New Vid Card in an old computer

[Thadar]

Greetings folks,

I have decided to upgrade my video card in my old rig. Its just not able to do todays games. Im looking to do a minimal upgrade now and in a year or so (Late 2008) build a new rig.

My current setup is in a Giga-Byte GA-8PE667 Ultra motherboard with a 2.4 Ghz P4. I have a 9600 Pro vid card and 1GB of RAM.

I am thinking of upgrading to this video card and adding another Gig of RAM to make it 2 GB total.

My question to you: Is this Video Card the one to go with? I need an AGP card as thats all the motherboard can use, and a recent article over at Toms showed a very nice increase in FPS on some popular games without much of a CPU bottleneck. Either way, its definitely my Vid Card holding me back now, not the CPU.

So, is that the AGP card to go with? I already have a post in the PSU forum about possibly upgrading my PSU to handle a new AGP card, so no worries about mentioning it. Thanks in advance.

 

[Nolf3]

I have a similar situation and have found this vid card http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130274

my system is the Dell 400SC, 2.4GHz P4, 1.5GB RAM, GeForce 4 Ti4200 with the stock PSU which I think is 250W but I also have available a 410W PSU (thermaltek) which I am sure I need to switch in to run this card.

I know this may sound silly but I was also wondering about improvements when working with programs such as Adobe Premiere or Pinnacle Studio cause in the specs for Pinnacle studio it says I should have at least a GeForce 6 and currently when working with the program it seems a bit sluggish when I click from tab to tab. I thought it was just my overall system which made the program slow, but could it be my video card too ?

Thanks for any info.

 

[Stumps]

it should work fine, as long as your PSU is upto the task.

 

[Thadar]

Is it worth getting the 512MB version or should I stick with the 256MB one? Is there a difference in power consumption between the two?

 

[evolucion8]

The X1950PRO is the second fastest AGP card on the market, once you get you won't regret it, but I would recommend overclocking your CPU, cause the Pentium 4 itself is a bottleneck for many cards and in such low frequencies like 2.4GHz will not improve greatly the FPS. Also make sure your PSU is good enough, 450W or greater with a total of 28A or more in both 12V rails. 256MB and 512MB only will do difference when you play games above 1600x1200 with FSAA. Otherwise, the difference will be too little.

 

[evolucion8]

Oops, double post, sorry Mi Internet connection just freaked out.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: ThadarMy current setup is in a Giga-Byte GA-8PE667 Ultra motherboard with a 2.4 Ghz P4. I have a 9600 Pro vid card .

Let's say your current vid card is a *1*

If you can hold out until the middle of april I would consider the agp flavor dx10/VC1/H264 Radeon HD 2600 XT (a *4*) or the Radeon HD 2600 Pro (a *3*). The PowerColor Radeon HD 2600 PRO 512MB AGP web page is up already. When you are ready to retire your rig you could htpc it

The Radeon X1950 Pro you selected would be a lite *6*. This GeForce 7950GT may be as much as 10% faster in some games for the same price. These babys will pull almost 4 times the wattage of your current vid card - around 5-6 amps. The only agp card that would smoke these would be the Radeon X1950 XT - for $100 more - not really worth it for the price.

The GeForce 7800GS/7600 GT would be around a *4*: $110-$140

The Radeon X1600 XT-X1650 Pro//GeForce 7600 GS would be around a *3*: $60-$85

 

[heyheybooboo]

That should August . . . not april.....lol.

 

[Noema]

You should see tremendous improvements. I went from a 9600SE to a 7800GS a little over a year ago and it was like getting a whole new computer. And both the X1950Pro and the 7950GT are a good 20-30% faster than my old 7800GS.

 

[GEOrifle]

The AUGUST month will drope down ALL existing AGP video card prices and then make your choice. I'm i the same trouble.
Noone knows if any Dx10 card will be out better then X1950PRO ? Because HD2600PRO
will be 50% slower then X1950PRO but with Dx10 support and X1950 PRO is good performer card but with Dx9 support . NVidia got better stategy in thise case.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: GEOrifle
The AUGUST month will drope down ALL existing AGP video card prices and then make your choice. I'm i the same trouble.
Noone knows if any Dx10 card will be out better then X1950PRO ? Because HD2600PRO
will be 50% slower then X1950PRO but with Dx10 support and X1950 PRO is good performer card but with Dx9 support . NVidia got better stategy in thise case.

DX10 support is only good if you are running Vista...otherwise a DX9 card is more than sufficient.

But even in Vista a X1950pro or higher is a much better choice than a 2600 series card...so far the DX10 performance of the 2600 series looks less than adequate on high end C2D platforms, On a 2.4ghz P4 or any P4 for a matter of fact...the 2600 series would be a complete waste of money if you are interested in DX10 performance.