Time for a new video card

[nlkccom]

I currently have Intel 2.6GHz with 1.5GB ram, with an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro AIW 128mb, and wanted to upgrade my card. I mostly play FPS (HL2, CS:Source, FarCry, and soon FEAR...). My board only has AGP, so PCI-E is outta the question. My budget is about $250-$300 max. I kinda have my eyes on the ATI X800 XT AIW 256mb. How much of a gain will I get if I upgrade from 9800 Pro 128mb to X800 XT 256mb? Any of you seen benchmark that includes the above two cards?

 

[lifeguard1999]

Half Life 2 GPU comparison

 

[ballmode]

You are screwed in the long run. Just get a cheap Dell computer with PCI-E

 

[nlkccom]

Originally posted by: lifeguard1999
Half Life 2 GPU comparison

Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!

 

[nlkccom]

Originally posted by: ballmode
You are screwed in the long run. Just get a cheap Dell computer with PCI-E

You might be right, but upgrading the MB means the CPU and RAM will need to be upgraded as well. Might be too much money for me to do that right now.

 

[junitjam123]

a 2.6 p4 is very overclockable
just overlcock that and you should see big improvements

 

[Sunrise089]

It is fine to buy a new higher end AGP card, don't let PCIe scare you into thinking otherwise. Your computer is still pretty good, so instead of wasting all of your parts, sell the 9800pro for $90-100 and buy a good AGP card. Then in a year or two upgrade to an AMD platform and buy a motherboard that supports PCIe and AGP, such as the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2.

 

[nlkccom]

Originally posted by: junitjam123
a 2.6 p4 is very overclockable
just overlcock that and you should see big improvements

Thanks for the reminder about the 2.6GHz chip being very overclockable. I attempted to OC it to 2.86Ghz (10% increase) last night and didn't give me any problem. I might try to push it a little more and see what's the result.

I just ordered the ATI Radeon AIW X800XT 256mb (AGP). I think it'll serve my gaming needs for a while.

 

[nlkccom]

Originally posted by: Sunrise089
It is fine to buy a new higher end AGP card, don't let PCIe scare you into thinking otherwise. Your computer is still pretty good, so instead of wasting all of your parts, sell the 9800pro for $90-100 and buy a good AGP card. Then in a year or two upgrade to an AMD platform and buy a motherboard that supports PCIe and AGP, such as the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2.

Thanks for the encourgement! I just placed my order, and will be selling the 9800 Pro on ebay.