GPU upgrade: Need advice on budget oriented purchase

[SkyBum]

I've been passing on my old games to my nephew's for as long as I've been gaming. Lately though, many of the games have been a bit more than their PC can handle with only on board graphics (Far Cry, NFSU2, Pirates etc).

I'd like to determine what card will boost the performance of their system to a decent level without going overboard (obviously an X800XT would be a poor choice for a Celeron based system). I don't care so much about eye candy so much as that the game can just manage to run at decent rates on lower settings.

System specs: http://ecoustics-cnet.com.com/EMach...118_9-30602858&tag=nav&cip=1&orderby=90&sort=

eMachines T2692
2.6 Ghz Celeron
256 DDR
On board graphics
I'm not even shure what mobo is in this rig

Where is the line above which a card will be overkill for the celeron processor? What would be the performance/value point? I've already spent a bunch on their christmas and I really don't want to spend too much more here if I can help it.

Just wondering what would be best to do here given my limited budget...

 

[SkyBum]

Whoops.....meant for this to be in the Video forum. Could someone please move it?

 

[Praetor]

Just wondering what would be best to do here given my limited budget...

Just what exactly is this limited budget?

Whoops.....meant for this to be in the Video forum. Could someone please move it?

Done

 

[SkyBum]

Crap, nevermind, just had to replace a power supply (x-connect) and shot my budget. Looks like the nephews are SOL for now.

Thanks Praetor.

 

[4W4K3]

Well the mobo is pretty important, because it might only have PCI slots, or it might have an AGP4X slot, or maybe 8X. Gotta determine that befor you can really choose a card.

I'd say a 128MB 9600 would run those games fine at lower/medium settings. If you can afford it then maybe a Pro or XT model would run even better. But i don't know your budget...

My 9200 64MB card will play NFSU (1 and 2) no probs at all all settnings turned up as far as they will go ~30FPS. If you disable some of the fancy stuff like motion blur (makes me literally sick after about 20mins of play so i disable anywyas) and ground reflection (pointless?) it runs ~45-60FPS. But i know this card wouldn't handle FarCry...so i think 9600 would do OK if it proves to be in your budget and compatible with your mobo.

http://insanetek.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2125 (NFSU thread i made today )

Start saving! lol.

 

[Praetor]

My 9200 64MB card will play NFSU (1 and 2) no probs at all all settnings turned up as far as they will go ~30FPS.

nice... at what resolution?

 

[4W4K3]

nice... at what resolution?

1024*768, all the other higher ones either make my monitor stretch the image so its only in the middle of the screen. the highest res gives me ~23FPS with maxed settings...i don't really like that low FPS. I have pics in that link of 1024*768 i believe...