Upgrade video card or not

[cscottm90]

Hello All, I currently have an ATI AIW 8500 128 megs of ram. I am thinking about getting a new video card, but not sure if I actually need to or not.

My current config

Intel C2D 6300
2 gig DDR400 Ram
500 gb sata2 hd

What I haven't done for a while, & will probably start back up doing, is start playing some of the graphic intense games. However I am not exactly sure if my video card will handle these games or if I should get something newer, as if my card will still work fine (and not being under the "minimum", compared to the recommended section on most software requirements

If someone could point out in what direction I should go & what card I should pickup. I am looking to spend around $100

Thanks

 

[Falloutboy]

don't know how your running that VC on that board, I thought agp wasn't avail on core 2 boards.

but yah for any realy gaiming your going to need a new card. take a look at a 7600gt or 1650xt for around that price bracket. another option if you stretch you budget a bit is to look at a 1950

 

[ShreddedWheat]

Falloutboy:

Asrock makes a motherboard that supports Core 2 along with AGP and DDR memory (if my memory is correct)

Unfortunately doesn't have a PCI-E slot though if I remember.

If you plan on keeping your system for awhile then I would recommend getting either a x1950 pro or a x1950XT in agp flavor just came out too!

 

[ShreddedWheat]

Sorry didn't see 100 price range....x1950pro is about 150 and x1950gt is around 120ish and x1950xt around 230. I would wait till you have more cash to get the x1950pro or better if I was you cause unless someone releases a DX10 in AGP flavor which is a good possibility you are going to have to upgrade vid card again quickly.

 

[Jules]

Originally posted by: ShreddedWheat
Falloutboy:

Asrock makes a motherboard that supports Core 2 along with AGP and DDR memory (if my memory is correct)

Unfortunately doesn't have a PCI-E slot though if I remember.

If you plan on keeping your system for awhile then I would recommend getting either a x1950 pro or a x1950XT in agp flavor just came out too!

Theres also a ECS board that does PCIE/AGP/DDR/DDRII

 

[AnotherGuy]

I remember AT did a review on one of these boards a while ago... when they came out... donno if it was the ECS or the AsRock.... but I think i rmemeber 1 of the agp or the PCI-E would work a little slower than normal boards with only 1 graphics slot... ANy1 knows what was the real story and with which board?

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: AnotherGuy
I remember AT did a review on one of these boards a while ago... when they came out... donno if it was the ECS or the AsRock.... but I think i rmemeber 1 of the agp or the PCI-E would work a little slower than normal boards with only 1 graphics slot... ANy1 knows what was the real story and with which board?

Well, I ran the ASRock board for a while with the C2D and both AGP and PCI-E work just fine. I wasn't able to tell PCI-8 vs PCI-16 much like the old days of dorks arguing about AGP1 versus AGP2, etc. :laugh: Also, I did benchmarks between DDR and DDR2 RAM with the ASRock board and the differences were undetectable... like 1 point positive to the DDR under 3dMark.

As far as the original question goes... I would definitely advise a videocard upgrade if you want to start gaming. Get the best one you can afford. That 8500 Radeon is seriously slow compared to even bottom of the line cards now.

And don't let anyone shake you from that platform... if you aren't into overclocking then the C2D on an ASRock motherboard with DDR works really REALLY good. The jump to DDR2 and PCI-E will be less exciting than it was to get the C2D... I'll warn you now, lol.

 

[cscottm90]

Originally posted by: Conky

As far as the original question goes... I would definitely advise a videocard upgrade if you want to start gaming. Get the best one you can afford. That 8500 Radeon is seriously slow compared to even bottom of the line cards now.

And don't let anyone shake you from that platform... if you aren't into overclocking then the C2D on an ASRock motherboard with DDR works really REALLY good. The jump to DDR2 and PCI-E will be less exciting than it was to get the C2D... I'll warn you now, lol.

I was looking at a GeForce 6200 LE (as a fairly cheap $$ upgrade), but decided against it as alot of people pretty much said it wasn't that great of a card for playing graphic games. If, lets say I was to get something like this, was is the comparable difference between what I have & this one.?


Also a while back, I thought about getting DDR2 ram, but after reading some reviews about the speed difference, I decided against it.

Thanks