"Upgrading" from AGP vid card, to AGP vid card. :-\

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Cyn

Senior member
Oct 13, 2006
212
0
0
Hey everyone, just looking for a bit of advice on a video card. My system is old, and I don't have the money to properly upgrade, but I can't take my vid card any longer, so!

System specs:

Pentium 4 2.4c
Abit IS7 (AGP, no pci-e)
2GB PC2700 ram (dual channel 4x 512mb)
ATI Radeon 128mb 9700 non-pro AGP
19" CRT Viewsonic - no DVI (upgrading to 19 or 20.1" WS LCD within 6 months)
430watt PSU

Being restricted to AGP cards, ideally I would love to get this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102073 but it's a bit on the pricier side at $125 AR/tax/ship to CA, which I'm not sure I can justify for this system or for an "obsolete" AGP card. I'm figuring pretty much anything 256mb+ is going to be a substantial upgrade to my Radeon 9700 ya?

Then I see cards like this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130197 that I wonder if they will do the trick just fine as well.. Much, much cheaper, 256mb, 128 bit, but still only 4 pixel pipelines (really not sure how important that is for the games I play...).

I really only play World of Warcraft, no fps or anything, no HL2, no UT, no Oblivion. I'm told memory size is important to WoW, so a 512mb card would be better, but again, I just want a substantial upgrade from my current, something I can maybe hit 40-50fps with, with settings on med/high. I currently game between 20-30. :disgust: I plan on playing Spore on this comp when it comes out (I hope...) so I'm just trying to find a well priced, good card to get me by for another year or two that will allow me to .

Thanks for your input, it's appreciated. :)

Other possible cards too:

ATI Radeon 9600XT 256mb 128 bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102043

 
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Cyn

Senior member
Oct 13, 2006
212
0
0
Ok, so for that BFG 6600GT, the 128mb doesn't matter so much for me? I see it has a Memory Clock of 1050MHz, compared to the EVGA's 400MHz. The 6600GT is also DDR3. Are those 2 factors going to be more performance improvement over just an increase in MB size? (ie 128mb ---> 256mb or 512mb)? Thanks. :)
 
AVP

AVP

Senior member
Jan 19, 2005
885
0
76
A 7800gs is only $159 after $50mir that would be great to run wow at all the highest settings. But since that is hte only game you play it might not be worth it

Or there are various x1650 pros for around $100-115 ar that will be quite good for your needs. Check those out. Either option would be better than a 6600gt.
 
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Cyn

Senior member
Oct 13, 2006
212
0
0
Yeah, if I can't get away with one of the $50-$60 cards to suit my needs, I'll probably just splurge a bit more and get that SAPPHIRE Radeon X1650PRO 512MB card.
 
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Bradtechonline

Senior member
Jul 20, 2006
480
0
0
I see you are interested in a 9600 Radeon? Don't do it man, my friend bought one, and had nothing but trouble outta it. I played WoW on a FX 5900xt I got on Ebay for 50 bucks, and had ZERO lag. The FX series were crap but the 5900 was a good card outta the batch.

You should look into getting one of the 7600 GT AGP cards that came out. Or the 7800 GS AGP card. Hell even the 6600 GT or 6800 would play WoW great. My friend is a hardcore WoW kid and he has a

XP 2600+
1.5 GB PC3200
Geforce 6200 AGP

and has zero issues with lag.

 
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KutterMax

Member
Sep 26, 2004
168
0
0
I would recommended going with an Nvidia based card - with a 7600GS, 7600GT, or 7800GS depending on your budget.

For WoW, the 2GB of RAM you have will help a lot, but going from 256MB to 512MB on the card won't make much of a difference. WoW is also quite CPU intensive.

Prior to switching motherboards and going PCI-E (BFG 7950), I was running WoW with a 6800GT (until it died) and then a BFG 7800GS. The 7800GS ran WoW fine at 1920x1200 with most options maxed. I briefly ran WoW with an X1950Pro AGP and this ran the game very smooth, but I had problems with the game crashing so switched back to Nvidia.


 
Sphexi

Sphexi

Diamond Member
Feb 22, 2005
7,280
0
0
Stick to at least a 1600 from ATI or a 6600 from NVidia, anything lower wouldn't help much. I have a X800XT right now, runs great, but it's definitely showing its age in some games.
 
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hellokeith

Golden Member
Nov 12, 2004
1,664
0
0
You don't need 512MB of vram. Your system isn't fast enough to push sufficient pixels at a high enough resolution to come even close to using that much video memory. SoundTheSurrender's suggestion of the 6600GT will do you just fine.
 
So

So

Lifer
Jul 2, 2001
25,923
17
81
I have a 6800GT. It's still decent for games and is pretty much the highest AGP card out there...that I can think of at least. Maybe the 7xxx came out in AGP and I missed it.

In any case, the 6xxx series gets my vote for a good price/performance AGP card.
 
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