Upgrade Path

[bobcuzi]

Hello everyone,

First post to the forums here ... Anyway, here's the question.

I've got an old 3.2 GHz P4 (478) with 2 Gigs of RAM and an nVidia Geforce FX5900 Ultra. I've since made the machine a media center but have some desire to game a little. I missed out on Half Life 2 and F.E.A.R as well as COD2.

Will just a card upgrade (6800GS AGP or simillar) give me good playable frame rates on the above system at say 1280x1024 or even 1024x768? Or should I just scrap it and rebuild with an AMD system and PCI-e.

Let me know if a video card upgrade would be suffice. And if you could make any recommendations that are around ~200 and are AGP.

Thanks in advance,
Adam

 

[lifeblood]

The CPU and RAM are good for at least 1024 x 768. You will need a new Video card. Watch the sites for any deals on AGP video cards. You will need at least a 6600 GT or ATI equivilent.

 

[whitewarrior11]

I personnally have a very similar setup (3 GHz P4, 1 gig of ram). I've been playing a bit of HL2 and FEAR on it (my video card was a Radeon X800XT PE). On the resolution I played (1280x1024), I was able to have *almost* everything maxed in Half-Life 2 (ATI card) and have pretty good details in FEAR and CoD2. I think you should consider buying a fairly good AGP card for the time being. Unless you are playing at higher resolutions, that is.

 

[Wreckage]

A 6800GS with that system will give you good frame rates at 1280X1024.

 

[Rockhound1]

You could upgrade you graphics card with any card using the GPUs listed below. AGP cards are still available with these GPUs.

6600GT
6800
6800GS
X1600 PRO
X850 PRO

Any of these should give you a step up from the FX5900 Ultra that you are currently using.