new unit or graphics card?

[ddeboy]

Hello Everyone.

I wanted to ask for a general consensus.
My system is:
PIV 2.8ghz
1.5mb ram
2x80 gig hdds
radeon 9600 video card
running winXP pro

Should I just upgrade my card to the top of the line agp or should I invest into an entire new system build due to wanting to run/play Oblivion on my 24" wide screen? I hear there is an agp card that can do it but should I do it? I feel I have a decent system and would hate to throw it all away, but hey, core 2 duo is out and I am behind. What do you guys think?

Thanks,
D'Man

 

[melarcky]

Well it depends if you want to spend something like $200 price range then get a new VGA something like. GF7600Gt or even better ATI x1950PRO.
You have the exact system that my friend has but you have 1.5gb of ram and he only has 512mb.
Also are you happy with you system. Do you do everything that you want to do. and does it do it fast enough?

 

[Slobogob]

24" wide screen asks for lots of graphics power. Lots of graphics power needs PCIe. I assume you have ddr memory, so you would need new memory also.... i think you see where this leads. There are ways to keep some of your older components, but i wouldn´t take that route.
Since you want to play Oblivion on a 24" with at least a little eye candy, i suggest selling the old one and getting a whole new one.

 

[melarcky]

Actually it all depends on the native Resolution... I mean if his 24" screen is at a resolution of 1024X800 or something a GF 7600GT would do fine...
As for it being PCIe. Actually there isn't a big performance difference between the two.. Its just that cards are not made for AGP anymore.... The best card for AGP is the ATI x1950pro

 

[Slobogob]

If his 24" has a native resolution as low as that, he bought rubbish.

In most cases its just as expensive to sell the old board and buy a new one with PCIe instead of settling for AGP graphics card that usually are more expensive than their PCIe counterparts and suffer from lower core and memory clock speeds. Sure, there is the hassle of replacing and selling, but it might be worth it.

 

[CompuTronix]

I agree completely with melarcky. If you're content with your rig, and it still performs well enough for you, then purchase the X1950 Pro. Prior to doing so, check the specs for your PSU to see if it has enough ampacity to meet or exceed the specs for the X1950 Pro. If your PSU doesn't have enough reserve power, and you don't wish to replace the PSU, then purchase the GF 7600GT, as it is the more power efficient option available for what you're expecting to achieve.

 

[ikaz]

About $140-200 will buy you a pretty good agp card (7600gt,x850 etc), you will be able to play most if not all current games at 12x10 at high rez(except for ob)for the most part and it will be 3-4x better than your 9600.

However that also a dead end unless you plan to have 2 PC around (which not really a bad idea if you have the space). Otherwise it would be best to upgrade, if you really want to run oblivion on a 24" wide screen I'm guessing that the native rez is at least 1280x1040 (probably more like 1600x1200) you are going to need 8800GTS of power which is PCIe so you would need a new MB, new process, power supply, etc basically a new PC.

So the real question is can you wait and save up $1000+ for a new PC or do you want to only pay 1/5 of that get a ok video card. Then save up for a new PC next year when there could be more choices out (r600, 8600?, 4x4 etc).

 

[ddeboy]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

It is a Gateway 24"er and will do 2000x1500 resolution.

I have 4 grand to spend if I have to but I think I could build a decent
rig for about $1500 from tigerdirect or newegg.

I think I will wait for the new amd chips to come out and then get a c2d rig and build it myself as I am A+ certified since 1998 and work with computers every day. The new chips should drop the price of the current c2d chips so I could get it for less and graphics cards should come down too.

Right now this pc does what I need it to do. I will just have to postpone my Oblivion game playing for now as I want some eye candy.

I am reading the articles right now about recommended parts for building a rig. It is coming in useful.

Thanks for all your advice everyone.
D'Man