Video card upgrade advice......

[jpk]

Hi all. I'm going to upgrade my video card soon and need some advice. I currently have a MSI Nvidea FX 5200 w/128 megs DDR-AGP. I'm looking to spend around $200. My system is as follows;
MSI K7T Turbo 2 mainboard..........this board, cpu, and memory are at the end of their upgrade path. AMD Athlon XP 2400+ @233 fsb.....
640 megs PC 133 ram
TB Santa Cruz sound card
Maxtor 40gb hd
Iomega Zip 100 internal drive
Iomega 12x10x32 CDRW (internal)
DVD player (internal)
3.5 Mitsumi floppy
Lian Li card reader
Lian Li PC-6089A Case
550w Power supply

I'm currently looking at the Nvidea 6600GT- 128 megs of DDR. Is this the best bang for the bucks? I'm not an OC'er. Whats the difference between it or the 9k series Nvidea boards? I want to have an upgrade path to a newer system board, cpu and ram later and would like to get the fastest card woith out breaking the bank. I do like to game and my current card is just on the cusp of being too slow. Thanks for your help and advice.

 

[Todd33]

Ya, 6600GT is your best bet.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Yeah no, your first the shoudl noty be ugrading your video card. Most of your low fs will be coming from ram at this point. I would suggest upgrading your mobo and ram first. for ~$200 you could get the DFI infinity and 512 or value ram. That would probably show the best results at this point.

 

[Cawchy87]

Originally posted by: DerwenArtos12
Yeah no, your first the shoudl noty be ugrading your video card. Most of your low fs will be coming from ram at this point. I would suggest upgrading your mobo and ram first. for ~$200 you could get the DFI infinity and 512 or value ram. That would probably show the best results at this point.

Both need to be done, the mobo/ram is a big problem. And the videocard is just as bad. Tough desision.

 

[jpk]

I can play HL2 pretty darned well at 800x600 with most of the goodies turned up right now. The machine is pretty fast considering the mobo's a couple of years old along with the ram. I have a feeling that a new cpu and mobo with ram is going to cost a heck of alot more than a vid card, and then I would still have to up the vid card on top of it because the one I have now is very limiting. I think the current bottle neck is the card more than the other components.

 

[Cawchy87]

used ABIT nf7-s - 50 shipped

Rosewell 512mb value ram with lifetime warantee - 62.27

Total: 102.27

Add a Used 9700pro for 120 from the fs/ft fourms

Total: 222.27

Best use of ~220 dollars imo. Close to your budget And that will run any game you throw at it plus you can keep your cpu and overclock it if you choose.

 

[jpk]

Wouldn't I still need to get a new CPU?

 

[Cawchy87]

Nope, and as an added bonus you can run your cpu at the rated 333 fsb insted of 233 fsb.

 

[jpk]

What I mean is.....my cpu is the slower 266mhz 2400+ not the 333. Are the pin arrays different between the two cpu's? Would it still work on that mobo?

 

[jpk]

So my cpu will run at that fsb?

 

[Cawchy87]

Originally posted by: jpk
So my cpu will run at that fsb?

Oopse, my bad. After checking newegg they 2400 is rated at 266 fsb. However with the new mobo and ram you will be clear to o/c to 400mhz fsb. (I have a mobile 2400 and have it overclocked to 415 fsb).

 

[jpk]

What about the video card? with the increased system speed, can it handle the the extra volts?

 

[Cawchy87]

If you upgrade to the 9700pro like I recommended everything will work great. Not quite sure what you mean by that question tho. If you plan on keeping your vid card then the upgrade isn't worth it imo.

 

[jpk]

Well, I guess it was a bit of a stupid question on my part. I know just about enough about these things to be dangerous to myself. I thought the increased fsb of the newer mobo, which I would assume would mean a slightly higher voltage, might be harmful to the 9700, but since it was designed for those newer mobo's I would imagine it would be ok.

 

[iversonyin]

just get a 9800 PRO or 6600GT

or

save up and build a new computer and use this as a HTPC

 

[jpk]

Another question then. If I opt for the parts you suggest, will my cpu overclock to 400 mhz? It's not the mobile version and I believe those don't oc as well as the mobile ones.

 

[Cawchy87]

The onlything getting more voltage is the cpu and not the video card.

Overclocking is never garanteed. But generally it will get to 333fsb (from my experiance with mine and a few friends' cpu's). You are correct in saying it doesn't overclock as well as the mobile version because the mobile runs on 45 or even 35 watts insted of the 55 watts yours runs on (Therefore a more efficent and cooler chip).

Even if your CPU doesn't overclock at all it will run at its rated 266fsb insted of the 233fsb it runs at now. Coupled with the better chipset and faster DDR ram I think it is the best upgrade you can do.

Plus, you can probibly get mabye 20 bucks for your mobo and 20 for your vid card so the total would most likely come out to below 200 dollars.

 

[jpk]

Well, I guess I'll head on over to the for sale/trade forum and keep an eye out for those items. Thanks for your suggestions. Actually, my cpu is running at 266 fsb. I don't know why I said 233. Sorry, my goof. Thanks again to all.

 

[Cawchy87]

As a note on the mobo.

Get an Abit nf7 rev. 2.0 or Abit nf7-s rev 2.0 (only differance is that the -s has better onboard sound).

Do not get an Abit nf7 s2 as seen in this thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/me...ght_key=y&keyword1=nf7

 

[jpk]

I just went over to the FS/FT forum and did a search. It came up with several boards and caused me to return here to ask this question. Why avoid the NF7-s2? vs the the others?

 

[Cawchy87]

Quite honestly I don't know. I belive it is something to do with a lower quality board. All the motherboard buffs always recommend to stay away from it so I do the same.

Here is a thread about it. http://forums.anandtech.com/me..._key=y&keyword1=NF7-s2

And you will note that the guy who started this thread is now selling his nf7 s2

 

[jpk]

I understand now. It seems that board in not as oc friendly as the other versions. Limited oc options it seems.

 

[Pete]

Your concern over adequate PSU power is valid. Before you upgrade to DDR and a 6600GT/9700P, you'd want to make sure you have a good 300-350W PSU.

But I'd recommend the new MB + DDR + used 9700P path over just a 6600GT. I have a 2400+/266 and 1GB PC2100, and it's limiting my framerate. It's a pretty good combo with my 9700P, though, and HL2 seems very playable (30-60fps, I think) at 10x7 with the default (basically everything high) settings. It feels a little slow in CSS, but that may be CSS' netcode as much as my relatively slower RAM and CPU.

FYI, even with a 9700P, my RAM + CPU is a limiting factor, at least according to CSS' VST. I get ~70fps at 10x7, and only gain 2fps moving to 8x6.

For $200, a 6600GT is the best new card. But you'd probably do better with an overall system upgrade.

 

[jpk]

Hi, thanks for your insight. My power supply isn't a problem. I just replaced my 300w with a 550w unit. With a NF7-S, is there a cpu upgrade path beyond my XP 2400+?

 

[Cawchy87]

Originally posted by: jpk
Hi, thanks for your insight. My power supply isn't a problem. I just replaced my 300w with a 550w unit. With a NF7-S, is there a cpu upgrade path beyond my XP 2400+?

I would see how your chip overclocks first (Lots of info on anandtech on how to do that). And then you can go from there. The best upgrade (if it needs to be) is to a mobile 2400 - 2600 to get xp 3200 speeds or beyond.