idiot wanting budget advice

[evilgareth]

I currently have a Geforce4 MX440 APG8X card and am wondering whether its worth my while upgrading (given my system is Athlon XP2400, 768mb PC2100 RAM).
Thing is, I dont really wanna spend more than £40/50 (uk) on a replacement card (although happy to buy second hand off eBay - if only I knew what to look for)
Radeon 98000 and Nvidia X800 seem out of my price range! unless you all know otherwise......

 

[splenda20]

What games do you wanna play?

Not sure about pricing on that side of the pond, but a Radeon 9600Pro should offer a nice increase in performance and I'm assuming is in your price range.

 

[georgebeee]

can you got a 9600 pro for that? I was using a GF4 MX440 before I upgraded to BBA 9600XT. I'm running amd 2000+ with 512MB pc2700. amazing performance difference. might not be worth it if you don't play any games though

 

[priyajeet]

"Radeon 98000 and Nvidia X800"
ROFLMAO, dont worry, those are out of my budget and everybodies budget too. :lol:

You can get a 9600pro/xt for abt $100-130 ~ pounds 55-70. I even have one (9600XT) for sale.

:tongue: <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/priyajeet/fing.jpg" target="_new"><i><font color=red>Very funny, Scotty.</font color=red><font color=blue> Now beam down my clothes.</font color=blue></i></A> :tongue: <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by priyajeet on 11/27/04 08:44 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[evilgareth]

whats a BBA 9600XT? and how much is that

 

[georgebeee]

it's a built by ATI 9600XT graphics card, it runs direct x9.0 pretty well and it's last years card. I paid $190 US last x-mas for it, but it's going for about $135 over here now, but the pro is about the same thing without the overdrive feature and it's $105 US. you should look for one of those 2 cards if you can find one in your budget. don't purchase the 256MB versions if you have a choice.

good luck with your hunt

 

[evilgareth]

why not the 256mb version? how can the 126mb be better?

 

[georgebeee]

that level of a graphics card will never make use of the 256MB memory, it will just cost you more for something you don't need. and often the maker will install slower memory also.

the xt has slower memory(not saying the memory runs at a slower speed, just if you wanna OC the memory it's slower), but it comes with a neat little feature called overdrive which allows you to OC the core. it also has a faster core to begin with. either card is a pretty good buy for the price it's going for now. if you want pretty good graphics for a fair price I would think either card will make you a happy man, even if you have to purchase the 256MB model.

 

[rx7000]

The Nvidia X800 is out already?

Asus p4c800 Deluxe,1 Gig Mushkin PC3200 Dual Channel Level II V2,Pentium 4 3.0 512k 800fsb HT, Thermaltake Xaser III, Thermaltake Spark 7+, Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro, eVGA GeForce 6800 GT

 

[RichPLS]

And those Atidia drivers ROCK!

<font color=red><pre>\\//__________________________________
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

 

[evilgareth]

i am bidding on a radeon 9600pro (256mb) on ebay but have been offered a six month old radeon 9800se (128mb) All-In -Wonder card for a good deal.
what should i go for?

 

[georgebeee]

go for the 9600pro

 

[evilgareth]

why?
cause of the RAM or cause of the chip?
I thought the tv functions of the all-in-wondr 9800 sounded a better draw

 

[pauldh]

The 9600 Pro is generally >= a 256-<b>bit</b> R9800se, and definately greater than a 128-bit version. <A HREF="http://www.ixbt.com/video2/over2k4-hs20-800.shtml" target="_new">Example</A> - 9600 pro = 42.6 fps, 9800se 256-bit= 39.7 fps, 9800se 128-bit= 34.6 fps.

MSI K8N Neo2 platinum, A64 3000+, 1GB Corsair XMS 4000 Pro Series, Radeon 9800 Pro

 

[pauldh]

I actually did think of your return when i was posting that. You may be the reason I added "generally" before submitting. I'll let you drop the SE, but not sure if the forum veterans will allow that. They need someone to pick on. :tongue:


MSI K8N Neo2 platinum, A64 3000+, 1GB Corsair XMS 4000 Pro Series, Radeon 9800 Pro