty decent in terms of speed, and you're not going to get a huge performance boost with anything less than an x1950, I'd say.

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: AgentUnknown
Old P4. I just want to play TF2 and BF2. And is it that much better to get a Pro version? Ebay is showing $90-$100 for the non pro version.

There is a difference....when you say "old pent 4" do you mean 2.4 pent 4 or 3.4 pent 4. If you have a 2.4 ,2.6 pent 4 something like a 7600gt will be the best your cpu will push, but a 3.2, or 3.4 pent 4 will be great for a 1950 gt/pro or 7900gs/gt.

In any event a 7600gt is at least twice as fast as a 9800pro, and a 1950gt or 7900gs 3 times faster.

 

[Denithor]

Gecube X1950PRO for $120 after MIR and Thermaltake 500W power supply for $30 after MIR will provide a great upgrade for your system for $150.

Otherwise upgrade the whole thing to a C2D/P35/8800GT as mentioned above for ~$450-550 (depending on the cpu you select).

 

[AgentUnknown]

I have an old Dell Dimension 4550 2.4ghz. It has a 250W power supply. Could I use a 7600GT on it? I saw a 7600GS w/ 512MB ram for a bit less. Which one to choose and why?

 

[taltamir]

not worth upgrading... you are throwing money away because the rest of your system will hold you back... wait alittle for prices on the GT to go down and for AMD to release their new card, and then buy a new mobo, cpu, ram, and video card for ~450$

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: AgentUnknown
I have an old Dell Dimension 4550 2.4ghz. It has a 250W power supply. Could I use a 7600GT on it? I saw a 7600GS w/ 512MB ram for a bit less. Which one to choose and why?

Yes I had a 4550 and it ran my 7800gs stock speeds. The 7600gt needs less power so you'll be fine.

 

[AgentUnknown]

Hey, I bought a XFX 7600GT. I realized my old card is a X850 XT 256MB and not a 9800 pro. I thought they were the same? Are they performance wise?

 

[AgentUnknown]

Which one is better XFX 7600 GT w/ 256mb DDR3 or EVGA 7600 GT w/ 512MB DDR2 RAM?

 

[Inspector Jihad]

get the one with ddr3

 

[Rottie]

Originally posted by: AgentUnknown
Hey, I bought a XFX 7600GT. I realized my old card is a X850 XT 256MB and not a 9800 pro. I thought they were the same? Are they performance wise?

hell your x850xt is very fast you should keep it

 

[Auric]

For 3D peformance alone, 7600GT is a side-grade at best from X850XT.

If you do decide to go with a 7600GT then as to RAM capacity, while 512MB VRAM is preferable, the 2GB system can make up for the shortfall so it would be better to opt for the DDR3 speed of 256MB, especially as it has a 128-bit bus so needs the higher frequency to make up for it.

I don't think a faster card will help with that CPU other than perhaps allowing higher quality effects. For performance, the CPU needs replacing. It may be possible to o'erclock it to 3.0 or so, but then that is only half the gain possible versus starting with a 3.0. If oc is not possible with the mobo or not your bag anyway, then just pony up for the fastest CPU available within budget. Only then would a 1950 or 3850 be worth considering. 7950GT would be 'nutha option but last I checked the prices were laughable.

 

[nefariouscaine]

i'd worry more about upgrading the rest of the system - your cpu is going to hold you back more than anything

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Rottie

Originally posted by: AgentUnknown
Hey, I bought a XFX 7600GT. I realized my old card is a X850 XT 256MB and not a 9800 pro. I thought they were the same? Are they performance wise?

hell your x850xt is very fast you should keep it

According to Tom's VGA Charts, the X850XT is FASTER than the 7600GT, with a wide margin especially at higher resolutions. (The 256-bit memory bus helps here.)

 

[AgentUnknown]

Well i installed it, and it's a bit faster. Not that much faster though. I will build a new system then.