Upgrading from a Radeon 9800XT AGP8X

[nikovdh]

I'm about to start playing Age of Conan in a few days so I haven't seen how my PC runs it yet, but I'm guessing I might want to upgrade my GFX card. Here are my specs:

CPU: Socket 478 Intel P4 Northwood 2.4C (2.4GHZ)
L2 Cache 512KB
FSB 200MHz (800MHz)

MB: ABIT A17 (AGP8X and Dual Channel Ram support)
FSB(800MHZ)

MEMORY: PC3200's Dual Channel Format
2GB (1GB X 2) Dual Channel "G-Skill"
1GB (512 x 2) Dual Channel "OCZ"

GPU: ATI Radeon 9800 XT (AGP 8X)
Memory Size: 256MB
GPU CLOCK: 412 MHZ
RAMDAC CLOCK: 400MHZ
BUS: 256-Bit DDR
Real Clock: 365mhz
Effective Clock: 728mhz

So I'm wondering if upgrading to: http--www.newegg.com-Product-Product.aspxItem=N82E16814102730

would make a good difference in how I run newer games. I've been playing World of Warcraft with mine,
but Age of Conan is looking pretty graphic intense. I was thinking since the Radeon HD 3850 AGP8X seems to be the best AGP card you can get and the price isn't too bad... and it has twice the memory of mine and is GDDR3 memory type and probably has better speeds. I'm thinking this would make a difference for playing Age of Conan. I'm wondering if the rest of my PC would bottleneck it and make almost no difference though.

I'd rather just upgrade the Vid card.. but if I could figure out a very cost effective MB and RAM upgrades then I could just switch **** over to PCI 16X or even 2.0 but I'm thinking it would be pretty costly.

Anyone want to give any suggestions or comments?

 

[runswindows95]

Overall, I say save up and get a new PC. Your entire system is outdated and buying a high end AGP is not the wisest choice. If anything, pick up this mobo:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157115

As well as this CPU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116063

For the same price as the 3850 AGP, you can get a new system that will allow you to use you're old parts and upgrade to a PCIe GPU later on.

 

[Steven Bancroft]

nikovdh, I just upgraded from a similar system:
P4 Prescott 3.0ghz
2GB PC3200
Abit IC7-G
Radeon 9800XT AGP

Do yourself a favor, just save for a new box. Upgrading any one component in your current config will only be bottlenecked by another. If money is tight, there are a lot of sub $500 build threads on THG.

You will at least want to get a Core 2 Duo, P35 motherboard, 2 gigs on DDR2 6400 800mhz Ram, 8800Gt (maybe a 9600GT). It will be worth it.