Best AGP card for a socket A system

[dougiemo]

I am trying to find the best AGP video card for my desktop that will max out my socket A system before I upgrade the whole thing in a year or two. One of my concerns is with this older system, if I buy say the 7800GS, the rest of my system will be the bottleneck and I may not get any increased performance than if I purchased say a 7600 or a 6600. Then I would have waisted some cash.

My other concern is if my PSU can handle the card My 12 volt only has 17 amps.

The tree cards I am looking at are almost the same price:

SAPPHIRE Radeon X1950GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X HDCP Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102093

XFX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150210

BFG Tech GeForce 6800GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143045

My stystem is: Biostar M7NCD (socket A) MOBO with an Athlon 3200+, 1 gig ram, PSU is a Mercury 400 watt with 17 amps on the 12 volt.

Obviously the first one is the best, but would in have any increase in performance over the others? And would my PSU even support the thing? I have heard it needs 20 amps or so. But I have also heard that the 7600GT needs 18 amps. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[Malaga93]

your system is not that bad, i would go with the 1950gt agp, it will boost your system nicely.you will have a slight bottleneck but nothing to worry about.

btw what vga you have now in your pc?

 

[melarcky]

i totally agree about the Ati 1950GT if not that then go for the GF 7600GT there is also the ati 1650xt, but the GF7600gt is a personal favorite for me

 

[blade85]

17 amps is too small for a 1950GT, heck its too small for the 1950 pro and thats a lower power consumption version of the GT. they both recommend about 26-30 amps.

Id go for the 7600GT, but even for that im nor sure if your psu will be enough.

17 amps is pretty low. But you can give it a go any way.

 

[Wolfshadw]

Sorry, but I'd have to disagree with everyone's reply. I had an old Compaq system (SR1150NX) that was running an AMD XP 3200+ (socket A) and an ATI Radeon 9200. Thinking I'd get a massive performance boost by upgrading my graphics card, I bought a 7800GS. Once installed, I saw *MAYBE* a 15% increase in performance. It was only when I upgraded to my socket 939 X2-4800+ that I saw the 7800GS' true performance.

-Wolf sends

 

[caamsa]

I would like to know what video card you have now?

If I were you I would save that money and save for an AM2 system. You can just about get a CPU, mother board and some memory for the price of a 1950 GT which is $150.00 bucks. If you decide to go AGP get the 1950GT and get a better power supply.

 

[dougiemo]

right now I have a 5700 ultra. If I did upgrade my PSU so I could go for the X1950, any suggestions on a PSU? Basically, this is my last upgrade for this machine and I am only looking for getting the best solution to last about a year. Then I will give this whole thing to my 8 year old and build me a new system.

 

[melarcky]

Well i persoanlly wouldnt upgarde that systme anymore, its hit its end, yes you do have the fastest S.A cpu but its getting old, i would save some cash and sell this pc, save the HDD and you can me a system for around $380-$400 that is much much better system then yours now

 

[Darkchyld]

I belive that some one advised you to wait and see about investing in a "new" system, mobo, etc, I gota agree with that. I've got an XP3000+ and a Sapphire 1950 Pro, its an awsome combo but I had to get a new PS, the card is so big I can't close up the case and in retospect the monies could have been better spent. :roll: Something for you to thik about, while the Nvidia cards are no doubt good, check this out:Nvidia,for the love of god... fix this..
My two cents...
DC

 

[kaotao]

Sorry, but I'd have to disagree with everyone's reply. I had an old Compaq system (SR1150NX) that was running an AMD XP 3200+ (socket A) and an ATI Radeon 9200. Thinking I'd get a massive performance boost by upgrading my graphics card, I bought a 7800GS. Once installed, I saw *MAYBE* a 15% increase in performance. It was only when I upgraded to my socket 939 X2-4800+ that I saw the 7800GS' true performance.

-Wolf sends

You should have gotten a HUGE boost. Something else was wrong. With my socket A 2600+ I went from a 9800pro to an X800XL, and saw massive improvements.

 

[blade85]

Sorry, but I'd have to disagree with everyone's reply. I had an old Compaq system (SR1150NX) that was running an AMD XP 3200+ (socket A) and an ATI Radeon 9200. Thinking I'd get a massive performance boost by upgrading my graphics card, I bought a 7800GS. Once installed, I saw *MAYBE* a 15% increase in performance. It was only when I upgraded to my socket 939 X2-4800+ that I saw the 7800GS' true performance.

-Wolf sends

You should have gotten a HUGE boost. Something else was wrong. With my socket A 2600+ I went from a 9800pro to an X800XL, and saw massive improvements.

yyyyup

something wast quite right.

 

[dougiemo]

Do you think the 7600gt would work on my system even though I only have 17 amps on the 12 volt instead of 18 amps?

 

[coldneutron]

The 7600 gt needs ~3 amps on the 12v rail:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/xfx-7600gt-xxx_5.html

I'm running a 6600 gt, which uses 4A on this sys with a 14A 12v rail:

Athlon XP 2600+ stock
MSI K7N2 Delta2-LSR
1 G Kingston valueram @166
1 SATA,1 IDE HD
LG DVDRW, DVD/CDRW combo
SB Audigy Platinum
generic 400W ps

 

[jaywalker256]

i dont know how much better the 3200+ is than the 2400+, but when i got my 6600gt back when i was running an athlon xp 2400+ it was so severely bottlenecked that it almost wasnt worth it. i couldnt utilize half the power of the card until i got my a64 3700+.

so id expect that if you get anything above a 6600gt for your axp system, you wont see much of an improvement, and you would be better buying a low end a64 or core2duo to go along with it.

 

[caamsa]

I certainly don't want to talk you into building a new computer if the money is tight but if you give us a budget you can spend on a new system maybe we can make some suggestions and you can compare building a new system with buying a new video card and possibly power supply.

My daughter's computer is a Athlon 3200+ with a Nvidia 6800 vanilla and it is fine for her. (she is 7) This computer used to be my computer.

I just think when a system gets that old unless you can get a decent video card for like 50 bucks it is not really worth it to spend up to 200 bucks to then have to build a new system in a few months to a year.

Of course we have to consider what you do with your comptuer. What games do you pay etc. Check out this link and read the entire article then decide what you want to do. This is a really good article that addresses your questions.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/10/agp-platform-analysis/

 

[kaotao]

It's close, but a 7600GT would probably be ok with your current PSU.

 

[kaotao]

i dont know how much better the 3200+ is than the 2400+, but when i got my 6600gt back when i was running an athlon xp 2400+ it was so severely bottlenecked that it almost wasnt worth it. i couldnt utilize half the power of the card until i got my a64 3700+.

so id expect that if you get anything above a 6600gt for your axp system, you wont see much of an improvement, and you would be better buying a low end a64 or core2duo to go along with it.

Your 2400+ wasn't bottlenecking your 6600GT, and the OP would most certainly see huge gains by going higher than a 6600GT.

 

[melarcky]

if he really wants to just get a new GPu, then he shouldnt go above of a Gf 7600GT

 

[kaotao]

I totally agree. 8)

 

[pauldh]

if he really wants to just get a new GPu, then he shouldnt go above of a Gf 7600GT

I actually don't agree in this case; Look at those card prices. He has the PSU issue where he can't run better than a 7600GT on that PSU. But besides that, in his links he is paying the same for a 7600GT as a X1950GT, which makes the 7600GT a lousy buy IMO. Personally, I think the XP3200+ can benefit from the better GPU, but it depends on the game, resolution, settings, etc. If we were talking $100 more for just the AGP card, then I would say no don't upgrade beyond the 7600GT. But priced about the same the choice is harder and some games will show a huge difference. Anyway, if he wants to keep his PSU then I say 7600GT. But I myself would dump in a better PSU (beefy enough that I could re-use), and then buy the X1950GT. I just couldn't pay the same for a 7600GT. I guess it depends on his total budget and if he can swing a PSU on top of the card price.

He has to look at the games he plays though. He can look at Cleeve's results with just an XP2500+ and see that Prey, Oblivion, and NFS:Carbon, the X1950 (pro) is able to pull away from the 7600GT. It will be CPU limited for him, but at 2.2GHz(vs Cleeve's 1.83GHz) he will see a benefit in the right games once settings are tweaked for max playable eye candy.
XP2500+: http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/10/agp-platform-analysis/page12.html
A64 3400+: http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/01/agp-platform-analysis/page11.html

And keep in mind with Cleeve's conclusions, the price was greatly different back then. I realize the X1950GT is slower than the pro, but for the same price I'd think Cleeve would have shot down the 7600GT as an option even with the XP2500+. Anyway, the 7600GT is a good option, but I'm just hung up on the PSU being the only price difference so IMO it's worth doing the X1950GT + a good re-useable PSU. Then again, it would benefit in many of my games, but maybe not the OP's.

 

[kiku]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125036

 

[pauldh]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125036

I'm kinda lost how a GDDR2 7300GT PCI-e fits into this discussion.

 

[dougiemo]

Thanks for all of the advice. It helped a lot. I think what I will do is get the 7600GT and put it in this system to use just for a year. Next year, I will give this sytem to my 8 year old son and build a new one for me. This system with the 7600gt could probably last him a few more years.
Thanks

 

[kaotao]

I actually don't agree in this case; Look at those card prices. He has the PSU issue where he can't run better than a 7600GT on that PSU. But besides that, in his links he is paying the same for a 7600GT as a X1950GT, which makes the 7600GT a lousy buy IMO. Personally, I think the XP3200+ can benefit from the better GPU, but it depends on the game, resolution, settings, etc. If we were talking $100 more for just the AGP card, then I would say no don't upgrade beyond the 7600GT.

Yeah I agree that at the same price the 7600GT is a lousy buy compared to the X1950GT. But, assuming the OP doesn't want to or can't spend the extra $$$ on a new PSU, the 7600GT is the way to go.

I'm actually fairly temped to snatch up one of those X1950GTs. Pretty good AGP price + performance deal.

 

[melarcky]

good choice hope it works out good