New AGP card or new computer?

[oxygene_2]

I have an AGP motherboard and i want to upgrade my graphics card so I can play the latest games in high detail. My system specs are:

Athlon 64 3200+
Asus AGP motherboard
1.5Gb PC3200 RAM
160Gb HDD
Radeon 9550 256Mb

Would it be worthwhile upgrading my video card (for example to a Radeon X850XT), and if so, what sort of performance increase would this achieve?

The other option would be to get new computer with a PCI-E motherboard and get a decent PCI-E video card (eg a 7800GT). However, i don't want to spend more than about AU$1000 - AU$1500.

Can anyone advise me as to the best option? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[mdd1963]

Look for a 6600GT for around $120 US..., or even a 6800GT if you can find one, although AGP 6800GTs can be a bit steep.

Night and day difference will be achieved, as 95xx variants are excruciatingly slow in newer game titles...

It would be $120-ish well spent, and let you use your current rig for at least another year, I'd bet.

 

[pauldh]

With that nice system, sure it would be well worth it. The best card to get is the one you mentioned, the X850XT. It's a little slower than the platinum edition, but usually alot cheaper. It edges out a GF6800U in performance IMO, and is a fraction the cost now. An AIW X800XT is also a good priced card offering almost as much performance but with a built in tv tuner. Both of these are a step up from a 6800GS or X800GTO, but even those two would be good options for 1024x768 gaming.

Above the lower clocked 6800GS AGP, price/availablity of the 6800GT and 6800U, make high end AGP clearly ATI's territory now. Nvidia is coming out with a 7800GS AGP, but who knows when, for how much, and what specs it will have in retail. Anyway, stopping the rambling, yeah X850XT would be great in your rig.

 

[pauldh]

Yup, that would work too if he is comforatable doing a mobo swap on his own.

 

[parlee]

i was having the same problem with pretty much the same setup, 3700+ socket 754 with agp 1gb memory and a 9600 (i assume ur on 754 still too) if ur on 754 theres a handful of mobos that offer pci express, if ur on 939 theres tons of them... go with the x800xt aiw, u can find it for around 230 bux after rebates, making it an incredable value, comes with 16 pipes, high clockspeed somthing like 480/900 and a remote with a tv tuner... very good deal, even if u dont use the tv tuner, the x800xt is more expensive than the aiw, although they get same benchmarks and the aiw has more for less due to low demand for it... 7800gt agp is going to retail around 400 i believe, some sites are showing it (but its out of stok with no pics, they show a price of around 400) so if u want the best agp card u can find, wait for the 7800gt, it does have lower clocks than the pci express one, so if ur willing to upgrade to a pci express board go with that, and u can have the faster 7800gt (with 16 lane pci express), higher clocks, and a better upgrade path. whichever you choose will be a good choice, but since ur willing to spend 1000 id consider upgrading to pci express (if ur on 939) if ur on 754 stay with agp and do a complete overhaul when M2 is out with stable mobos (im sure people will give me shit for saying to wait, but its kinda a bad idea to upgrade to another socket thats going to have production stopped in early 07)

 

[oxygene_2]

Thanks for the help everyone.

My CPU is socket 754 unfortunately. So that rules out a straight motherboard swap.

After having a bit of a look around, it seems that the X850XT and X800XT cards cost upwards of AU$600 and the 6800GT cards cost at least AU$500.

I'm not sure if i want to spend that much on an AGP video card alone.

Does anyone know if i'll get good performance improvements with a 128Mb 6600GT? I'm mainly interested in playing games like Battlefield 2, Half Life 2, and FEAR. Will a 6600GT in my system be good enough to play those games with decent quality graphics? Also is there much difference in performance between a 128Mb card and a 256Mb card?

Also, if i decide to upgrade my motherboard with a new CPU as well, what would be a good board to get?

Again, any assistance is greatly appreciated.

 

[parlee]

heres the thing, i also have socket 754, and they DO make pci express mobo's for that socket, i was considering getting one... for about 100 bux more than an x850xt u can get a decent 754 mobo with pci express and a 7800gt (total price is under 350) rather than getting an already outdated x850xt (although still fast, but theres no point in upgrading to somthing slower for a little less than a 7800) so my opinion is look around for a 754 mobo with pci express, i believe zipzoomfly has a few and buy a 7800gt and ur set for quite a while

 

[oxygene_2]

Interesting idea, thanks parlee.

The reason I was looking at getting a socket 939 motherboard is so i can upgrade to a dual core processor in the future if i want to. But having said that, I'll look into the 754 socket motherboards as an option if it saves me a bit of money.

One more thing. Does anyone know if it's difficult to change over to a new motherboard? Is there anything i need to be wary of, or is it simply a case of extract CPU, insert into new motherboard, replace all cables, HDD, PCI cards and away I go?

Thanks

 

[lakedude]

One more thing. Does anyone know if it's difficult to change over to a new motherboard? Is there anything i need to be wary of, or is it simply a case of extract CPU, insert into new motherboard, replace all cables, HDD, PCI cards and away I go?

Thanks

The hardware is not hard to change at all. Software/drivers might be a problem, researching........

 

[parlee]

you will most likly need to reformat due to pci-express interface over agp... but reformating is good... you will most likely need to strip most of the computer to be able to set the mobo correctly, and also reapply the cpu, put on new thermal paste (do u know how to do this?) other than that i cant see anything that would be a problem, jsut make sure all connections are made before powering on, and unplug ur psu before doing anything... good luck, it shouldnt take more than 2 hours if it al goes right!

 

[lakedude]

From: http://www.tweakxp.com

Before you swap out the current motherboard go to device manager and select the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller and select your current storage controller. Right click, select update driver and select install from a list or specific location. Click don't search I will choose the driver to install and select the standard dual channel IDE controller.

This will prevent the inaccessable boot device blue screen. I have done this multiple times on different platforms with no problems.

Also I found that booting the first time with the new motherboard is best done in the Safe mode where XP will install the drivers it needs and at the same time you can install the new motherboard drivers from its CD.

This saved me doing a repair or a reinstall of XP. My whole system came right up and worked great and very stable.

 

[parlee]

yes u could do this but it would be better just to reformat so you have a fresh install with no clutter or shit, but if reinstalling isnt an option the way u have shown could work... never tried it before tho..

 

[oxygene_2]

This "thermal paste" thing worries me. Is thermal paste entirely necessary? I have heard that you don't really need it. If that's not the case, where do I get some, and how much does it cost?

 

[parlee]

you do need it, and its best to reapply it when you take off the heatsink, it may not be 100% needed but itll run cooler with artic silver 5... which is about 12 bux at compusa, newegg may have it for cheaper... go to www.articsilver.com for instructions, its really not that hard to do, theres a sticky somewhere on this forum on how to reapply new thermal paste the simple instructions are
1. remove old thermalpaste AND pad with rubbing alchol
2. apply (the size of a BB) to the cpu
3. smooth around (i put saran wrap over my finger and rubbed it in a circular motion for about 2 minutes) just make sure its spread pretty evenly over the cpu
4. set the cpu in the mobo and replace the heatsink

it doesnt take more than 10 min, its not very hard and it can help make ur computer run cooler, basically artic silver smoothes the surface of the cpu because its not very smooth and the metal to metal make it run much hotter due to the rough surface... without thermalpaste of some sort u can overheat, just be careful and take ur time, if ur unsure about somtihng research into it and ull have no problems...

 

[oxygene_2]

Thanks again for the help.

At this stage i i've decided i might just upgrade my video card. I'm thinking about getting either a Sapphire X800GT0 128Mb for AU$300 or a BFG 6800GS 256MB for $385. Would these cards be good enough to run games like Battlefield 2 and FEAR with reasonable graphics detail with my current system? Which card would be a better option?

 

[parlee]

yea those would be good to run at medium/high details, but the x800xt AIW in USA is cheaper than a 6800gs and about the same price as an x800gto, look into the all in wonder its an incredable deal, very powerful card, would smoke both of the 2 u meantioned due to 16 pipelines... if u cant find it go with whichever fits your budget...

 

[pauldh]

Check the clock speeds on that GTO as being the 128MB verison it is probably clocked 400 MHz core/ 700 memory. In the GTO's the 256MB version have higher clocked memory. The 6800GS would be better than the 128MB GTO.

I'd agree look for a X850XT or AIWX800XT as for us they are priced about the same as an AGP 6800GS, and would perform better. But of your two, the 6800GS would be the safer bet.

 

[GI_JONES]

I have an xp3200 processor, with 1.5gb of ram in my system. I just got a 6800GS, and play Quake4, with everything on high at 60fps. Zipzoomfly.com, sells them for$199-$229 US. Mine is the XFX,one, but now there is a BFG overclocked one out that should even be a hair better. Everyone in the forums seems to think the Radeon X850 would be better, and maybe so, but they are very hard to find in AGP, and cost more. I upgraded from a 6600GT, which was pretty good, but playing games like Quake4, and COD2 at anything above medium would be out of the question with it

 

[pauldh]

Both the AIW X800XT and the X850XT can be found in AGP as cheap as a 6800GS AGP. I recently bought an AIW X800XT for $229, but I think that $200 X850XT linked above is the best high end AGP deal now for those who don't mind doing a rebate. But there is nothing wrong with your card though; enjoy it.

EDIT: wow, this x850xt went up $150 today. 8O

 

[oxygene_2]

I am in Australia, and it is very difficult to find the X8xx series cards on US sites that ship here. I'm also reluctant to buy computer parts from overseas. In Australia the x8xx cards are typically at least AU$500, which is more than i'm willing to spend.

With that in mind, i've narrowed it down to 4 cards:


1. a winfast 6600GT 128Mb for AU$230

2. This Gecube X800GTO 128Mb for AU$300

http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/2523_Gecube_ATI_Radeon_X800GTO_AGP_128MB.asp

3. this XFX 6800GS 256Mb for AU$345

http://jantechcomputers.com.au/product.asp?pID=18846&cID=679

4. this BFG 6800GS 256Mb for AU$385

http://computeralliance.com.au/parts.aspx?qryPart=6315


Can anyone tell me which of those cards would be best, taking value AND performance into account?

Thanks

 

[GI_JONES]

I would toss the 6600gt out of the mix, it really isnt even close to the rest. Like I said, I had a 6600GT and now have the 6800GS, so I am saying this based on gaming experience, not some fake benchmark, or review. Cant say anything about the radeons, never owned one, and dont know anyone who does

 

[pauldh]

The X800 GTO has the 700MHZ mem so the 6800GS's would be the best for sure.

Without you having to overclock on your own, the BFG is factory clocked higher and would perform the best. It also has a lifetime warranty at those clock speeds. You decide if it's worth the extra money or if you would rather save a few dollars and OC the XFX.

In case you are interested, 7800GS AGP has arrived in some of our stores. LAunch date is for Early Feb though. Although it's priced more than $100 over 6800GS prices, I would guess based on specs listed it should beat out a 6800U and maybe even challenge the X850XTpe for top AGP honors. Still will cost more than a a=faster 7800GT PCI-e though. So not much on the value part of your equation.

 

[oxygene_2]

Sounds like the rest of your system is pretty much the same as mine GI_Jones. Is your system AGP or PCI-E? Because 60FPS full detail in Quake 4 would be pretty impressive for AGP i'd imagine. Do you have any idea how your system would go running FEAR?

 

[GI_JONES]

I was refering to the AGP models, and yes our systems are similar, but I have the XP3200, you the AMD643200, so you should do even a bit better.
The BFG overclocked, at zipzoomfly is actually cheaper($199) than the XFX card that I got from them. I jumped on it as soon as it came out, had I waited a week, I could have saved $20, and got the BFG overclocked. I was also able to use RivaTuner, to unlock the extra 4 pixel pipes on mine, and this may contribute to my FPS in Quake4. I dont have FEAR yet, so cant fill you in on that.

 

[oxygene_2]

Yeah, actually mine is an XP3200 as well. I made a mistake in the opening post of this thread.