Value Card Upgrade ???

[msferguson]

I currently have a Geforce4 MX 460 and newer games are starting to show the cards age. System contains: AMD XP 2.6Ghz, 512Mb, 74GB Raptor SATA drive, SB Live 5.1. What cards should I place on my short list; looking for an appreciable improvement in games, without having to break into my kids piggy banks. ;-)

 

[Matthias99]

Welcome to AT Forums.

The search feature is in the upper right corner. Please use it. This question gets asked CONSTANTLY.

Short answer: I'd look for a GeForce4 Ti4600 (~$75?). No DX9 support, but it's still easily twice as fast as your GF4MX. If you're willing to spend a little more, a RADEON 9700Pro/9800 (not the 9800SE, just the regular 9800) would be a big upgrade that can be found at a pretty good price these days ($130-150, I think, maybe less if you hunt around).

 

[rogue1979]

How about a 6200 AGP? Even without the softmod it gives decent performance for the money. Just make sure and pass on the 64-bit version as well as the turbo cache.

Of course, you could always softmod to enable all 8 pipes and overclock, excellent value.

The 6600 non pro isn't much more.

 

[Creig]

As Matthias said, you can check the For Sale forum and find:

1 - Ti4200 - $50
2 - Ti4600 - $75
3 - 9700 Pro - $100


Of the three, I would recommend the 9700 Pro for its overall speed and DX9 support.

 

[MisterChief]

You should get an extra 512MB of RAM while you're at it.

 

[msferguson]

Thanks for the tips, decided to up the budget to ~ $150, wait three months and pick up a 6600GT. ;-) At least thats the plan if I can stick to it. In the mean time I'm going to upgrade to 1GB RAM and stick an Athlon XP 3200+ in the beast.

<Humor>Maybe hang some fuzzy dice off the front bezel, mini disco mirror ball inside with a transparent side panel, an array of funky blue led's, .... </HUMOR>

 

[Machine350]

I wouldn't upgrade the cpu until you can go Athlon 64. You won't see much improvement. You will see a major improvement going from what you have to a 6600GT, much more so than upgrading the ram and cpu.

 

[LouPoir]

Originally posted by: Creig
As Matthias said, you can check the For Sale forum and find:

1 - Ti4200 - $50
2 - Ti4600 - $75
3 - 9700 Pro - $100


Of the three, I would recommend the 9700 Pro for its overall speed and DX9 support.

Iagree

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: msferguson
Thanks for the tips, decided to up the budget to ~ $150, wait three months and pick up a 6600GT. ;-) At least thats the plan if I can stick to it. In the mean time I'm going to upgrade to 1GB RAM and stick an Athlon XP 3200+ in the beast.

<Humor>Maybe hang some fuzzy dice off the front bezel, mini disco mirror ball inside with a transparent side panel, an array of funky blue led's, .... </HUMOR>

Hey, that sound like what I did, except I got a mobile barton 2500 (stock 1.83ghz) and oc'd it to 2.5ghz. I got more performance for less money than a 3200 regular athlon xp. Also got a 9800p and oc'd it to 455mhz. Next, I'm gonna see how far I can oc my fsb, I just ordered some heatsinks for the motherboard.

As a side note, I replaced the crappy little northbridge hsf with a bigger passive heatsink, and it runs quieter AND about 5 degrees cooler.

 

[Reiniku]

Originally posted by: LouPoir

Originally posted by: Creig
As Matthias said, you can check the For Sale forum and find:

1 - Ti4200 - $50
2 - Ti4600 - $75
3 - 9700 Pro - $100


Of the three, I would recommend the 9700 Pro for its overall speed and DX9 support.

Iagree

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: msferguson
Thanks for the tips, decided to up the budget to ~ $150, wait three months and pick up a 6600GT. ;-) At least thats the plan if I can stick to it. In the mean time I'm going to upgrade to 1GB RAM and stick an Athlon XP 3200+ in the beast.

<Humor>Maybe hang some fuzzy dice off the front bezel, mini disco mirror ball inside with a transparent side panel, an array of funky blue led's, .... </HUMOR>

Great time to buy ram right now. So cheap.

Skip the proc upgrade and get the 6600GT now.

 

[fstime]

6600. Its around 150 and isnt overkill.

 

[SneakyStuff]

I would reccomend a used 9500 pro from either ebay or the FS/FT forums. It's a great card, and can be found for as little as $75-80. It would be a WORLD of difference from your current card.

 

[Bonesdad]

Originally posted by: msferguson
I currently have a Geforce4 MX 460 and newer games are starting to show the cards age. System contains: AMD XP 2.6Ghz, 512Mb, 74GB Raptor SATA drive, SB Live 5.1. What cards should I place on my short list; looking for an appreciable improvement in games, without having to break into my kids piggy banks. ;-)

The temptation is there to get the 6600GT, but you might want to look at upgrading to an A64 system with PCIe. Course, that is much mo money....if you absolutely want to stay with an AGP motherboard, go for the AGP flavor of the 6600GT video card. Newegg is selling the Leadtek version for about $185 now.