Radeon 8500, A worthwhile upgrade for a Celeron 600@900 from a Geforce 2 MX?

[IamJacksColin]

Hi,
I'm a mega budget gamer, and my Geforce 2 MX equiped rig is having a tough time playing games like GTA 3, Battle field 1942 and the like. I've managed the scrap up $260 Canadain dollars, which can afford me a Radeon 8500 or a GF3 ti500. Now I can't afford a new Mobo and CPU and all, so I'm wondering if it's worth spending on a new videocard. What kind of frame rate improvement would I get with a Radeon 8500? BTW my PSU is only 250w, will that cause problems? Or is my money better spent else where.?

 

[onza]

quick question..

what kind of score do you get when u run mad onion?

onza

 

[Lorne]

Untill you start getting past 1Ghz you havent pushed the Gforce2 mx yet, My opinion of course, I would say you biggest limitation being CPU and FSB to RAM.
A Gforce2 MX200 is good upto 1.2 if not more in some cases, If your still running a 66 or 100 fsb and anything less then 256megs of ram thats your problem.

I know the exchange isnt that far off from US$ and with $250 CA$ you can get some good stuff, I suggest www.pricewatch.com.
Suggest MB and CPU first and hold your ram if its PC100 till you can afford PC133 (This is the cheap way to go, I know DDR is better)
If you have PC66 you can still get ram a for real cheap.

 

[IamJacksColin]

My Celeron 600 is running at 9 x 100 for 900mhz. I have 384mb of PC- 100 ram. I got about 2200 last time I ran 3D Mark which was a couple driver sets ago

 

[klah]

$260(Can) ~ $170(US)

Well this is what you could expect if you went with the Radeon8500LE 128MB (~$110US):
http://service.madonion.com/compare?2k1=4075862
CarChaseLow: 51
DragothicLow: 91
LobbyLow: 58

With your GF2MX and a new mobo(~$60US)/proc (AthlonXP 1600+ ~$55US) you could about this:
http://service.madonion.com/compare?2k1=4101106
CarChaseLow: 48
DragothicLow: 49
LobbyLow: 47