7800GS Upgrade?

[BlackAxe3001]

Ok heres my question:

My system is as follows:

P4 3.0GHz Prescott
1GB Single-Channel Ram
ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe
ATI All-In-Wonder 9700

Ok, I am thinking of upgrading to the 7800GS(before Chirstmas) and I am wondering if I should or not. I know the X1950 PRO AGP is coming out, but that will probably be too much money and you can't find it anywhere right now anyway.

I know PCI-E is the way to go, but with 2.0 coming soon I kind of want to wait.

Is the $200 for the 7800 GS a worthy investment based on the factors said above? Will there be a noticeable increase in performance over the 9700? Right now BF2 runs on medium settings at 1280x1024 with a FPS of roughly 30 and anything more intensive than that is almost unplayable on anything other than medium/low settings.

Also, if I do upgrade to the 7800GS, would 2x1GB of ram in dual-channel help out with performance? I guess would only 1GB in single-channel hinder the 7800GS and to get the most out of the card, dual-channel would be better?

Thanks in advance!

 

[azgard]

7800 is what 3 generations ahead of the 9700? Your going to notice a difference.

 

[kaotao]

The 7800GS is a huge upgrade.

 

[cleeve]

7800 GS is equivalent to a 6800 Ultra or X800 XT, so it's a pretty big upgrade from a 9700 PRO.

If you're in North America, you'd do better to wait the two weeks until the X1950 PROs show up en masse, they're already cropping up here and there and they smoke the 7800 GS.

If you're in europe, look for Gainward's 7800 GS+ BLISS, which is actually a 7900 GT, about as fast as the X1950 PRO and available today. (but probably more expensive)

 

[Threshold]

Give it a 2 or 3 weeks, see if the AGP x1950pro shows up on Newegg.

You've waited this long, I'm fairly certain you can wait another week.

Aka basically what Cleeve just said. Got beaten to a reply again. Ah well.

EDIT: Just noticed that. I blame Froogle.

 

[BlackAxe3001]

Is the x1950 Pro that much better than the 7800GS?

 

[Threshold]

x1950pro beats 7900GT, even-and when it doesn't, it's close enough to call it. Plus it's cheaper (than the 7900GT, rather), though how much the AGP version will be compared to the PCI-E version, I don't know.

Then there's the fact that the x1950pro uses a less power hungry core (than the x1900 series), which is always a good thing. Don't know how it compares to 7800GS in terms of power consumption, though.

EDIT: http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine 38W with nothing, 91W with only 7800GS AGP, 104W with only x1950pro. Not sure if those are idle numbers, load numbers, or what, but at least it's a relative comparison.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html

 

[pauldh]

9700 pro to 7800GS is a huge leap, but 7800GS to X1950 pro is also a huge leap. If you are in a hurry, you can fing the Visiontek X1950 pro AGP on the shelves at BestBuy retail chains. It's $300 though. By mid Decemeber we should see loads more of them available online in the $250-300 range.