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Old Man Needs Video Card

K

kpfeif

Junior Member

You read that right. I was at the forefront of the personal computer - from the Atari 800 to the original PC to the Atari 1040ST and various other machines, it's been fun to watch graphics evolving. It's time my current system needs to evolve a bit, too. It's based on a Asus A7N8X Deluxe with a nVidia 4200 (something-or-other) card in it.

It's been difficult to find advice out there that wasn't gaming-centric. In general, I play few games. Once in a great while I'll fire up my favorite games - Flight Simulators, including MSFS, XPlane, and Falcon. I run MAME quite a bit. My son (he's 2 1/2) and I will play NASCAR (just the demo - he likes to drive) simulator or something like that. Rarely I'll fire up a first person shooter...I own Battlefield 1942, and that's enough for me.

What do I do? Lots of Photoshop and video editing. I use two monitors all the time.

I'm upgrading the motherboard (to a nForce4 board, probably) soon, and I'd like to bump up the graphics card.

Any recommendations for my application? Think cheap, if possible. Essentially the same post will also have to go in the motherboard forum, too...damn the choices.


 
i know it's about your price point but a powercolor x800 GTO (the 16 pipe one) goes for around $180 iirc...now that is a sweet deal...
 
i guess an x800 or a vanilla 6800 would be your best bet at that price level tho...

or you could grab a cheap 6600 (the DDR2 RAM ones), overclock it and you've basically got a 6600GT...that would run everyjthing you mention very nicely indeed...
 
First if you really don't care about gaming, spend zero & keep the GeForce 4 - 4200 .... about the only thing thats going to perform better with a new video card is games & 3-d screen-savers!
If games DO matter to you (your first post was a bit unclear) then either a Radeon 9800 Pro for around $100-$125 or an Nvidia 6600GT for a few bucks more is the best bet... your only concerns are (1) your AGP slot... you'll need AGP 4x or these new cards won't work (2) your power supply... if you have a weak (250 watt) or generic PSU, theres a good chance it won't supply enough juice for a new video card & will need to be replaced.
 
Just get a mobo with an integrated Geforce 6150, cheapest solution, and still a little gaming power for that once in a while.
 
Why not buy an Asrock Dual SATA II (Superb board, see my sig) and keep the 4200Ti (a nice card still).
If not, I would consider the X1600Pro also.
 
Originally posted by: McArra
Why not buy an Asrock Dual SATA II (Superb board, see my sig) and keep the 4200Ti (a nice card still).
If not, I would consider the X1600Pro also.
Click to expand...
Agree on the first one, but not on the second statement... The X1600Pro is unfortunately not worth much... 🙁 I wanted one myself, but I quickly gave up when seeing how poor it performs... Get yourself a 6600GT, it'll do anything you want, or keep indeed the GF4, and upgrade maybe first your power supply... (If necessary)

 
Originally posted by: kpfeif

You read that right. I was at the forefront of the personal computer - from the Atari 800 to the original PC to the Atari 1040ST and various other machines, it's been fun to watch graphics evolving.
Click to expand...
When you had the Atari 800, I had an Apple ][ -- really awhile ago, but my son is 42, not merely two. I can't IMAGINE raising an infant on Social Security plus just a little more! Maybe you just think you're "Old" when it's the miles piling up, not the years!
It's time my current system needs to evolve a bit, too. It's based on a Asus A7N8X Deluxe with a nVidia 4200 (something-or-other) card in it.

It's been difficult to find advice out there that wasn't gaming-centric. In general, I play few games. Once in a great while I'll fire up my favorite games - Flight Simulators, including MSFS, XPlane, and Falcon. I run MAME quite a bit. My son (he's 2 1/2) and I will play NASCAR (just the demo - he likes to drive) simulator or something like that. Rarely I'll fire up a first person shooter...I own Battlefield 1942, and that's enough for me.

What do I do? Lots of Photoshop and video editing. I use two monitors all the time.

I'm upgrading the motherboard (to a nForce4 board, probably) soon, and I'd like to bump up the graphics card.

Any recommendations for my application? Think cheap, if possible. Essentially the same post will also have to go in the motherboard forum, too...damn the choices.
Click to expand...
My own entertainment choices are less shooter oriented than yours. KOTOR and its BioWare predecessor, NWN, have been my favorites lately. I get along well enough on a Radeon 9700 Pro in an Asus A7N8X, with an XP 3000 OC'd somewhat. I do have an MSI K8N Neo 2 Platinum and an A64 3000 cpu ready to start a next project, but that one takes an AGP video card.

If you have a Ti-4200 (and I have one of those in another PC), you won't feel at home with the slowest of today's PCI-e crap, which crawls in 2D compared to the Ti-4200. You want a mid-level something, no less responsive than my 9700 Pro, and that is either an X700, or the Vanilla FX 6600. Roughly $100-$110, if you shop around for a deal.

The choices in modern motherboards are huge. Intel still leads AMD in producing waste heat, but little else (yes, folks, I know it may be only a matter of time before Intel finally catches up). An AMD A64 cpu in an s939 package is a bargain processor that will last you many years.


:thumbsup:
 
Another vote for the 6600GT if you want to upgrade to a NF4/PCIe system. Reasonable performance for the price, faster than what you have now.

Another vote for the ASRock if you really want to keep your Ti4200 for now and upgrade the graphics later. Alternatively, you could go with a cheap NF3 S754 board (with an o/c'ed sempron) and stick with AGP - but that seems like an awfully CPU-limited choice for you and is not recommended (made more sense when I did something similar over a year ago 🙂.
 

Great advice all around. I'm always a bit hesitant to post "what should I buy" queries, as there's so much out there, both on the forums and on the internet, in general. That's the real problem, I guess - too much information. It's nice that you've answered some questions.

I guess I'm not THAT old...when I'm chasing around a 2 1/2 year old, I feel like it. I'm still getting over my New Year's Eve this year - in bed by 10. I feel old about that.

For now I think I just may stick with the 4200 and upgrade when the need comes. I'm a bit hesitant to not buy into a PCIe motherboard, but perhaps I shouldn't be so paranoid about that.

What is the future of AGP? Am I limiting myself in the future, and if so, what am I limiting?

 
Which video editor? If it is Pinnacle's, lean towards an ATI solution.

Man, I remember the joy of moving off that IBM PC and the green screen up to that fancy XT with CGA. We played with ANSI DOS commands for weeks to get the right red, white, and blue command prompts!
 
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