Video upgrade recommendations for my PC please!!

teiresias

Senior member
Oct 16, 1999
287
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Hey all,

I'm looking to get some boost in the graphics department. My current rig is as follows:

Athlon XP-M 2500+ OC@2.2Ghz
NF7-S Mobo (AGP)
700+ PC3200 (not quite a gig)
Soundblaster Live! (the old Gamer5.1 or something like that)
Radeon 9500Pro

I know the newest thing is the 7800GS, but I'm wondering if people have other suggestions given my gaming needs.

I play very little PC games anymore, not a big first-person shooter fan, in fact, my motivating game for an upgrade is Dreamfall at the moment, though I would like to be able to run Gothic3 at acceptable levels when it is released and perhaps pick up Oblivion.

Generally, I tend to stick to 1024x768 as my resolution as I find that more than acceptable with 4xAA applied.

So, what do people suggest - I batted around the idea of doing a complete upgrade, but I think I'd rather just plop down anywhere between $150-$300 for a good AGP card that will give me a noticable improvement over the 9500Pro. Still, the complete upgrade path isn't out of the question, I'm just not sure if new chipsets are due out soon or something that I'd need to wait for, so I'd just have to think about it, but in this topic, just what are people's suggestions for an AGP upgrade path given my rig and needs? Thanks for the help guys.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
$152 X800GTO is a better value

The main difference is gpu clock speed.

X800GTO = 400 x 12 pipes (Powercolor is 475x12) and X850Pro is 520x12 Other than that the memory is clocked similarly. But imo it's not worth it to pay $70 extra for 120mhz speed when GTO should easily overclock to those speeds. Besides you only want to play at 1024x768.

 

teiresias

Senior member
Oct 16, 1999
287
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0
I've noticed everyone is recommending ATI, not sure if that's because I'm replacing a 9500 Pro or just the state of things at the moment. The 7800GS is definately too much money - at that point I'd rather just double my cash outlay and do a complete upgrade. Since AGP 6800GS is nowhere to found anymore I'm guessing the only other Nvidia alternative is the 6600 or something like that - how do they compare to the X800GTO, less pipes I think, right?
 

Vinnybcfc

Senior member
Nov 9, 2005
216
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Originally posted by: teiresias
I've noticed everyone is recommending ATI, not sure if that's because I'm replacing a 9500 Pro or just the state of things at the moment. The 7800GS is definately too much money - at that point I'd rather just double my cash outlay and do a complete upgrade. Since AGP 6800GS is nowhere to found anymore I'm guessing the only other Nvidia alternative is the 6600 or something like that - how do they compare to the X800GTO, less pipes I think, right?

a x800gto agp would be miles better than a 6600gt (12 v 8 pipes and the gto can be clocked about 100mhz more)
 

teiresias

Senior member
Oct 16, 1999
287
0
0
Thanks guys, that Saphire X800GTO is looking like the winner. I actually checked my rig again and realized I only have a single PC3200 512MB DIMM in the machine, I was thinking about my laptop when I wrote the amount of RAM in the original post, so I'll probably pick up another 512MB of RAM while I'm at it.

I may wait until the 8th and see if the Powercolor comes back in stock.