GPU Upgrade for low end PC

According to BFG, their 9600GT needs a 425W power supply with a combined 12V current rating of 28A or more. The 3850 is about the same.

In either case, you need to buy a new power supply too, and you will see a very big improvement.

so if i bought a new PSU with a new card will i see big improvement,are u sure aevm ?

orangegator i can't upgrade every thing right now or in the future i know that my cpu will bottleneck my gpu but my question was about getting obvious change in performance when upgrade GPU.any way thanks for the help.looking for more advices.

I would go for a 3850, or the 9600GT. If he were to get a core2 than he would likely need a new mobo. I'm betting the P4 he has is S478. So, He would be looking at New PSU,GPU,Mobo,CPU. Thats probably more than he was looking to spend. So, maybe something like a HD 36XX card would be better, when he only has a 300watt PSU with how many amps on the 12V rail??

Yeah I'm sure the 9600GT would make a big difference over a 6600. OK, maybe not if your games are all CPU-bound and wait on that Pentium, but that's not very likely IMO.

For best results remove the CPU bottleneck too by getting a Core 2. But for that we need to make sure your MB supports it first.
What exactly is the model number of your motherboard? Some Gigabyte 945P motherboards do support Core 2, for example the GA-945P-S3, so you might be lucky there.
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Product [...] uctID=2324

Yes aevm is sure, in fact when i disagree with aevm i usually check to find out where i'm making my mistake.

it might be worth it for you to get a pentium D for your system. while its not particularly fast compared to the core 2's, its still alot better than a p4.

yes its worth it, massive performace increase

look at this acticle from tomshardware, with a amd 3400 (simlliar to your p4). in the test it shows the difference between a 6600gt (agp) (which is simlliar to your card) and 3850 HD agp (which is simlliar to the 9600gt).

at 1280*1024 on crysis (high-med) on a singe core cpu with 6600gt gets 1 frame per sec while with a 3850 gets 20 frames per sec

but do not think your going to max games out with with 4 times AA and 16AA in new games but med to high @ 1280*1024. also with 2gb ram you got it helps with higher res and setting such as in games like ac, crysis and even bf2

link below

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 939-4.html

good luck with your card

Hello....sorry to bother..but i might have the same issue as the one who started the topic....I have a PC with Athlon64 2800+[1.8Ghz],512MbRam[will be 2 Gb in a few moments ] , radeon9200se Sapphire, 450W no-name power supply.....2 hard drives , a dvd-rw and a combo...and...i want a video card for HD playback..and also for the new games....so.....first question....between hd2600xt and hd3650 which one is more recomended.....and second question..if i choose the hd3650.....ASus..or Sapphire?[both don;t have a verry good cooling system...but sapphire has better drivers ..but but but....Asus has HDMI...while sapphire doesn't......why is that?..]...

I don;t think you;re getting it..)..i live in romaniaaaaaaaaa....and here..the 3850 costs about 150-200 dollaaarrsss..in plus..i have mine on AGP..what you sent me in the links were the Pci express...i don't think they'll fit .........as for orientative prices...no....AGP versions still expensive compared to pci-express.....
So okay...now i know to avoid the ASus hd3650 silent ddr2, but problem is again....2600XT has HDMI while the HD3650 doesn;t ....why the hell not???......and....i think i need a new cooler for the video cards if i am correct

seems like i can never make myself clear .....soory about that..it;s my fault...so..the issue between 2600XT and hd3650 on AGP is this..
1.Cooling..systems.....really bad although it seems that the ASsus silent Radiator does a better job than the Sapphire one..
2.Sapphire HD2600XT has HDMMI support,......Sapphire HD3650.....doesn't......now why the hell is that happening?..
3.Sapphire HD2600xt and asus hd3650 have hdmi.....but the drivers from Asus ...are..reallly.reallly bad.. ....the sapphire ones work well...but..why not hd3650?..
4.hd3650 although it has a better technology on GPU, 55nm....it is slower in drawing or transmiting information......what the?.....

Still undecided which video card to buy form my AGP ....i await some answers..:-s