Will my 2.4Ghz P4 Bottleneck any of these AGP cards?

[edmetalhead]

Hi folks,

I'm planning to upgrade my video card from a Radeon 9700TX (A Dell PC...This is Dell's emaciated 9700). My concern is whether my current system will bottleneck any of the newer cards.

I current have a P4 2.4Ghz (Northwood) with 512 MB of PC1066 RDRAM.

I figure that it makes no sense to go for one of the x1950 pro cards since I don't think my system will fully utilise it. Or will it?

Right now I'm leaning towards a 7600gt. Would this be a good upgrade?

Or should I aim lower and go for something like a 6800gt or a X800Pro instead?

 

[Anoobis]

Depending on what you plan to do with it, I think the 7600GT would be an excellent choice for that system. However, what are you planning to do with it? You may not have to spend a premium price for an AGP version of the 7600GT when a 7600GS (or an X800 flavor) may fit the bill perfectly and save you some money.

 

[cleeve]

I've submitted by AGP review to toms, where I tested those cards on an Athlon XP 2500+.

It'll bottleneck certain CPU-games, while other GPU-heavy games won't bottleneck as much.

The 7600 GT is an excellent option for $180. If you play GPU heavy stuff like Prey, Oblivion, or NFS Carbon, the X1950 PRO is worth it - even on older CPUs.

 

[Reubonic]

What about FEAR, Quake 4, and Half-life 2? Does the cpu bottleneck the card in those games and if it does by how much? I'm in the same position and want to upgrade my 9800 pro to an x1950 pro agp 512mb card. I have sufficient money but I am not planning on upgrading my entire system yet.

I have a 2500+ oc to 3200+
1 gig of corsair xms ddr3200 mem

 

[cleeve]

FEAR bottlenecked the 7600 GT to the speed of the X1950 PRO at 1280x1024.

I didn't bench Quake4, but it's the same engine as PREY.

Didn't bench HL2, too old...

 

[edmetalhead]

I've submitted by AGP review to toms, where I tested those cards on an Athlon XP 2500+.

It'll bottleneck certain CPU-games, while other GPU-heavy games won't bottleneck as much.

The 7600 GT is an excellent option for $180. If you play GPU heavy stuff like Prey, Oblivion, or NFS Carbon, the X1950 PRO is worth it - even on older CPUs.

I'm still a bit behind on games. I only recently finished Call of Duty 2 which I had to play with almost all the settings turned low.

I just installed Black & White 2 and Fable. Will there be a significant difference between the x1950pro and the 7600gt in these games?

Overall, I'm just trying to keep this system playable for another year or so until I build a new pc.

 

[Anoobis]

If you only plan on running the machine for another year, then I wouldn't go with the X1950Pro as it looks as though that card is going to run about $250. The AGP 7600GT is easier to find and about $180 which is reasonable for a system you plan to get rid of in a year. Granted the X1950Pro is easily the more powerful card, if not the most powerful AGP on the market but the 7600GT can still handle Black and White 2 at decent settings and resolutions and it will easily handle Fable. The only concern I have would be to make sure your power supply can handle the 7600GT. Depending on which brand of 7600GT you get, the power requirements call for between a 350-400 watt PSU.

 

[edmetalhead]

Thanks for the info man.

I think I'll go with Leadtek's 7600gt.

I too was quite concerned about my PSU since it is only a 250W (With a mere 14A on the 12V rail). However, I spent a lot of time scouring the Dell forums and it seems that Dell is a bit conservative in rating their power supplies. Amazingly, everyone who installed this card found their PSU to be adequate. I have yet to find a post to the contrary, so I suppose I'll take my chances.

 

[Parge]

Thanks for the info man.

I think I'll go with Leadtek's 7600gt.

I too was quite concerned about my PSU since it is only a 250W (With a mere 14A on the 12V rail). However, I spent a lot of time scouring the Dell forums and it seems that Dell is a bit conservative in rating their power supplies. Amazingly, everyone who installed this card found their PSU to be adequate. I have yet to find a post to the contrary, so I suppose I'll take my chances.

yeah your right, dell are conservative when it comes to psu rating, you might well be ok!