Help Me Keep This Old RIG!!!

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fishywishy

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help me choose a new AGP card. max $200 tho id rather not go that high. the choices look to be a 7600gt 256mb, 7800gs 256mb, 1950 256mb or 1950 512mb

my rig is a p4 3.2 ghz 2gb ram, 500w psu (double checking on that) and the vid card is a 9800pro 128mb

would i get a sizable advantage with one of those newer cards over the 9800? would my cpu hold them back? games (online only) played are test drive unltd, bf2/2142, ut2004. i dont care about AA/AF, super high resol, mark, bragging rights. i just want 1024x768 with good fps around 50

i know most of u will say just get a new pcie mb/vid card but i have a dell xps and that stuff isnt easily upgradable. i do plan on building a new system but not for a while. money isnt an issue, so i dont care if i drop $200 now and build a new $1500 system in 6 months

thx
 
lostandwandering

lostandwandering

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Go with either of the X1950s. The 7800 is getting a little old (comparatively) and both the 7800 and 7600 will get trashed by the 1950s.

This site did a comparison and used a system that is probably similar to yours. It was more a comparison between AGP and PCI-e, but it still works:
7800GS and X1950.
 
cottonball

cottonball

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You would see improvement in any of those cards over 9800pro. If your looking for a cheap upgrade for 6 months, the 7600gt is a nice choice and it over clocks easily. Can't beat it for i think $105 or so. If you want to spend a little more, I would pick the 1950pro 256. It's around $165 if memory serves me right and is the best out of the 3 choices from what I've seen in machines that I've worked on. Just make sure you have the 12v amp required to run it and your system. Hope this helped.
 
kaotao

kaotao

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You would see improvement in any of those cards over 9800pro. If your looking for a cheap upgrade for 6 months, the 7600gt is a nice choice and it over clocks easily. Can't beat it for i think $105 or so.
Click to expand...

I agree that he would see huge gains from a 7600GT, but for $150 (in AGP they come nowhere near $105) they're a terrible buy when you can get that X1950GT I linked for the same price.
 
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fishywishy

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yah that article helped me a lot. i wasnt even considering ATIs til i read it. so with the 1950, would the 512mb version be worth the extra $$$ over the 256mb version? as in, will my cpu bottleneck before i max the vid card out. thx for the help :)
 
lostandwandering

lostandwandering

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CPUs tend to become the bottleneck at lower resolutions like under 1280x1024. Above that, the GPU is required to do most of the work. If you are at or above that res, you shouldn't have a problem.

What is the price difference between the 512 and 256?
 
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fishywishy

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CPUs tend to become the bottleneck at lower resolutions like under 1280x1024. Above that, the GPU is required to do most of the work. If you are at or above that res, you shouldn't have a problem.

What is the price difference between the 512 and 256?
Click to expand...

well darn, guess ill just have to run it higher :p

the 256mb has 16 pp versus 12 on the 512. otherwise the 512mb is better overall. not sure on the differences between GT and PRO other then the pp

SAPPHIRE Radeon X1950GT 256MB $155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102093

SAPPHIRE Radeon X1950PRO 512MB $190 after $20 mir
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102071
 
MayDay94

MayDay94

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get the pro over the gt regardless of video memory. once you are looking at the pro, the 512mb vs the 256mb really comes down to what resolution you are playing at. since you mentioned 10x7 or 12x10, 256mb should be fine. a 256mb x1950pro should smoke a 512mb x1950gt (someone else chime in if i'm wrong). always look for the most powerful gpu in your price range first, in this case the 1950pro vs gt, and then worry about vram second.
 
cottonball

cottonball

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I would stick with 256 version, 512 isn't worth the extra cash unless you really need a few extra frames in high resolution graphics. When I say a few frames I'm serious, like 2 - 5 more.
 
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enforcerfx

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I don't think it will bottleneck a 3.2 pentium. You may want to OC it a little though.
Click to expand...

cant OC dells :( tho i dont think id wanna on such an old system


You can overclock a dell, just not too high. :lol:


If you thought about it, look into a new CPU cooler first. Those Prescott's love to heat up.
 
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enforcerfx

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Personally, I'm not sure how. Back in the time when my knowing of computers was very small, our dell contracted a trojan(guess who did it :twisted: ) And we had a friend of ours fix it, and used some sort of utility to overclock the processor(kinda asked him too myself). Wasn't a noticeable overclock either. 2.8 -> 3.0 I can find out what it is if my folks see the guy anytime soon.

But yeah, you can't access the BIOS normally, but with a program this guy used, he apparently did.
 
yakyb

yakyb

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1950pro is the best thing you can get on agp if i remember correctly i wouldnt bother with the extra memory oon it so just get the 256
 
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fishywishy

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well my psu is a 460w so i just squeak by and dell confirmed it would work in my system....until i told them i had 3 hard drives :( i could get by on 2 but not just 1. hmmpff
 
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