upgrade video card

[badborg]

I'm a novice gamer looking to upgrade from a GeFORCE FX5200 to somthing better ,I play HALO and FARCRY, I have a $300 budget, system is a emachines with a pentium4 2.6, 80 gig hard drive, 728 ram any ideas?

 

[scottchen]

AGP or PCI-E?

PCI-E you can get the X800XL, AGP you'll need to put in another 20 dollars for the 6800GT.

 

[badborg]

AGP ,

 

[cleeve]

Whut scottchen said.

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<b>Geforce <font color=red>6800 Ultra</b></font color=red>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>~3300+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 412 FSB @ 2266 Mhz)</i>
<b>3dMark05: <font color=red>5,275</b>

 

[badborg]

I'M a novice not sure of motherboard, system is less then 2yrs old, I needed advice from the pros.

 

[scottchen]

Spend the extra 20-30 dollars and get a Geforce 6800GT 256mb, EVGA is a great brand at a good low price.

 

[badborg]

I was looking at the BFG 5500oc 256 card,besides the 6800GT any other cards that in your opinion would be close?

 

[scottchen]

The 5500OC is a HORRIBLE CARD!! It's based on the 5200 design, barely better than the 5200ultra. If it costs any more than 100 dollars, it's a rip-off.

You can also look into 6800, just 6800 no gt or anything, you should be able to find it about 220-250 dollars.

 

[badborg]

That's why I asked the pros,with that card is there any other power requiements that I might need to know about?

 

[scottchen]

Ahh right. Emachines probably has a shitpowersupply that will die with a high-end card. Try to find out if that model has a standard ATX power supply, if it does you can pick up a Fortron made power supply for pretty cheap, and it'll handle anything you throw at it as long as it doesn't involve SLI.

If it's not standard ATX, well you'll have to look into the lower power consumption market... I'm not sure how much power the 6600GT consumes, if you can't change power, I think the best you can go with is probably the 6600GT.

 

[badborg]

ok gotcha,next question keep in mind novice how would I check for that power info.

 

[pauldh]

Newegg has the EVGA 6800GT for $269 after $30 rebate. Free shipping too.
<A HREF="http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130203" target="_new">http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130203</A>

<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=658042" target="_new">3DMark05</A> <A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3781954" target="_new">3DMark03</A>

 

[badborg]

THANKS for the assist. with so many cards and requirements it's great to have somewhere to go to help with the answers.

 

[Unolocogringo]

You have to open the case. Somewhere on the power supply Itself will be a label stating is specs. If it does not say 300wt or 350wt or whatever it is. Just post the 5v,3.3v and 12v amperage ratings given on the label.

I aint signing nothing!!!

 

[scottchen]

Is it possible for you to take a picture of the backside of your PC, and a picture of your PC's interior?

 

[Rugger]

That's an awesome deal for that card! Prices are having o drop on the 6800GT to compete with the X800XL cards. The AGP 6800GTs are putting the pressure on the AGp X800XLs now. Sweet!

__________________________________________________
<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[badborg]

will do that, thanks for the info!

 

[badborg]

yes I can.

 

[badborg]

From what I've seen of card prices yes it is.

 

[scottchen]

I don't think the 6800GT AGP ever lost its spot as the best buy in the AGP section, since X800XL is significantly more expensive, the 6800GT doesn't compare to the X800XL in the PCI Express market, but in AGP i believe the 6800GT is the better buy even before the price drop at 329.

 

[scottchen]

Take those 2 pics, and post them on a site.

 

[badborg]

Thanks for info will do as soon as I can.

 

[badborg]

As a gaming novice I could't believe the prices but to play the games you got to have the hardware.

 

[pauldh]

Well, it all depends on the resolutions and settings you desire. An $85 Radeon 9600 Pro can play any game. A $130 Radeon 9800 pro or $160 GF6600GT can play almost every game at 1024x768 medium or better. More nad more if you want to use FSAA in newer games, you'll need to spend a bit more on a higher end card. But by no means is a $300 card needed to play todays games.



<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=658042" target="_new">3DMark05</A> <A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3781954" target="_new">3DMark03</A>

 

[badborg]

I did find out this the power is 250 watts in this system.