Should I upgrade my video card?

[Nitemare]

Currently have a Asus V8420 Ti4200 128Mb card

Graphics controller
NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 GPU 260MHz core clock
Memory configuration:
128MB DDR memory 550MHz DDR memory clock ( BGA )

I'll probably be getting a new mb as well and thinking about getting a pci-express one. How much would I have to spend to notice a significant difference? Mainly getting for directx 9 support and faster memory.

PCI-E card I'm considering:
GIGABYTE GV-NX59128D Geforce PCX5900 128MB 256-bit DDR PCI-Express x16 Video Card
Memory Interface: 256-bit
OpenGL: OpenGL 1.5

AGP card:
Rosewill RW98PR-128D Radeon 9800PRO 128MB DDR AGP 4X/8X
Core clock: 380MHz
DVI: 1
Memory Clock: 680MHz
Memory Interface: 256-bit
OpenGL: OpenGL 1.5

 

[kurt454]

I would not get any of the FX series of geforce cards. Horrible dx9 performance. Get a minimum of 6600gt.

 

[nitromullet]

Agreed with kurt454. If you're going to get a PCIe mobo, get yourself a 6600GT for around $200, which would be a nice increase. if you want decent gaming performance, you pretty much have to break the $200 price barrier. The PCX5900 is just an old FX5900 with a PCIe bridge, and that was not the best card for DirectX. Both of the cards you mentioned are from the previous generation - the higher end of the previous gen, but these cards are certainly on their way out. There are already rumors floating around about when the next generation of cards will be launched, making the 9800 Pro and the PCX5900 almost two generation old tech.

 

[Nitemare]

ok so a 6600 GT card at 128 bit is faster than a 9700 at 256 bit, if the core and memory speeds are roughly the same?

 

[akshayt]

6600gt gives good performance in many games.

1600*1200 maxed no more aa and af:
doom 3 etc

1600*1200 aa and af on
cod:united offensive
maypayne 2
painkiller
ut04

1024*768:
nfsu2
medal of honour pacific assault
for pci-e 6600gt probably

wait for next gen

 

[imported_Kensai]

Originally posted by: Nitemare
ok so a 6600 GT card at 128 bit is faster than a 9700 at 256 bit, if the core and memory speeds are roughly the same?

Actually, not just a bit. A medium performance increase.

 

[biostud]

6600GT vs 5900 vs 9800pro

 

[Munky]

If you're going to get PCI-e (and you should if you're buying a new motherboard), I'd get this radeon x800 instead of a 6600gt:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102529

For $193, it spanks the 6600gt in everything except Doom3, which favors Nvidia cards.

If you're going to keep your motherboard, then for AGP I'd get a 6600gt like this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130220 for $159 after the rebate.