So I need a new graphics card

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:20 am

What's a good one that's

1. Better than my Radeon 9600 Pro
2. Reasonably cheap
3. Gonna fit in my motherboard (think AGP slot is the proper term)

Also any other considerations I should be aware of...I'd like to have composite video out so I can watch crappe on my TV but it's not necessary

junkeR · Post by **junkeR** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:37 am

What type of AGP slot?
What games do you plan on playing?

Any issues with your older card?

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:41 am

Man, that's an old card. You have quite a few choices for upgrades if you're stuck with AGP, although the top-end AGP parts.

Most of these will be relatively cheap now, although people hanging on to their AGP systems will ensure that there's always going to be some demand for the "last and best" AGP cards out there:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/agp ... ,1509.html

I think the better choices are:

- ATI X1950 PRO, as recommended by the article
- GeForce 7800 GS (should be pretty cheap now, it's from 2005 after all; I used this card in its PCI-E format for a long while, it's pretty decent)
- GeForce 6800 variants - I had one of the variants of this card and sold it some time ago for $100, and it's probably considerably less money now. Decent enough card that will play Half-Life 2, if not especially well.

A quote from the end of the article I linked:

Frankly, I'm still impressed with the old-but-revolutionary Radeon 9700 PRO we used in these tests. Paired up with an Athlon XP 2500+, there wasn't a title the old girl couldn't play at 1024x768.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:46 am

junkeR wrote:What type of AGP slot?
What games do you plan on playing?

Any issues with your older card?

Oh man no idea on what type of AGP. How do I determine that?

Gameswise just HL2 stuff for now, though I'd like it to be decent enough to last awhile

No issues with the 9600 until it self-destructed Sunday night. I'd have forgiven ATI for that had it played a clip that said 'self destruct sequence initiated' spoken by a monotone British female, but it didn't

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:48 am

It's probably 8x, the max supported by AGP. There are 256MB models listed that support that transfer.

Sorry to hear about the self-destructing computer :(

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:51 am

Ah good.

It's weird, my computer is 4 years old but it doesn't seem to be that outdated. 2.8 ghz pentium 4, 1 gig ram isn't far off from newer computers I've heard of

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:56 am

That would most likely have an 8x agp port. I've had a Geforce 7800 GS AGP for over two years, I love it. It's only recently been able to not play the newest stuff. It can rock UT3, does Bioshock OK, however Crysis crippled it

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 2:00 am

Neon, most new computers have dual core processors in them, and far more cache than that Pentium 4 has. That P4 possibly has 512K of L2 memory, likely less; the Conroe Core 2 Duo e6600 has 4MB for both cores. It also can perform just over double the number of operations in a given time than even the high-end Pentium 4 Extreme Edition can. It makes a huge difference in MAME, games, and just fooling around on the desktop.

That RAM is going to be a bottleneck even in XP, too; most new games make use of 2 GB of memory or slightly more, and Windows will make use of the rest.

jonny5 · Post by **jonny5** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 2:24 am

radeon x1600 pro 512 mb can be had for under $100....and it runs everything i have thrown at it perfectly..... it will smoke half life 2

highly recommended.....

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:56 am

Ed Oscuro wrote:Neon, most new computers have dual core processors in them, and far more cache than that Pentium 4 has. That P4 possibly has 512K of L2 memory, likely less; the Conroe Core 2 Duo e6600 has 4MB for both cores. It also can perform just over double the number of operations in a given time than even the high-end Pentium 4 Extreme Edition can. It makes a huge difference in MAME, games, and just fooling around on the desktop.

That RAM is going to be a bottleneck even in XP, too; most new games make use of 2 GB of memory or slightly more, and Windows will make use of the rest.

shitcock. Oh well, hope nothing good comes out for pc ever again then

edit - o shit street fighter 4

NAVVARR · Post by **NAVVARR** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 7:54 am

I have an AGP slot on my PC and went for a N-vidia Geforce 7950GT with 512 M Ram -and what a card- plays Crysis on medium and everything else on MAX settings

-I'd recommend that card to you

Post by **Shatterhand** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:13 pm

Yeah, I've been thinking about upgrading my computer too, I sometimes feel I may be missing some good games on it. But frankly, I just don't can't be arsed enough to play on PCs anymore, with all the config and setup and drivers and update stuffs. It's bloody annoying. I also have SOOO many PS2 games, that I can hardly bother .

Yet... Street Fighter IV. Yeah.

I have an Athlon XP 2200+, would a Radeon 9700 PRO be any good to me? My current video card is a GeForce 5200 128mb. Would I be able to at least try to play Half-Life 2, Portal or some stuff that's like 1-2 years old? I don't need high resolutions, I don't care playing the game on 640x480 or 800x600, as long as I can just play the game. (Or is 1024x768 considered "low resolution" these days?

)

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:46 pm

NAVVARR wrote:I have an AGP slot on my PC and went for a N-vidia Geforce 7950GT with 512 M Ram -and what a card- plays Crysis on medium and everything else on MAX settings

Sounds pretty hot. I have my 7800 paired with a intel core 2 duo e4300 overclocked. Crysis ran fine at low settings, but then the graphics looked like no one lives forever. I was a bit miffed because Far Cry ran quite well back in 2004 on my geforce fx 5200... Which was a low end card even at the time. And the graphics were unbelievable

and speaking of 5200...

Shatterhand wrote: I have an Athlon XP 2200+, would a Radeon 9700 PRO be any good to me? My current video card is a GeForce 5200 128mb. Would I be able to at least try to play Half-Life 2, Portal or some stuff that's like 1-2 years old? I don't need high resolutions, I don't care playing the game on 640x480 or 800x600, as long as I can just play the game. (Or is 1024x768 considered "low resolution" these days? )

9700 pro would be a considerable upgrade from the 5200... You will get somewhere in the range of 2-3 times the performance.
Check out some benchmarks - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/vga ... 730-4.html
It should be able to rock Halflife 2 and most games through 2005 at least (FEAR, Quake 4, Oblivion if you tweak it). Yeah, 1024 is considered "low" res these days, but don't let em get to ya. It's been my primary resolution for 7 or so years now. Even though my monitor can technically handle up to 2048x1536, I don't play junk like that because I don't care about jaggies and I would rather have a better framerate.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 7:58 pm

Hier ist neuer gamings maschien 4 Neon:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883103126

Less than $450 before shipping, and it has a Core 2 Duo. You might replace the RAM in there, but that won't be too expensive. You also could just stick with the 1GB in there already (bleh)

It's the cheapest PC on Newegg that XP on it (instead of Vista Home, which I figure you won't want). I'm sure that'll surface in the use of crummy parts and the louder-than-average noise, but you get what you pay for...

If I had no PC, and I had 450 dollars, I'd buy that.

lgb · Post by **lgb** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 8:04 pm

I need 450 dollars.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 8:34 pm

heh, I can't find the 9700 pro anywhere around here.

Whatever, I should save to buy an X-Box 360 instead of upgrading my PC

.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 8:54 pm

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... GP+4X%2f8X

I see an X1650 PRO (which should be better) for only $60. In fact I see two of them.

bay · Post by **bay** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 8:58 pm

i just built a new computer, made the upgrade after 5+ years since building or upgrading. i was stuck in agp land as well, and pcie is very nice.

now i get to sample the past 5 years of pc gaming.

it's quite overwhelming.

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 12:23 am

Shatterhand wrote:heh, I can't find the 9700 pro anywhere around here.

Whatever, I should save to buy an X-Box 360 instead of upgrading my PC .

http://cgi.ebay.com/ATI-Radeon-9700-Pro ... dZViewItem

ED-057 · Post by **ED-057** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:42 am

Shatterhand wrote:I have an Athlon XP 2200+, would a Radeon 9700 PRO be any good to me? My current video card is a GeForce 5200 128mb. Would I be able to at least try to play Half-Life 2, Portal or some stuff that's like 1-2 years old? I don't need high resolutions, I don't care playing the game on 640x480 or 800x600, as long as I can just play the game. (Or is 1024x768 considered "low resolution" these days? )

I played through HL2 and HL2 episode 1 and my PC is pretty much the same as yours. I have a GeForce 5200 128MB DDR, 384MB DDR RAM, and an Athlon XP (first it was 1900+, recently I swapped it out for a 2500+). I played at 800x600 with the recommended detail settings.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:41 am

I don't mean to rub it in but once you've gone 1600x1200 you won't go back. At least not in HL2 where it won't kill your eyes on an LCD monitor (Gothick III on the other hand is an eye-strainer much of the time, and some other games are probably worse offenders).

If Vista didn't turn people off so much, it'd be more popular for the FINALLY OMG proper high-resolution text support. High resolutions and XP don't mix well, I'm afraid.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:45 am

Ed Oscuro wrote:Hier ist neuer gamings maschien 4 Neon:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883103126

Less than $450 before shipping, and it has a Core 2 Duo. You might replace the RAM in there, but that won't be too expensive. You also could just stick with the 1GB in there already (bleh)

It's the cheapest PC on Newegg that XP on it (instead of Vista Home, which I figure you won't want). I'm sure that'll surface in the use of crummy parts and the louder-than-average noise, but you get what you pay for...

If I had no PC, and I had 450 dollars, I'd buy that.

I reckon when my pc won't run new games anymore, even at low settings, I might get a new mobo, graphics card, and more RAM, and just use my current monitor, hard disk, DVD drive, case, and soundcard. Do soundcards get outdated anymore? They're like, sound.

i just built a new computer, made the upgrade after 5+ years since building or upgrading. i was stuck in agp land as well, and pcie is very nice.

now i get to sample the past 5 years of pc gaming.

it's quite overwhelming.

Find anything wurthwhile yet?

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:52 am

Neon wrote:Do soundcards get outdated anymore? They're like, sound.

Vista pretty much fucked up all the SoundBlaster cards. I'm not sure what ultimately happened, but they were like "ohnoze this might fux with our DRM anti music piracy stuff, so it's bad and banned"

SO I guess you can toss that part too.

Neon wrote:Find anything wurthwhile yet?

Probably not. I played lots of the games and I'm still not a better person :(

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:53 am

Hey Neon:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bes ... 987-5.html

Check the AGP Interface category :D

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 3:52 pm

ED-057 wrote:
Shatterhand wrote:I have an Athlon XP 2200+, would a Radeon 9700 PRO be any good to me? My current video card is a GeForce 5200 128mb. Would I be able to at least try to play Half-Life 2, Portal or some stuff that's like 1-2 years old? I don't need high resolutions, I don't care playing the game on 640x480 or 800x600, as long as I can just play the game. (Or is 1024x768 considered "low resolution" these days? )
I played through HL2 and HL2 episode 1 and my PC is pretty much the same as yours. I have a GeForce 5200 128MB DDR, 384MB DDR RAM, and an Athlon XP (first it was 1900+, recently I swapped it out for a 2500+). I played at 800x600 with the recommended detail settings.

Really? I have 1.2GB DDR400 RAM, so at least I have more memory than you.. have you played it on your 1900+ processor?

I should give it a go then.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 7:44 pm

Ed Oscuro wrote:
Neon wrote:Find anything wurthwhile yet?
Probably not. I played lots of the games and I'm still not a better person

Games should always make you a better person

I wound up going wtih the Radeon HD 3850, still hasn't got here yet though

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 11:42 pm

I put the Sapphire HD 3850 in my computer but its still having the same problem where the monitor says 'frequency over range' if'n I don't start in safe moad

does anyone have ATI's technical support number, it's impossible to find on their site. Not that those dickheads will know what to do, they told me to get a new graphics card

MathU · Post by **MathU** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 12:13 am

jonny5 wrote:radeon x1600 pro 512 mb can be had for under $100....and it runs everything i have thrown at it perfectly..... it will smoke half life 2

highly recommended.....

I'm gonna second this as well. It and the X1300 gave great bang-for-buck back when I bought it a couple years ago. It might not be that way anymore though.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 12:26 am

you know i might not have connected this to the power supply properly. It has two little three-pronged thingies and there were a bunch of random female ends hanging around, so I plugged two of them in, but they also are connected to ends going to the cd rom drive and shit. You'd think they could at least include a decent manual to install this bitch

i'm just gonna take it to a shop tomorrow

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 3:12 am

My family is so clueless about computers.

Sis had a pretty decent HP desktop system, but one day the OS craps itself (Windows just being itself) and instead of fixing she bitches and moaned about her computer being broken, so Dad bought a shiny new laptop for the fat ugly brat. The desktop sat in the garage for a couple months after that.

I recently got a job at a Dell Tech Support call center, and learned alot about troubleshooting computers. Having the income and the confidence for building a new system gained, I decided to perform an autopsy on her old rig. She calmed it would not turn on.

It turned on just fine, I was worried I had to replace the power supply, but it booted up just fine, it's just that the OS is hosed. I'm wondering if the hard drive is kaput, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I've got her digging through her junk to see if she still has the XP discs. She said I could keep it if I could fix it. Warranty's expired, so yeah.

Although I do plan on building my own system, I'm going to upgrade this rig as much as I can. Use it as a backup system, I guess.

Since AGP is out-of-date, what is the top-of-the-line card and how much is it?

Do I have to upgrade the power supply if I get a powerful videocard?