Have 6800 AGP - Upgrade ???

[jeggsy]

Hi all,

Got a homebuilt system with the following specs:-

Abit NF7s V1.2 & AMD Athlon 3.0GHz CPU at stock speeds (Nforce2 chipset).
2x 512Mb Corsair PC3200's at stock settings.
Asus 9999 Geforce 6800 256Mb AGP graphics card.
Seagate 320Gb 7200.10 IDE HD.
Pioneer 16x DVD-RW & Pioneer 16x DVD-ROM.
Windows XP Pro SP2.

Had this card for about a 1-1.5 years now and was wondering if it's worth upgrading it ???? I do play a few games like FS2004, TOCA 3 etc and use the PC for some Autocad and Inventor CAD drawings.

Up till now my card has been fine but I'm wondering if it's worth upgrading. I would like to stick to Nvidia because I've never had any issues with their drivers and the cards always work etc.

I know there is the 7600, 7800 and 7900 series that's still available with AGP. Is there any point in getting one of these ??? Is my system limited by my CPU ???

Another concern for me is that the newer cards need more power. I don't think my 350w power supply would me able enough for some of the newer cards.

Just to say I know that AGP is dead & PCIe is the way foward, but I want to give my system another 1-1.5 years before I get a whole new system for Vista once thats been about and sorted.

Many thanks for any help.
Jeggsy.

 

[technology-sponge]

erm

agp versions of the 7000 series are hard to find. ther e not official supproted by nvidia, only designed from scratch by the manufacturers. fyi, its the 7600/7800 that come in agp. cant get 7900 agp anymore.

To put it simply, a 7600GT has approx 2-2.5x the performance of a 6600gT, even with a 6800, it would b an improvement. if you need mroe grunt, then go for a 7800

 

[littlebigman]

I don't know if this helps, but here goes.

If you're not experiencing any issues playing any games I wouldn't worry about it. I switched from the 6800 256 agp to the 1950 pro because i was having issues playing Neverwinter Nights 2.

My 3dmark06 score jumped from 2513 to 3933. NW2 is smooth as silk now. I bought the card at Best Buy for $268 with my rewards club card.

I haven't had any problems with the ATi card at all. In fact the core overclocked from 580 mhz to 670 mhz.

You should be good for at least another year with this upgrade.

 

[technology-sponge]

not strctly on topic but hehe... reminded me

a 1950 is indeed at worthy upgrade, as iits at the current sweetspot atm, and is as good as a 7800GT agp

 

[enewmen]

If you computer runs well and your applications run well, not need to upgrade.
If you want better graphics, I think you need new everything. (keep the hard-drive and DVD drive). The CPU and RAM will be a bottleneck. More of a bottleneck if playing DX10 games (in DX9 mode)
If you must upgrade the AGP video card, I think most people will recommend the X1950 pro as the fastest. (The 7800GS has some muscle also)

 

[caamsa]

Play it frugal. Keep what you have for another year then build a new system.

 

[fredgiblet]

Had this card for about a 1-1.5 years now and was wondering if it's worth upgrading it ????

No, AGP is dead, any money you spend on AGP is wasted. Wait for a bit until mid range DX 10 cards are available then build a new computer.

Up till now my card has been fine but I'm wondering if it's worth upgrading.

Not an AGP system

I know there is the 7600, 7800 and 7900 series that's still available with AGP. Is there any point in getting one of these ???

No

Is my system limited by my CPU ???

Probably not

Another concern for me is that the newer cards need more power. I don't think my 350w power supply would me able enough for some of the newer cards.

Correct, another reason to build a new computer

Just to say I know that AGP is dead & PCIe is the way foward, but I want to give my system another 1-1.5 years before I get a whole new system for Vista once thats been about and sorted.

I suppose it's your money to waste, but realistically by the time another year goes by you will be desperately needing more RAM and a new processor, and if you replace the old parts you have now you will pay more for less. A better plan is to upgrade to a Core 2 system with a cheap PCI-e card (7600 GT or GS for instance) then grab a DX10 card when the prices come down a little.

 

[technology-sponge]

Yes, AGP is dead, but spending money on it isnt a waste. A 1950 AGP is still a very good card for performance and money, and can run all of the current games avilable. Mid range DX10 cards come out Q2/3. Then alow time for it to filter throught to shelves, and give it a while for prices to drop. and thats Q3/4. Sure, you could get striaght away, but not all the driver bugs would be unwrinkled, and your paying a higher rpice.

 

[sirheck]

i would just keep your current set-up.
as another agp card that will show a noticable improvement
is going to run around 200$ or more. 7800 or x1950.

dont get a 7600 as it is to close to the 6800 performance wise.

 

[jeggsy]

Many thanks for the advice..... Another question now.

I know the Geforce 7800 and ATI 1950 draws more power and amps than my Geforce 6800. Does anybody know roughly how my card compares with the newer ones for these requirements.

Cheers
Paul