Would it be worth it to upgrade my vid card?

[arussell]

Current setup is in my sig...Have to get an AGP card if I were to upgrade which I guess I would prolly lean towards the evga 6800gs. So my question is, would upgrading it to that card futureproof me for say..another year or so, or would it be best to just build a completely new system? Money really isnt a prob but frugality is my middle name . Also, would my PSU be able to handle the xtra horsepower?

 

[Pain]

A 7800gs would be a better card for your machine.

 

[pauldh]

You can buy a BFG 6800GS for $200 in the US (chiefvalue), or a XFX 7800GS for $287(ewiz), both shipped free. The 6800GS isn't a bad upgrade, but in a year it will be probably be reduced to what you 9800 pro is now. Too bad you didn't have S939, but I'd grab a S754 PCI-e mobo and a 7900GT or X1800XT. These cards absolutely spank the 7800GS and cost about the same. So for the price of a mobo ($65-100), you could have way better performance switching to PCI-e rather than dumping another penny into AGP. Then sell your old mobo and 9800 pro or use it elsewhere. That's my $.02 anyway. PCI-e is the way to go based on card choices, availability and prices.

 

[Anoobis]

The 6800GS would be a really nice step up for you. Your system is still a decent setup and waiting a year would be a perfect time because AMD's and Intel's new stuff will have had some time to get settled.

The 7800GS is the top end of the AGP but I think it is too expensive to invest in it. But if money isn't an issue with, then spend away.

 

[arussell]

Alright, thx guys. Ill have to think about whether or not I wanna spend another 100 for a 7800gs but I dont think im gonna be upgrading my mobo for pci-e. I think id rather just build an entire new rig if I wanted to go down that road which I wanna wait a year if possible to do that. My computers generally serve me for 3 years. Thats why I wanna keep it for another year, already have had it 2, another year would keep me to the norm.

 

[Snorkius]

As you can see from these benchmarks, your CPU would not be the bottleneck in any games available today. In fact, if you look at FEAR, the difference between a Sempron 2800+ and and FX-57 is 1 FPS...

I would suggest, however, another gig of RAM.

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

Just sell your Video Card and Mainboard to someone, or keep as parts for a 2nd system down the track.

Replace your mainboard with one that sports a PCIe x16 slot, and get a GeForce 7900 GT or 7900 GTX, or Radeon X1900 XT/XTX.

They'll be performing a good 3 to 4 times faster in games than the Radeon 9800 Pro does.

The 7800 GS (and 7900 GS) for AGP is OK, but for not much more you can just swap out the board for an nForce 4 one, with even better video card options and performance than AGP can offer.... esp down the track, as you may upgrade video in that system again in another 2 years.... and PCIe x16 will still be around then.