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Need to upgrade video card

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vanvogt   05-20-2009 at 09:43:52 AM

Hey Folks,

I need to replace / upgrade my video card - ATI Radeon 9200 128 MB AGP and I don't know where to begin.

Running Win XP / SP3
1 gig sdram 133 Mhz
MSI Model 6330 Mobo w / AGP video
AMD Athlon XP 2400 + Processor 266 Mhz FSB
140 gig Maxtor 7,200 spin w / 8 meg cache

Hope that my system is not too old for an upgrade.

Thanks in advance for any and all advise!

Vanvogt

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rewindlabs   05-20-2009 at 11:48:54 AM
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Before we go any further with this...what do you expect from an upgrade..or expect to play?....

Your on the hinge of a complete rebuild or a graphics card....if you just want to run some simple games than your processor will do...otherwise your screwed..

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gkay09   05-20-2009 at 01:10:39 PM
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Well you can give the ATI 3650 AGP card a try...
But your PC does seem to be outdated...
For about $200, you can get a completely new setup...

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Reply to gkay09
zipzoomflyhigh   05-20-2009 at 01:12:34 PM
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Your system is about 4 generations old. I'd suggest upgrading the entire computer.

Message quoted 1 times
------------------------------ P965/Q6700@3.2 8MB HD4850 OC Edition
4GB Corsair XMS 800
Vista64/Win7
Fatality 550w/Antec 300
 Reply to zipzoomflyhigh
vanvogt   05-21-2009 at 10:51:25 AM
- 0 +

rewindlabs wrote :

Before we go any further with this...what do you expect from an upgrade..or expect to play?....

Your on the hinge of a complete rebuild or a graphics card....if you just want to run some simple games than your processor will do...otherwise your screwed..



Well generally I was hoping for a little performance boost. A couple of specific things though. I'd like to simply display very large tiff files (350 meg +) from the Mars rovers and be able to run a HDMI cable over to my Sharp Aquos so that I could view hulu streams on the big screen.

Ya, I play some old games like "Star Trek Voyager Elite Force" (still some servers out there). Not looking to play Crisis.

Thanks!

Reply to vanvogt
vanvogt   05-21-2009 at 11:02:46 AM
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gkay09 wrote :

Well you can give the ATI 3650 AGP card a try...
But your PC does seem to be outdated...
For about $200, you can get a completely new setup...



Checked out ATI 3650 AGP cards at NewEgg - they look good. Except that they appear to need DirectX 10.1, which if I'm not mistaken would take me into Vista land. I'm pretty sure that this old system could not handle the additional overhead from Vista.

As you can tell I've been out of the hardware market for a long time. You're telling me I could build a new system for $200? Really? The only things I could save from current config is ATX box, a 440 watt Antec ps and optical drives.

Thanks!

Reply to vanvogt
vanvogt   05-21-2009 at 11:09:05 AM
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zipzoomflyhigh wrote :

Your system is about 4 generations old. I'd suggest upgrading the entire computer.



No doubt that you're right. It's just that money is tight in my neighborhood (Detroit area) at this time in history. I'm sure you understand.

Thanks!

Reply to vanvogt
gkay09   05-21-2009 at 11:22:30 AM
- 0 +

^ Well you have mistaken about the DirectX...It is a DirectX 10.1 card means it can run in that mode also...
So with XP, it would automatically run in DirectX 9.0...

And yes you can get CPU+Mobo+RAM for less than $150-$180...So put in another $70/$80 could get you a decent graphics card, that can be powered by that 430W PSU of yours...

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vanvogt   05-21-2009 at 12:31:55 PM
- 0 +

gkay09 wrote :

^ Well you have mistaken about the DirectX...It is a DirectX 10.1 card means it can run in that mode also...
So with XP, it would automatically run in DirectX 9.0...

And yes you can get CPU+Mobo+RAM for less than $150-$180...So put in another $70/$80 could get you a decent graphics card, that can be powered by that 430W PSU of yours...



Thanks for clearing up my misunderstanding about the directx issue.

Man that's great news about about CPU+Mobo+RAM for $150 to $180. I need to get busy and start looking for deals online. I've been loyal to AMD / ATI, but whatever gets the job done!

Thx...

Reply to vanvogt
gkay09   05-21-2009 at 01:15:22 PM
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Well if you want to go with AMD, then the AMD 7750 is a good option...as for intel , it is E5X00...Both offer similar performance...so you can stick with any of those...

Reply to gkay09
rags_20   05-21-2009 at 02:40:21 PM
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No point in upgrading. 133MHz SD? Wow!

------------------------------ Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4 | Thermalright Ultima 90 120mm fan | Intel DG31PR | 4 GB DDR2 @ 800MHz | HD 4850 512 GDDR3 | Corsair VX450 | Samsung 22x DVD RW | Windows Vista HP 32-bit/ Windows 7 64-bit dual boot | Samsung SyncMaster 19" LCD VGA 920NW |
Reply to rags_20
Bronze Graphics badge coozie7   05-21-2009 at 02:57:39 PM
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A sample build:

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157158

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103234

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820148286

Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102838

This lot comes to a little over $200 without rebates, careful checking and adding rebates could easily drop this further.

The mobo was selected because it was cheap and supports the widest range of processors in its price range (I think) the reviews were all good. There is some question as to this board supporting 95W CPUs, according to the Asrock site it does, but not the higher 125W units.
The CPU is not the fastest the mobo can handle but it is fairly quick and, unlike some others has a HSF included.
The RAM is 1.8v so should have no problems with any mobo and it lacks the wide heatspreaders that can get in the way. It is also 2Gb leaving a slot free for further upgrades.
The card is not a massive powerhouse and not the cheapest with rebates but for the OPs' needs it is more than enough for the Elite Squad games.

This is not a recommendation as such, just an illustration and I am sure others will suggest changes or even a totally new build.


Message edited by coozie7 on 05-21-2009 at 04:09:18 PM
Reply to coozie7
vanvogt   05-23-2009 at 12:56:39 PM
- 0 +

Hearty thanks to you for taking the time to show me in concrete terms that it is possible to build a pretty damn good system for as low as $200. This blows my mind as I recall paying $2,000 in '79 for a complete Apple II system (48k ram) and paying Dell $5,000 in '94 for a complete high end (166 Mhz Pentium I MMX with a 128 bit #9 video card) system. Oops, I guess I just revealed that I'm over 20. Anyway, Moore's law rules!

Well that's it - I'm going to build a new system! I will need help with compatibility issues. The issue of OS also comes to mind, I'm hearing good things about Windows 7 and complaints about Vista. I will return to this forum as I go and I must say that this forum rocks!

Reply to vanvogt
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