Great/Best card for Call of Duty 2?

[compatoll]

Hi. Anyone know/have recommendations for a kickbutt graphcard for CoD 2?
At the moment i'm using a Geforce 4 FX5900XT-card but i think i can do much better and get even higher fps..
Thx

 

[pauldh]

Sounds like you would need an AGP card to replace your FX5900. Problem is COD2 is a very gpu demanding game and there are no kick butt AGP cards. The tops cards are only made in PCI-e. I have a BFG 6800 ultra OC (fastest of the GF6 line) and COD2 brings it to it's knees. Pretty much in AGP, forget going above 1024x768 resolution in COD2, or reduce detail settings if you go higher. That said, there are plenty of AGP cards that would destroy the FX5900. The ATI's generally do better in COD2, but it's getting harder to find high end ATI AGP.

The top cards would be the X850XT followed by the GF7800GS. Both overpriced at $300+ now. I'd say X800 pro (about like the GTO in that benchmark chart) or a 6800GS (look at the 350/1000 clocked GF6800) for both around $200 are your best buy. A Radeon X800XT would be a bit better if you can still find a deal on an AIW version. ($250).

 

[Nixum]

These are good recommendations. I just wanted to clarify one thing. I have an X800Pro AGP and it allows me to play COD2 using a 1280 x 1024 resolution with all the settings and AA on max.

 

[cleeve]

Yep. Paul is da man.

 

[Finneus]

Isn't there a 7800GS thats AGP as well now, you may want to check that out.

 

[mpjesse]

The 7800GS and x850XT kick butt. Both AGP. 7800GS can be found for under $300. Not bad.

-mpjesse

 

[compatoll]

Gee:=D What a response! Thanx Guys .That 's what i call helpful Info. Now's the Q,, what should i choose? LOL

 

[cleeve]

If you're going to spend $300 for an AGP card, do yourself a favor and buy the vastly superior 7800 GT and PCI-express motherboard instead... could get 'em both for $350 or less, and have your old mobo & Graphic card to sell on ebay to boot... assuming you have a socket 754 or P4 CPU.

Athlon XP, you'd have to get a new CPU, then it gets more complicated.

But still... don't spend more than $200-ish to upgrade an AGP system. X800 GTO or PRO is your best bet, other than that the 6800 GS isn't bad either.

 

[pauldh]

These are good recommendations. I just wanted to clarify one thing. I have an X800Pro AGP and it allows me to play COD2 using a 1280 x 1024 resolution with all the settings and AA on max.

Strange when digit-life's results show all the top AGP's reduced to a slideshow at those settings. What drivers are you using so I can give my X800XTpe a try? Those are the exact settings I first tried when I loaded the demo way back, and I posted results here of how my 6800U OC was reduced to framerates in the teens (which follows digit-lifes results too I might add).

 

[pauldh]

Isn't there a 7800GS thats AGP as well now, you may want to check that out.

Yup, the 7800GS is AGP, but it's no where's near a 7800GT PCI-e.

 

[pauldh]

You sir, are too kind.

 

[pauldh]

what should i choose? LOL

OK, cut the nonsense and get to some links right? Unfortunately, I won't say buy this one!!!! But can give my recommendation as the choices I'd consider.

Are you in the USA? If so I'd say your money is best spent on a:
$200 X800 pro
or
$200 6800GS

If you have more money and want a TV tuner, remote, video editing features and some more performance:
$285 AIW X800XT

If you have money, Want to stay with AGP, and don't have use for the AIW features, go with the most reviewed overclocked 7800GS, BFG 7800GS $313 or $10 less for a reference clocked version. I'm with those who feel that this card and the X850XT are not worth $300+. But they should give you a decent Overclock for a little more performance.

Or find a deal on a X850XT, which I can't right now. :x

Of course going with a new PCI-e mobo and video card like Cleeve said and you can get alot more performance than any available AGP card will give you, in COD2 and basically everything else. Sure it depends on your cpu and budget, but true kick butt gaming in new titles like COD2 (to me) = go A64 and a higher end PCI-e card. [H] seems to agree with their 7800GS right up. Or check Anandtech or Toms for a more in depth 7800GS review. Or Firingsquad for COD2 benchies: http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/evga_e-geforce_7800_gs_co_superclock_review/page12.asp

Lastly, no matter which of the above AGP card you choose, make sure your power supply is up to the task. If you have less than a name brand 350W PS with 18amp on the 12v rail (read power supply label inside your case), your will probably need a new one or suffer stability issues. The exact amount of power needed depends how loaded down you computer is with drives, cards, fans, etc. But a generic 300-350W with 14A or 15A on the 12 volt rail probably will not cut it for these cards, especially if you have multiple optical drives and/or HDD's.

Let us know what you decide. Any one of these cards mentioned would be a big jump up from your FX5900XT and should make you happy as long as you know not to expect high res and eye candy in COD2.

 

[compatoll]

Concerning my hardware as is , it's pretty stable so to speak. Got a P4 2.8 Prescott overklocked to 3.0 /500w PSU (little noicy but it delivers the power)
2GHZ RAM. However, the bottleneck seem to be the Mobo. An ASUS agp equipped P4P8000E Deluxe. Think i'll go for a PCI-E equipped one next time after all and one of your recommended cards.

Thx Guys 8)

 

[enewmen]

You made a good point about getting a PCI-e mother board to replace a AGP card with a PCIe video card.

Anyway I was thinking.
I have a Pentium 4 HT Prescott on a 845PE (socket 487) motherboard with a AGP GF6600GT.
I will also hate to spend big$$ for a video card only a little faster.

So,
Does someone know if the CPU pins are the same with the intel 9xx boards? The 9xx also uses 184 pin DDR?

!! What is the cheapeat way to upgrade the motherboard and keep most of the guts?
!!

thanks.

 

[Mfusick]

If the money is an issue I would look at ATI radeon X800 cards.

Do some searched in this forum for the models that can be unlocked and overclocked.

The ones with certain cores in them perform like X850 cards without the added costs.

Look for the models you can unlock the pipelines on....

My card is a X800GTO and it shows up as an X850 stock out of box.

Connect 3D Radeon X800GTO 256MB PCIe w/TV-OUT/DVI

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?Sku=C261-3038

I am very happy with if for the money.
You can get an AGP version

 

[pauldh]

He needs AGP, that link is PCI-e.

 

[gersson]

the 850xt Pe is 200 @ newegg.com

 

[Heyyou27]

These are good recommendations. I just wanted to clarify one thing. I have an X800Pro AGP and it allows me to play COD2 using a 1280 x 1024 resolution with all the settings and AA on max.

Strange when digit-life's results show all the top AGP's reduced to a slideshow at those settings. What drivers are you using so I can give my X800XTpe a try? Those are the exact settings I first tried when I loaded the demo way back, and I posted results here of how my 6800U OC was reduced to framerates in the teens (which follows digit-lifes results too I might add).
Running on two 7800 GTs I am able to play with the maximum in game settings.

 

[pauldh]

Must be nice. Crossfire/ GF7 SLI, X1900XT or X1800XT seem like the way to go for this game.

 

[Nixum]

Sorry for the late reply. I'm using the XG WarCats Drivers from tweaksrus. I have compared them vs Omega's, DNA's and others and they are usually superior. There's one catch to the WC drivers, you need to have CCC installed to use their full potential.

Right now I'm using the XG WC 6.1. The best WC driver, for my X800Pro, was the XG WC 5.13. And I'm guessing in a couple of weeks they'll have the XG WC 6.2 out. Check this forum for feedback, comparisons and support.

 

[mdd1963]

"Does someone know if the CPU pins are the same with the intel 9xx boards? The 9xx also uses 184 pin DDR? "

Most of the newer 9xx Intel boards are Socket 775, and are using DDR2, so are not compatible with 184 pin DDR, nor are they compatible with a socket 478 Northwood or PRescott core...