Looking for good Gaming Video card

D

Debbie25

New Member
Right now our system consist of:
Asus Systemboard with AMD Athlon 64 2.8gb
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb, 256bit video card (AGP)
76gb SATA Hard Drive
1gb DDR 2700

We would like to upgrade only the video card for now.
It has to be AGP and needs to support DirectX 10.

There are so many cards out there to choose from.
We would like to stay under $300
I wouldn't think you could get a good card for under $200 but I could be wrong.

Right now we are able to play HL2, Farcry, Fear OK but would like to get ready for the next games coming out like Oblivion.

Thanks for you help,
Debbie
 
I don't beleive there are any AGP cards that support DX10, and there probably won't be any... I've not exactly looked into it, but AGP cards are becoming rather scarce today.

If you're willing to spend $300, wait a bit longer then upgrade your computer. You could probably just get a new mobo, video card, and use the rest of your components. Though, you might want to upgrade beyond PC2700 RAM.

Do you know if your processor's a S939 or S754?
 
I will think about that.
I do know that the MB will not take anything higher then the PC2700
I believe it is a S754
 
Oh...darn... It'd be much nicer if you had slightly better stuff. I mean, you can still find a few S754 boards with PCI-Express, but even S939 becoming more scare today with AM2's release.

There are a few quite powerful AGP cards around, but none that are DX10. My suggestion would be to just save up some money and do a system overhaul in a few months. The 8600's are suppose to go for around $120... That should be a fair upgrade compared to the other card.
 
well, AGP isnt great, but it is still very powerful, so i would tell you to get a 7800gs and save up for awhile to get a pci-e motherboard
 
i need a a better card for gaming i have the shit 6200.(my dads comp anyway)
and i looking for a 7600gt or 7900gs the price is like 20 or 30 $ more. which one should i get?
 
OK, I have done some more research and I do agree I will not find an AGP with DirectX 10.

I see a couple of you are saying go for the 7800GS but wondering on how these stack up:

Asus N6800 with 512mb but 128bit GDDR2
HIS Hightech Radeon X1950 Pro 256mb 256bit GDDR3
Radeon X1650PRO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2
GeForce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit DDR
Radeon X1600PRO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2
GeForce 6600GT 128MB 128-bit GDDR3

If we have 128mb on our ATI 9800 Pro card now, would I be happy with only 256mb vs. 512mb?

Also... when it comes to the bit, would 128 be ok vs. 256?

Thanks,
 
id get a 7800 agp card then save for a motherboard


does any one know when the 8600 are gonna be released.or if there ognna come out when the r600 does??

if some 1 think they will be out by the end of april let me know asap lol
 
Ok, but the 7800 only has 256mb.
Wouldn't it be better to get a card with 512mb?

Also in the cards I'm researching I'm finding differences listed below.
Are some of these a big deal or not?

Core Clock = 400mhz thru 620mhz
PixelPipelines = 12 thru 16
Memory Clock = 500mhz thru 1480mhz
Memory Type = GDDR2 vs. GDDR3
Memory Interface = 128bit vs. 256bit
Max Resolution = 2048 x 1536 vs. 2560 x 1600

Thanks again
 
Debbie25 said:
Ok, but the 7800 only has 256mb.
Wouldn't it be better to get a card with 512mb?

Also in the cards I'm researching I'm finding differences listed below.
Are some of these a big deal or not?

Core Clock = 400mhz thru 620mhz
PixelPipelines = 12 thru 16
Memory Clock = 500mhz thru 1480mhz
Memory Type = GDDR2 vs. GDDR3
Memory Interface = 128bit vs. 256bit
Max Resolution = 2048 x 1536 vs. 2560 x 1600

Thanks again
Click to expand...

Those spec you listed are the biggest deal. Don't worry about memory. I know it sounds stupid but memory has very little to do with video card performance, faster core/memory clock, Rop's, shaders, bandwidth... these are the things you should be looking for. I recommend this line-up of cards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0pro+agp&Submit=ENE&N=0&Ntk=all&Go.x=0&Go.y=0
 
hermeslyre
That's very interesting that you sent me to that lineup.
After doing more research I have somewhat decided on the x1950.

I was wondering on those specs because the 256mb has:
Core clock 620MHz
Memory Clock: 1480MHz

And the 512mb has:
Core clock 575MHz
Memory Clock 1380MHz

Depending on what manufacture and cost.

So I guess it would be OK to go with the 256mb with the higher clock speeds.

I heard when it comes to brands, good one's would be:
ATI, Asus, PLY, MSI...

There is one by 'HIS Hightech' which is fairly new. Looks good but not sure.

Thanks
 
yes the lower memory/higher clock is great. to tell you the truth i'm not up on Ati oem's(his,diamond,saphire) so i recomend starting a thread with your top picks asking which is best. Good luck!
 
I would honestly just save up more money and do a system overhaul. Sell your system to someone for as much as you can. The processor is okay, but will soon be obselete. The ram is obselete. The video card is obselete. AGP is becoming obselete.
 
Well for now the system is fast and reliable.
Also later the dual core will be lower in prices and easier to upgrade to.

The video issue is the only problem were having. His game are playing ok but they do lockup at times with the sound repeat problems.

So for now getting a better video card and also 1 more stick of 1gb memory would do the trick.


As for overclocking. I'm not comfortable doing that. Plus most of the cards are clocked to there max anyway.
 
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