I've read this and that and it's all still a bit of gobbledegook to me
This is the system:
Mainboard - INTEL D850MV / D850EMV2
POWER - LC-B400ATX
CPU - INTEL P4 2.53GHz L2 512
RAM - 2G
Current VIDEO - NVidia GeForce2 Mx/MX400
Will a new AGP card in the low to mid-range help me. Any opinions welcomed.
Yeh I know it's old but mobo / system upgrade is not an option. All I want is a bit better framerate with WOW (something in the low-mid 20s would be ok; I currently get around 13-17 I think - which is virtually unplayable). Will any AGP card running in the AGP 4x slot of my system help matters?
I was looking at AGP 7600GT as my preference (the 256M one), otherwise even the 7600GS as an option.
But apart from the fact that in AUS I can't track down the GT and would rather not settle on GS unless I have to - I now see a Radeon HD 2600 XT being suggested in the bracket I was looking at.
Also will my current 400W PSU handle one of these?
Yep you should see quite a large improvement from the GeForce2 to a 7600GT.
For you I suggest the XFX 7900GS 256mb, 256-bit GDDR3 (vs. 128-bit GDDR2 on the 7600GS). This is one of the fastest AGP cards you will find and your PSU should be fine. It's about $180 on Newegg.
------------------------------"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose" -- Jim Elliott
Reply to leo2kp
WoW is such a light game in terms of graphics that a 7600GT would be plenty. I run WoW on an ATI X1400 (it's a mobile GPU) and I don't have any complaints... and that 7600GT is a few steps up from my card. You should be fine with that PSU no matter what card you go with (assuming it's a decent brand PSU) Your current GPU is pretty much the absolute minimum for WoW so I think you'll be pleasantly surprised what a 7600GT (or even GS) will do for your gaming. You've got enough RAM and your processor is fine for WoW... just gotta upgrade that GPU.
What Rodney said. I see you're in AUS, so Newegg prices won't help you, but hopefully you'll be able to locate another decent online retailer.
------------------------------There is ALWAYS a drone. Exactly where, or how many drones you will encounter may vary, but that there will be at least one will not.
Reply to jtt283
i would def go with the 7600gs even over the 7600gt because i have the xfx 7600gt agp card and had a enermax 420watt modular psu at the time and the 7600gt would have that enermax heating up badly workin it too damn hard.
so i quickly bought a 600watt psu (didn't know i was gonna get the 7900gs soon after) and that made a big difference and the card ran that much faster. so keep that in mind when going for the 7600gt.
Being clueless in this dept, just didn't want to up the card if the mobo or pcu was going to choke it anyway.
Will prob go the GT if I can hunt one down here in the outback otherwise GS I guess.
Prob look at upping the PSU too since I can fob the 400 off to a 2nd box that currently has a cruddy 300 or 350 (cant remember which, or I know is it's pretty lame).
yep - considered new for a mo but nup. Cheap is relative and if I go new it'd only b for a hybrid media centre / games flagship. Can't justify the AUD1.5k+ (guess that's around 1.3k +/- in US) to do it.
I only use this thing for file server, programming and WOW.
At most I'd do a mobo,cpu,ram,psu,gpu upgrade of another box I have and steal the 6600GT (I think) from it for this box. And not really thinkin of doin that rite now. But mite put the new psu, gpu discussed here to box no.2 now and jus take the 6600. Reckon they won't go to waste cos the psu will still be needed in no.2 wen I full upgrade and I'll dump the 6600 for 7600 in no.1 then. Did that make any sense - lol
Anyway - any thoughts anyone on the Radeon HD 2600 XT as opposed to either of the 7600s ?
In your case I would say the 7600GT. 2600XT is a better card but for AGP the availability? and the drivers for the 2000 series AGP is still screwed up.
You may also need a psu since either card requires an additional power connection to the psu (AGP)
------------------------------ P35-DS3L Rev 2 bios F9C l E8400 @ 3.6Ghz @ 1.232v l OCZ Vendetta 2 /LGA775 Bolt-Thru l 4GB G.Skill 8800PI@1000mhz 4:5 @ 1.87v l WD3200AAKS 320GB l Evga 8800GTS 512 l X-Fi Xtreme Music l Corsair HX520 l Antec Sonata III 500 l Vista32 SP2 l Win7 X64 7600
Reply to kpo6969
Either way, if you go with the 7600GS, you'll be extremely happy. It's a solid card and so many times better than your current card. Hell you'll be even able to play some Oblivion and Call of Duty 4 at decent settings with that thing.
Will a new AGP card in the low to mid-range help me. Any opinions welcomed.
Yeh I know it's old but mobo / system upgrade is not an option. All I want is a bit better framerate with WOW (something in the low-mid 20s would be ok; I currently get around 13-17 I think - which is virtually unplayable). Will any AGP card running in the AGP 4x slot of my system help matters?
Cheers
WoW framerate depends almost only on the CPU performance, as:
P4 @4,40 GHz 7600GT-->7900GTX - no improvement
P4 @4,40 GHz 7900GTX --> E2180 @3,0 GHz - Difference like gnome versus tauren
By the way...Have you 2 GB of RDRAM memory? what the...Why dont you buy a new PC? Would be much cheaper than your RAM anyway : )
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