Question about upgrading my Vid Card??

[GZFant]

Christmas is right around the corner and for some reason I think my refurbished GF4 Ti 4600 is just not cutting it. It becomes horribly laggy in BF1942 and is just not cutting it in new games like KOTOR or Lord of the Rings ROTK. I am thinking I would like to stay with Nvidia because I am not well educated in the driver clean up and getting new/different hardware to work and they always worked flawlessly for my friends and I BUT if ATi is really what is recommended I have no choice.

I am currently running a P4 2.0 400FSB hopefully around christmas 1GB PC800 RDRAM currently 768Mb. It is a family computer and is bogged down by three different accounts (OOOO ANOTHER GOOD QUESTION).

ANYWAY:

1. What Vid card do you guys think will max out my computer and give me the most without costing an arm and a leg? Im looking at a 300 budget. Also I have never really used AA/AF so they are not a big deal to me (unless im a newbie and games look millions of times better with them on )

2. Is there a way to make a new user account under WinXP that could be used specifically for gaming. I mean this account loads up the BARE ESSENTIALS for maximum game play? My current account loads EVERYTHING.

3. When I finally get a new card is it necessary that I reformat the HD especially if its ATi or can I just use driver cleaners and everything should go fine?

Thanks guys, always very helpful.

 

[modedepe]

You probably won't get a huge upgrade with a new video card due to your current cpu. For $300 a 9800 pro is probably the best card.

Yes you can just make an account for gaming I suppose. Make the new account and then use msconfig to decide what you need loaded.

No you don't usually have to format. Make sure you run drivercleaner to get rid of the old drivers.

 

[GZFant]

Will my CPU be the bottleneck for the 9800pro??

Am I better off with a 9800np flashed to pro???

I don't want to start a war against vid cards but the ATi card concerns me. I have seen and heard bad things from ATi...........
but anyway, if they are the best right now....

 

[GZFant]

just curious *sniff*

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: GZFant
Will my CPU be the bottleneck for the 9800pro??

No. A 2.0Ghz CPU is more than enough for today's games -- most games are built around the assumption that the average user only has about a 1Ghz CPU, maybe even less. The CPU load doesn't increase much, if at all, at higher resolutions/detail settings.

Am I better off with a 9800np flashed to pro???

Quite possibly. The only difference is that the "Pro" cards run faster. Most 9800NP cards will overclock to near or over 9800Pro stock speeds. But most 9800Pro cards will overclock even higher. The 9800Pros come with faster memory than most 9800NP cards do, which is why they overclock better.

I don't want to start a war against vid cards but the ATi card concerns me. I have seen and heard bad things from ATi...........
but anyway, if they are the best right now....

I actually just replaced a 4600 with a 9800Pro, and I've been very happy with it. The only problem I've had is getting my refresh rate correctly set in WinXP, but Powerstrip had no problem fixing it.

On that note, another option would be the 5900Non-Ultra. However, there are few reports on the overclocking abilities of the cheaper models (the ones running around $200). I suspect they use slower memory than the more expensive versions, but I don't actually own one. Even at stock, it would be a step up (although not a HUGE one) from your 4600.