Upgrading from a 9800 pro

[Ihya]

Hi guys,

'm thinking about upgrading my PC, I'm stuck with the thorny issue of buying just a new graphics card or upgrading everything. My motherboard is agp only, which gives me an upper limit on how far I can go I think.

This is what I currently have:

AMD Athlon XP 2800+
Corsair TwinX 1024 MB
128Mb ATI Radeon 9800 Pro

I live in the UK, close to this online store and so could go with one of these agp cards and not pay delivery costs.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/6600AGP_Series.html

(Or if anyone is aware of a UK store that offers anything better, please post it! Don't want to spend more than £200 on the card).

Question is, would I be futureproofing my system, or has it really fallen behind the curve now and I'd be better off investing in a totally new rig?

If I could play Oblivion, FEAR and stuff coming out for the next 12 months, I'd be over the moon. But if I wouldn't get much bang for my buck, putting Ferrari tyres on a worn out car, I'd like to know.

Thanks for your thoughts.

EDIT# For clarity, I'm interested in the 6800 GS on this page.

 

[Ihya]

To be honest I had a bad experience with ati & that card. I have a friend who troubleshoots for me but he knows more about nVidia tweaking & performance so that, coupled with my bad experience of ati means I'm more interested in giving nVidia a shot. Thanks.

 

[RichPLS]

uh, OK

 

[Ihya]

Thanks for the answer.

I wonder if the 6800GS is the way forward... I'm thinking about playing Oblivion with it. I'd hope the 6800GS would allow me to have the bells and whistles switched on. Anyone have a similar rig with the 6800GS who can comment how it holds up with Oblivion??

Thanks

 

[mdd1963]

"Question is, would I be futureproofing my system, or has it really fallen behind the curve now and I'd be better off investing in a totally new rig?"

My 2nd rig is an Xp2000+ and 9700Pro, so I feel your pain...

AN x850XT gets some pretty rave reviews in AGP, and might be a 6-8 month stopgap solution for you, but I'd seriously consider just waiting the 4 months until Conroe arrives, with it's approx 20% performance advantages over an unreleased FX62, and at roughly half the price, cpu-wise...

With that and a 7900GT or GTX...watch out!

 

[mdd1963]

"I'd hope the 6800GS would allow me to have the bells and whistles switched on."

The 6800GS in AGP is rather a bit slower and more expensive than comparable PCI-e versions, being 100 Mhz slower on core/mem speeds...

Perhaps you can find a reasonably priced 6800GT in AGP?

 

[Ihya]

I'll bear that in mind, although I have had zero luck finding a 6800GT in AGP here in the UK... Hmm.

Thanks.

 

[angry_ducky]

"Question is, would I be futureproofing my system, or has it really fallen behind the curve now and I'd be better off investing in a totally new rig?"

My 2nd rig is an Xp2000+ and 9700Pro, so I feel your pain...

AN x850XT gets some pretty rave reviews in AGP, and might be a 6-8 month stopgap solution for you, but I'd seriously consider just waiting the 4 months until Conroe arrives, with it's approx 20% performance advantages over an unreleased FX62, and at roughly half the price, cpu-wise...

With that and a 7900GT or GTX...watch out!

I'd save my money for a completely new rig; going from a 9800 to a 6600 might actually be a downgrade.

 

[marneus]

Similar setup to my backup system, here are my recent result if you went crazy & plumped for a 1600Pro

3dmark2001se: 15634, 3dmark2003 : 6657, 3dmark2005 : 3992

A 6800GS (the 7800GS is almost identical scores so not worth it, especially if it costs more) is the best high-end choice.. closely followed by a x850xt

 

[angry_ducky]

Similar setup to my backup system, here are my recent result if you went crazy & plumped for a 1600Pro

3dmark2001se: 15634, 3dmark2003 : 6657, 3dmark2005 : 3992

A 6800GS (the 7800GS is almost identical scores so not worth it, especially if it costs more) is the best high-end choice.. closely followed by a x850xt

That's a better 3DMark05 score than mine