Upgrade from geforce 6800 to what?

[Dean407]

Want to get a bit more life out of my old PC. Dell Dimension XPS Gen 4.

For the most part I watch movies online...netflix and amazon prime. I have a 24in monitor.

Don't care much about games anymore.

What's the best card I can get for $150 and under?

Given my mediocre requirements, would I even be able to tell the difference between a $100 card and $150 card? Or for that atter a $50 card?

Thanks,

Dean

 

[toyota]

wow what a dinosaur of a video card. and I am guessing the rest of the pc is severally outdated too.

lol I would just hook my smart phone up to my monitor if all I cared about is watching netflix.

if you are determined to get a card then just get the cheapest card you can so no point in spending over 50 bucks.

 

[hawtdawg]

You could plug a potato in your AGP slot and double your framerates.

 

[wilds]

The 4670 is the fastest AGP card.

I have an old 6800 in a desktop in the basement. It has an Athlon x2 @ 2.7 GHz, 2GB of DDR2, and two 250gb HDD's in Raid 0.

It definitely shows its age for some things, but can play Minecraft just fine and runs Windows 8 very well.

 

[toyota]

the 6800 came out way back when single cores were the top cpus. heck Core 2 cpus did not come out until 2 years later.

 

[CRCSUX]

You could plug a potato in your AGP slot and double your framerates.

I think its a pci-e slot on that board.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150655 ?

or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102933

or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187191

Cheap ones and better for what you want it for

 

[Dean407]

Yep, PCI-E

 

[toyota]

Yep, PCI-E

and what are the rest of the specs??????

 

[Arkaign]

and what are the rest of the specs??????

Those XPS Gen 4s are late-model Pentium 4s. They are approximately as fast as early Athlon 64s (3000+/3200+). Hyperthreading actually makes them fairly usable even today with Windows 7 32-bit and 2GB of ram along with a competent SATA HDD and low-end GPU. I refurb tons of systems for a local charity, and they run shockingly good for how ancient they are. I have a houseguest right now with a cheap 2012 Walmart laptop (AMD E300, LOL), and it is definitely FAR FAR slower than the ancient XPS Gen4. Of course it probably uses 1% of the power hahah.

Anyway, OP :

Grab a 5450 PCI-E. I've used them in that very system before, and movies/2d stuff will be flawless. Pulls VERY little power, works great. If you don't already have 4GB ram, you might consider upgrading to that. A cheap fast hard drive is also something to consider down the road.

 

[Dean407]

3.2Ghz P4, 3GB RAM, WinXP, 160GB 7.2K SATA HD.

Appreciate the helpful comments. Looks like I can get a decent (for my system) card for $50 or less.

As Arkaign suggests...it's a snappy Win XP system with the fresh re-image.

 

[Stuka87]

As far as I know that system has PCI-e 1.0 (maybe 1.1?)

But with such an old CPU, even with GPU offloading I doubt you will be able to play HD content.

But if you want a new card, I would go with a 6670 or something. They work very well for video playback, use *WAY* less power than a 6800, and should be faster. Although I cannot find any benches comparing a 6800 to anything modern.

 

[SickBeast]

OP you could get a CPU/motherboard combo with integrated graphics for surprisingly cheap. Your CPU is a dinosaur. It's time to upgrade. Until then the cheapest GPU you can find will be fine.

 

[Stuka87]

OP you could get a CPU/motherboard combo with integrated graphics for surprisingly cheap. Your CPU is a dinosaur. It's time to upgrade. Until then the cheapest GPU you can find will be fine.

Good point. He could get a current Intel or AMD APU and be better off. He would have a way faster CPU and much faster GPU.

 

[IonusX]

Want to get a bit more life out of my old PC. Dell Dimension XPS Gen 4.

For the most part I watch movies online...netflix and amazon prime. I have a 24in monitor.

Don't care much about games anymore.

What's the best card I can get for $150 and under?

Given my mediocre requirements, would I even be able to tell the difference between a $100 card and $150 card? Or for that atter a $50 card?

Thanks,

Dean

whoa put that thing away.. their are children around man!

 

[futurefields]

why even need a new video card?

the 6800 has more than enough juice to do any non-gaming task doesnt it? heck you can play call of duty 4 with one of those.

 

[Arkaign]

As far as I know that system has PCI-e 1.0 (maybe 1.1?)

But with such an old CPU, even with GPU offloading I doubt you will be able to play HD content.

But if you want a new card, I would go with a 6670 or something. They work very well for video playback, use *WAY* less power than a 6800, and should be faster. Although I cannot find any benches comparing a 6800 to anything modern.

why even need a new video card?

the 6800 has more than enough juice to do any non-gaming task doesnt it? heck you can play call of duty 4 with one of those.

OP you could get a CPU/motherboard combo with integrated graphics for surprisingly cheap. Your CPU is a dinosaur. It's time to upgrade. Until then the cheapest GPU you can find will be fine.

Heheh, man I feel like an old timer, the 6800 / P4 are relatively new in my overall computer history (started with stuff like IBM System/370!)

Okay.

(1)- Yes, the OP's system is relatively ancient by modern terms.
(2)- The 6800 isn't lacking in 3D power, but rather feature set for 2D/HD acceleration.
(3)- A new mobo/cpu won't fit an XPS case without some pretty significant mod/fabrication/cutting.
(4)- With a 5450, OP will be able to watch HD video without issues. I've put 5450s in even weaker systems and HD was fine, including 720P high bitrate MKVs, Netflix, and Youtube 720. By weaker systems I mean Sempron 2500+ Socket 754, which is even slower than ~3Ghz P4s (and without the aid of hyperthreading!). Bluray was an issue on the Sempron 2500+, but on a 3.2 Pentium 4 even Bluray worked! Config was 2GB DDR2-667, HD5450, LiteOn BluRay reader/DVDRW, 500GB WD Blue.

Given that the OP doesn't game, this is the cheapest way for him to get what he wants. Unfortunately the 6800, even though it's probably faster in some ways for gaming than the 5450, predates decent hd video acceleration.

Bonus point is that he can move that card to a newer system down the line a little. I'd keep an eye on a used dirt-cheap i3.

 

[IonusX]

Heheh, man I feel like an old timer, the 6800 / P4 are relatively new in my overall computer history (started with stuff like IBM System/370!)

Okay.

(1)- Yes, the OP's system is relatively ancient by modern terms.
(2)- The 6800 isn't lacking in 3D power, but rather feature set for 2D/HD acceleration.
(3)- A new mobo/cpu won't fit an XPS case without some pretty significant mod/fabrication/cutting.
(4)- With a 5450, OP will be able to watch HD video without issues. I've put 5450s in even weaker systems and HD was fine, including 720P high bitrate MKVs, Netflix, and Youtube 720. By weaker systems I mean Sempron 2500+ Socket 754, which is even slower than ~3Ghz P4s (and without the aid of hyperthreading!). Bluray was an issue on the Sempron 2500+, but on a 3.2 Pentium 4 even Bluray worked! Config was 2GB DDR2-667, HD5450, LiteOn BluRay reader/DVDRW, 500GB WD Blue.

Given that the OP doesn't game, this is the cheapest way for him to get what he wants. Unfortunately the 6800, even though it's probably faster in some ways for gaming than the 5450, predates decent hd video acceleration.

Bonus point is that he can move that card to a newer system down the line a little. I'd keep an eye on a used dirt-cheap i3.

pro-tip hd 6450 is usually cheaper than a 5450 today
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...CE&PageSize=20
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16814102882

 

[skipsneeky2]

Hd video is not gonna happen,not if you got a gt610 or a nvidia titan superclocked....less then a week ago i was using a back up pentium 4 paired with a gtx650 while waiting for funds for a new 1155 mobo and ram and youtube with 720p and above would not play smoothly.

Actually most games or heck even facebook games would lag and this tower was using a ssd and 2.75gb ram lol.

 

[Arkaign]

pro-tip hd 6450 is usually cheaper than a 5450 today
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...CE&PageSize=20
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16814102882

Outstanding Even better then!

 

[skipsneeky2]

Outstanding Even better then!

Saw you mentioned having HD being perfectly playable with 720p on youtube with a pentium 4,my experience even with a windows 7 installation on a ssd with a gtx650 still produced laggy stuttering video playback.

Certain hidden menu option or a special browser?Was using google chrome and couldn't produce stutter free 720p and above.

 

[Ketchup]

Heheh, man I feel like an old timer, the 6800 / P4 are relatively new in my overall computer history (started with stuff like IBM System/370!)

Okay.

(3)- A new mobo/cpu won't fit an XPS case without some pretty significant mod/fabrication/cutting.

I am glad somebody brought this up. I am surprised it didn't come up earlier. Not that the OP was considering the mobo thing, but a worthy concern.

OP, since you already have a dedicated video card, I don't see your CPU bottleneck getting better with a new card. If you were running integrated Intel graphics, I could see room for improvement. Flash and Silverlight still use the CPU a good bit for their work.

One good test would be to look at the CPU usage in task manager while watching something on Netflix/Prime.

For comparison, my Virtual Machine is using 1 core of an i7-3720QM, and uses between 25 and 50% of the CPU when running video on Netflix.

 

[Bryf50]

Another option is to pick up one of the many <$100 Core 2 Duo Dell Optiplex/HP office pulls that are flooding ebay. Look for something with a later gen e7x00/e8x00 Core 2 Duo and you should have a fairly speedy machine for the price.

 

[Arkaign]

Saw you mentioned having HD being perfectly playable with 720p on youtube with a pentium 4,my experience even with a windows 7 installation on a ssd with a gtx650 still produced laggy stuttering video playback.

Certain hidden menu option or a special browser?Was using google chrome and couldn't produce stutter free 720p and above.

Hmm I wish I could tell you what went wrong with your setup. Was the P4 a HT model of at least ~3Ghz?

Sometimes flash can be a ah heck.

My recipe for good P4 video performance :

P4 of 3.0C or newer with adequate cooler (no throttling allowed). Make sure HT is on, many bioses in HPs/Dells/etc default to 'off' for some unknown reason.

Nvidia card of at least 8xxx series or AMD card of at least 5xxx series (ideally newer, but these are good enough for respectable 2d acceleration).

32-Bit XP or Win7 OS install w/2GB-3GB of ram.

Set resolution to 1280x720, 1440x900, that range usually does best. Weirdly, works best with aero ON if using Win7. With a 3.2C or better along with a good card, usually can even get BluRay to play.

And then I use IE with absolutely no toolbars/etc/anything. Totally stripped to the bone. I don't know why, but Chrome and even Firefox seem to bog with P4s, while IE does just fine. I also use CCCP for the codec pack to play MKV/etc, with WMP. VLC is nice, but doesn't play as nicely with super low end CPUs like the P4 in my experience.

With that checklist, I can almost always get good 720p performance. 1080p depends heavily on the type of file. Lower bitrate rips work fine, but really dense 10GB+ 1080p is rather difficult to get working well with really low end PCs.

On more borderline PCs, sometimes I can get 720p to work in the browser window, but full screen bogs it too much.

 

[Arkaign]

Relevant thread

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2298079

 

[skipsneeky2]

Hmm I wish I could tell you what went wrong with your setup. Was the P4 a HT model of at least ~3Ghz?

Sometimes flash can be a ah heck.

My recipe for good P4 video performance :

P4 of 3.0C or newer with adequate cooler (no throttling allowed). Make sure HT is on, many bioses in HPs/Dells/etc default to 'off' for some unknown reason.

Nvidia card of at least 8xxx series or AMD card of at least 5xxx series (ideally newer, but these are good enough for respectable 2d acceleration).

32-Bit XP or Win7 OS install w/2GB-3GB of ram.

Set resolution to 1280x720, 1440x900, that range usually does best. Weirdly, works best with aero ON if using Win7. With a 3.2C or better along with a good card, usually can even get BluRay to play.

And then I use IE with absolutely no toolbars/etc/anything. Totally stripped to the bone. I don't know why, but Chrome and even Firefox seem to bog with P4s, while IE does just fine. I also use CCCP for the codec pack to play MKV/etc, with WMP. VLC is nice, but doesn't play as nicely with super low end CPUs like the P4 in my experience.

With that checklist, I can almost always get good 720p performance. 1080p depends heavily on the type of file. Lower bitrate rips work fine, but really dense 10GB+ 1080p is rather difficult to get working well with really low end PCs.

On more borderline PCs, sometimes I can get 720p to work in the browser window, but full screen bogs it too much.

I only use chrome,and when i was using that system my resolution was at 1280x1024 and yeah chrome did bog the cpu down,when youtube would stutter,cpu usage was damn near 100% until i dropped it to 360p then it was buttery smooth.

Netflix and hulu ran good then again cause i have the worlds worst dsl isp provider,i tend to run low quality just not to buffer let alone not lag which ended up not being a issue there.

Aero i have always left off,set windows to run for best performance over letting it decide so maybe your right.

Tower isn't something i could really wanna use myself even if it did handle hd,its something i was stuck with using for a bit till i got my core i5 back up.:biggrin: