Upgrade from Nvidia 7600 gs

[Adz1200]

Hi everyone, Great forum, makes for very interesting reading.

I was trying to find info on a possible upgrade, having not found any, I thought I'd sign up and ask the question.(s)

I have a P4 3.2ghz with 2meg ram and an agp slot mobo.
I enjoy gaming and want to boost performance.
I have a Nvidia 7600gs at the moment.
It handles most games on low to medium settings reasonably well, but I would prefer higher settings and the option to play more up to date titles.

1. Is there a better choice other than 8 series nvidia or the HD3850 cards for agp interface?
2. Do you think I would notice a worthwhile improvement?
3. Is it worthwhile overclocking a 7600 gs?
4. Or should I just keep what I've got till I can afford a new pci mobo etc ?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Adz

 

[monsta]

Welcome to the forums mate
The best upgrade for you right now is to build a new system, but if you are just looking to get abit more gaming performance out of your current system a HD3850 would do the trick, just keep in mind that you will need a PSU with 450 watt or greater with 30 amp on 12v rail and the right drivers with the AGP fix.

 

[dirtmountain]

I agree with monsta, if you really have to keep using your system, then the HD3850 AGP will be a big improvement, but at a high price along with the power supply it needs. Your best bet is to build a new system, possibly using a couple of your old parts. Either are viable options, it just depends how much cash you're willing to spend.

 

[Arkz]

i suggest the following, replace your mobo with one that has pci-e, go to ebuyer and buy the unusually low priced 256MB 8800GT for £47, be happy until you finally decide to overhaul the entire system, but that will cost a bit, an 8800GT would definately give it a kick in performance, hell i used to have a 7600GT and this card is like 4-8 times faster depending on the game

 

[jerreece]

If you can afford it, I'd suggest an entire system upgrade. If you enjoy gaming, and want to play modern games, you'll be much happier with an entirely new system.

If you can't afford that, or just want to crawl through modern games on your current setup, I'd suggest the AGP HD3850 card. I recall it being the best/last AGP card in production. Don't think you can get anything faster than that in AGP anymore.

New motherboards don't support the older AGP video card slot anymore. Only PCI-E 16x is worth buying in today's market.

Arkz suggested buying a 256MB 8800GT. I'm going to suggest against that. if you're going to shell out the cash to buy a new motherboard that has PCI-E, don't waste money on a low memory video card. 512MB is the STANDARD now days. Games need that kind of memory today.

 

[Adz1200]

Thanks for the welcome and the advise.
Kinda confirms what I thought about spending cash on my ageing system, i would be better investing in a dual core pci setup.
Until then I will check my existing power supply and if it meets requirements, may look for a used 3850 to satisfy my need for better game performance.
Time to start saving me thinks!!

Thanks again.