A "bandaid" video card

[hughski]

I have an AMD Athalon 1.8 2200 and 1 gig of memory and want to change my video card from an ATI 9200 to possibly this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102055

What do you think? Too much card for the mobo/memory specs I have?

I'm going to have some down time soon (surgery) and want to get a new card to play BF2 while I get better (good excuse, huh? ).

I wanted to keep the expense under $100, too.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[GeneticWeapon]

The page you linked to has twenty cards on it...and they all suck badly.

Do you have an AGP slot?

 

[hughski]

DOH! Sorry! Fixed it. Yes AGP.

 

[Anoobis]

Try ebay for a used 6800GT, 6800GS or an X800XT. You're not going to find jack sh!t for less than $100 new that will give you what you want.

 

[pauldh]

X1300 pro is not a very good gamer.

Staying under $100 the best would be an Open Box X800GTO:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102609R

Next best 6600GT or X1600 pro:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130059
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814131430

If you want to spend less, grab yourself a used 9800 pro off eBAY. It's almost up to 6600GT/X1600 pro performance and can be found used for $50 at times.

 

[cleeve]

Listen to Pauly. He knows what he's talking about.

 

[I]

X800GTO is good, 9800 Pro would be even better (better meaning, matched to the system as cost-effective) if you can find it significantly cheaper. Getting one that works for $50 on ebay would be the best alternative if you can, but remember that any of these are a significant increase in power consumption, better PSU and/or case cooling might be warranted.

There really isn't much point paying > $100 for a card, an Athlon 1.8GHz, even memory throughput is going to be bottlenecking at this point unless you only play games at particularly high resolution & eyecandy.

 

[hughski]

Thanks for all the info.

Are open-box buys worthy of buying or should one be wary of them?

Any particular Ebay stores that are more trusted than others?

You're reading my mind, I. I just need, as I put it "a bandaid", to get me through until next year sometime (I keep saying this :lol: ) and build a new tower.

Again, thank you.

 

[Anoobis]

It's a gamble either way. The open box at Newegg is a good deal. You've got a 15-day return policy with Newegg, which is more than I can say for eBay but I wouldn't count them out.

I'd try the open box first but put it in immediately and either do some heavy gaming with it, run 3DMark05 a few times in different resolutions to make sure the card is solid. Make sure to download the ATI uninstall tool and remove your old ATI drivers before you put the new card in.

In this order:

Download latest ATI Catalyst drivers
Download the ATI uninstall tool
Uninstall the old Catalyst drivers with the tool
Shut down and remove the 9200 and put in the X800GTO
Power up and install the new ATI drivers
Stress the card through gaming or 3DMark

If you run into any issues while gaming or stressing the card, I'd return it immediately and pursue the eBay option.

 

[hughski]

I just took a look at my power supply and...its a 300w unit :x . All the ones listed above require a 350w+ barring the 9800 Pro.

Looks like I'm limited unless I spend more than I'd like and replace other parts. Will search some more.

 

[pauldh]

A 9800 pro is a huge leap over a 9200.

Have a look here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2003/12/29/vga_charts_iii/page4.html#unreal_tournament_2003

and here:
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/over2k4/index.html#p18


example:
Farcry DX9: 9800 pro 41.7 fps
http://www.ixbt.com/video2/over2k4-fcs20-1024.shtml

Farcry DX8: 9200 128-bit 12.2 fps
http://www.ixbt.com/video2/over2k4-fcs11-1024.shtml

Doom3:
http://www.ixbt.com/video2/over2k4-d3s-1024.shtml

 

[pauldh]

Hey, thx for the Pauly plug.