Need to replace 9800Pro, any suggestions?

[Earwax]

My 9800 Pro is starting to die on me. I'm getting some crazy screen artifacts and nothing I've tried has fixed the problem. I know it's a hardware problem because I have an identical system and when I swap the cards the problem goes away.

I'm looking to replace it with the best card I can get for my system. I don't want to drop $200 on the latest and greatest AGP card if my cpu is going to bottleneck the performance. I'm just looking to replace the card with something a little better.

I have my eye on this 2600, but there are no customer reviews:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814131081

I use the system for a lot of home theater stuff. I'd like to maximize the performance of the system which is about two years old.

Specs:

ASUS K8V Deluxe
AMD64 3000+
2GB Corsair XMS 3200 RAM
24" Dell WS Monitor
58" HP Microdisplay HDTV

 

[undeclared]

the HD 2600 XT is probably a pretty good choice actually, but the driver support is horrible..

I hear that they use modded drivers from a really old version.

Alternatively, you could get an X1950 PRO perhaps.

 

[happy medium]

Ati 3650 should be 3 times faster then the 9800pro.
Do you game?

 

[undeclared]

if the driver support isn't shitty

I STRONGLY suggest this-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814131090

 

[Syntax Error]

That's pretty expensive for an AGP card and the performance it offers, mind as well save a bit more and get a new C2D-based system.

 

[IlllI]

Originally posted by: xtwells
if the driver support isn't shitty

I STRONGLY suggest this-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814131090

lol talk about overkill

 

[bryanW1995]

hey, xtwells, I want to kill osama bin laden. I know that he's in london somewhere. how many nukes should i use?

 

[Earwax]

I used to game heavily, but I've stopped because I'm a nut about the quality. I plan on getting back into it when I can afford an entire new system, but if getting the 3650 would allow me to run the games I do play at the settings I prefer than I'd splurge a little.

My only concern is buying something that is overkill and will be limited by my aging processor. I think the system I have now is nearly 4 years old, which is over twice as long as I've ever owned any system.

Battlefield 2, Half-life 2, and Oblivion were all games I stopped playing because I couldn't enjoy them the way I felt they were meant to be played on my system. If there's a card out there that can run them at 16:9 720p with the high settings on, I'd spend the money for it. Otherwise I'm planning on waiting another 2 years until I have the cash to put together a top-of-the-line system.

 

[will889]

^I have a 939 4000+ that's going unused that was sitting on a board that I recently sold to a member here that would go well with a 3850 that we could work out a deal on. Just hit me with a PM if you're interested.

 

[Skunkwourk]

Originally posted by: will889
^I have a 939 4000+ that's going unused that was sitting on a board that I recently sold to a member here that would go well with a 3850 that we could work out a deal on. Just hit me with a PM if you're interested.

I think his is s754...

 

[will889]

Originally posted by: m0mentary

Originally posted by: will889
^I have a 939 4000+ that's going unused that was sitting on a board that I recently sold to a member here that would go well with a 3850 that we could work out a deal on. Just hit me with a PM if you're interested.

I think his is s754...

Yeah it is 754 he PM'ed me about it. Too bad there weren't better CPU's available for 754.

 

[Denithor]

IP35-E/e2160/2GB DDR2/9600GT = $350 (or less if you shop around)

Sell your old parts: $100-150 (or more if you're lucky)

Total cost for full upgrade: $200 (much faster in general use & gaming than simply spending $200 on AGP video card)

 

[basslover1]

Originally posted by: will889

Yeah it is 754 he PM'ed me about it. Too bad there weren't better CPU's available for 754.

There were some decent CPUs, my 3700+ Clawhammer is nice w/ the 1MB L2 cache...other than that though, I dunno.

 

[Replay]

Underclocking your 9800 might work. Either underclock the memory or the cpu clock.
Check the fan is running and the heatsink isn't stuffed with dust.
Look for swollen capacitors too.

AGP performance costs extra these days. DDR2 is cheap. Good excuse to sell some old parts and build a new system.

An Nvidia Ti4200 with artifacts was kept in service for another year after dropping the ram speed by 15 MHz. Benchmarks took a tiny hit, but the card was not noticeably slower in games.

A GeForce2 Ti came back to life after replacing several swollen bad caps.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

This 7600GS has mature drivers and is a good AGP card for under $100. Plus it's fanless so no worries about fans dying Not to mention the 7600GS is a very low power consumer and gives off very little heat.

 

[deadken]

I still have (4) S754 PCs running in my house. They were great 'bang-for-your-buck' systems. I might suggest that you look into a S754 w/PCI-e Mobo and a 8600GT.

Here is a CPU and PCI-e Mobo Combo for about $60 and here is a 8600GT for about $70. If you got those you'd should good to go for reasonably small investment. Personally, I have a hard time justifying using S754's anymore since other combos are so affordable. In your case, this would be a better performer for very little cost and you could most certainly get a few bucks back selling off your old parts (just be sure to list the mobo/cpu as a combo and say you will throw in a failing 9800Pro for free). I'd think that you would get $40 pretty easily. You could probably get $10 for the game while you were at it.

What I was trying to point out is that if you are happy with your system at the moment, a new mobo and PCI-e card might be better for you rather then getting a new AGP card. While I was looking around for some PCI-e S754 Mobos, I saw that combo on Newegg and since that 3200+ CPU is a Venice core, you can't really go wrong for the price. I'd rather have a NForce Chipset, but at that price I'd settle.

Otherwise, I'd just decide on a dollar amount you want to spend and search the forums for a used AGP card that fits your budget. Use www.GPU-Review.com to see how the cards you are looking at compare to what you already have.