upgrade video card for aging system?

[ragnarok297]

I bought an old socket 939 desktop from a friend and I'm trying to decide if it's worth upgrading.

specs:

abit an8-sli mobo
athlon 3200+ @ 2.4 GHz
1 gb ram
x800 gto
350W ps

I can run left 4 dead at low settings fine, but I was considering upgrading the video card to bump the settings up and also play newer games at decent framerates.

Is there a cheap video card (<$120) I could get that would let me play games like farcry 2, fallout 3, fear, and neverwinter nights 2 given the above setup?

I don't mind playing at lower settings and resolutions (19" monitor) as long as the game is playable. If I do upgrade, I'm definitely getting more ram, but I'm not sure if it's worth it to spend money upgrading if I'm limited by my processor and a pci-e 1.x slot. I was looking at the 4830, but if I can't play newer games like farcry 2, even at low settings, I might just wait until I can build a new system. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Arkaign]

1440x900 on your 19" (assuming it's a widescreen LCD), or 1280x1024 if it's a CRT or 4:3 LCD. So that's not too high.

ATI 4830, 4670, or Nvidia 9600GT should do very nicely for you, be a HUGE upgrade over what you have, and not break the bank. Depending on the deals you find, you might get out well under 100 bucks.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Probably a 4670... that 350w PSU may hold you back. What brand/model is it anyway?

If you could somehow get yourself an X2 on the cheap, that would help a bunch, I think.

 

[ragnarok297]

It's an antec sl350, but I also have an unopened 430w thermaltake PSU I could put in there. Would that be enough for a 4830?

 

[Arkaign]

Most definitely.

 

[Concillian]

Originally posted by: ragnarok297

I don't mind playing at lower settings and resolutions (19" monitor) as long as the game is playable. If I do upgrade, I'm definitely getting more ram, but I'm not sure if it's worth it to spend money upgrading if I'm limited by my processor and a pci-e 1.x slot. I was looking at the 4830, but if I can't play newer games like farcry 2, even at low settings, I might just wait until I can build a new system. Any advice would be appreciated.

You will not be limited by PCIe version 1.x for the cards you're looking at in your budget range.

You will be limited by your single core processor. I do not know how severely, since sites don't really go out of their way to test single core processors on brand new games.

I suspect a 4830 will be able to completely max out your processor. The good news is you can take it with you, but the bad news is that just about any single core processor will hold you back these days.