Upgrading APG Card?

[toons]

Nubie here. Have an old system that I'd like to upgrade.
It currently uses NVidia GeForce M64 AGP Video Card 32MB.
The processor is AMD Athon tm MP Palomino 1.48 GHz with 256mb of memory.

This beast is about 7 years old, but still surfs the net and has some utility left in it, but I'd like to squeeze out alittle more performance.

Is there an APG card that can replace the current one that can handle directx 10? My son got Zoo Tycoon 2, but it wont run.

I will be adding memory, but I am unsure what to buy.
Currently have: One Card Memory 256 MB DIMM 184 pin DDR 266 MHz PC2100 ... 2 slots total avaialble.

Thanks for reading this and any advice will be appreciated.

 

[hixbot]

ATI HD 3650 AGP. Anything faster would be a waste.

For memory, best bet is to get 1 or 2 sticks of 1024 MB DDR 400 ram. Toss away your old stuff.

Don't expect a big performance boost with that processor. For a little bit more money, you can get a new motherbaord and processor with DDR2 memory, and a PCI-E video card.

 

[Wolfshadw]

Toons - Looking at the system requirements for Zoo Tycoon 2, it says DirectX 9 and not DirectX 10 (which is MS Vista only). I would think even a Geforce 6200 would be more than enough for your purposes (given the game only requires a 16MB/DX9 card). If you start looking at better cards than that, you're probably going to have to look at replacing the power supply as well.

I'd also be a bit leery on just dropping in any old DDR memory as your system, as old as it is, may not support higher speed memory. I'd recommend checking your system's specifications to make sure what you can use before making any purchases. If you still can't make the determination as to what will work, then just get a set of 2x512Meg DDR-266 (PC2100) memory like this as it matches the speed of your current memory.

-Wolf sends

 

[toons]

Hixbot,

Thank you for your fast response. You are right on. For the cost of the upgrades, might as well as go further.

 

[dirtmountain]

You might look at an AGP 1650 card which would be a good upgrade to what you have now. $39 after rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131070
and 2x512 GB DDR $32
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131070
Without knowing your exact model number not sure about what RAM you can use, so I went with what you had. Putting money into an outdated system may not be your only path, you might look at a cheap refurbished computer instead.
http://www.recoupit.com/Shop/Control/Product/fp/vpid/5820244/vpcsid/0/SFV/31197

 

[toons]

Thank you all for your input.

After looking at the suggestion from dirtmountain, refurb looks to be a better way for me to go than upgrading the current system.

Toons