iplaygames2 Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 I'm in the process of upgrading my PC. What kinds of video cards will ToW be optimized for? I've been using an Nvidia card for most of my gaming life, but I hear from friends and colleagues that ATI is superior for gaming. I'm basically looking to upgrade my video card, and maybe get some more memory. My CPU will be the last thing to get upgraded. Currently have a P4 2.6GhZ processor, 1GBDDR400 RAM, and a GeForce4Ti4200 (128MB) vid card. Haven't put anything new in this rig for a year and a half or so. I'm just itching to get the box open and put in some new goodies, but I'm on a budget, too. Any tips appreciated! :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traemyn Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 whats your vid card budget? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iplaygames2 Posted September 16, 2006 Author Share Posted September 16, 2006 Currently around the $200 US range, that's the most I could pry from my wifes fingers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrAL Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 Well, if you want to hear my user/gamer opinion, then listen. As I understood, you have AGP slot not PCI-E, so am I (at home). I was searching a good, fast and cheap video card for a long time... And I've found it! ATI Radeon X800XL 256Mb from GeCube, i like it much. Here in Russia it costs 160-180$$ or something about it. IMHO It's one of the best cards for AGP slot cards in range of 200$. It has good potential for overclocking. What is more important, most of the latest games runs on it smoothly on "High Detail" [ September 16, 2006, 07:20 AM: Message edited by: GrAL ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iplaygames2 Posted September 16, 2006 Author Share Posted September 16, 2006 Thanks, GrAL. I appreciate the info, and I am running a D865GBF Intel mobo, so yes, it's an AGP board. X800XL, huh? I've heard that the X1600XT was good, never heard anything about the 800XL. I'm also getting word that the GeForce 7600GS is a good card. It's about $160US. Still, I've never used an ATI card before, and I guess I'm too dumb or cautious to do any overclocking. Cooling is an issue here, because the space that my PC is in is really tight. I've got all the fans I can fit in the box right now and it still gets warm. From what I know, overclocking just increases the heat on a card, right? Thanks again for your response! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolColJ Posted September 17, 2006 Share Posted September 17, 2006 That ATI card will be a very big upgrade for your system but it only has Shader model v2 support, not SM3, like in the later crads, so not as good for eye candy and latest game support the fastest AGP card now, which I have, is the Gainward 7800GS+ 512meg card. It's basicly a Nvida 7900GT in AGP format with 512megs of video ram. Unlike other 7800GS cards it has a 7900GT core, so it comes with 24 piplines instead of 20 and can run at much higher speeds than from the factory, almost as fast as 7900GTX. And the fan is pretty quiet. Along with my P4 3+ gigahertz system, it runs all the latest games pretty well even for such an old system Also make sure your power supply can handle tehse later cards. Get at least a high qulaity 400w unit to be safe. And don't skimp on quality! Not all 400w units are the same, especially no name brand type units Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iplaygames2 Posted September 17, 2006 Author Share Posted September 17, 2006 What's the 7800GS+ go for? I would think a 512 card would be a little bit out of my $200 price range... My card now has 4 pixel pipes..yikes. I've got a 400w supply, not too sure what kind it is. What's a typical "good" supply manufacturer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolColJ Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 around the same prices as 7900gt and kinda rare Well there are some more recent and cheaper AGP cards, more from the Nvidia side. And all have the latest Shader model spec and should be a huge boost over your current card! I think the 7600GS is agp which is kinda slow, and the 7800GS is 256meg and a bit faster and costs more. And a 7600GT, which is agp and I think better than the 7600GS 2nd hand you can get a 6800GT which is 2 gens back, but decent enough and has SM3 good, effecient and quiet models are the Antec NEO HE series, Seasonic S12 series, recent Enermax Noistaker models and Zalman ZM460-APS models. All tehse can be had around the 400-500W area I'm biased to low noise power supplies, but the less noise, the more, game noise you can hear They are pretty effecient as well, these models all rank in the top 5. So less heat generated, and in turn less noise and less electricity etc although you have to be careful as some models cater for the newer ATX 2.2 spec of the newer models but should work ok for your P4 The 7800GS and 7600GT isn't too power hungry though [ September 17, 2006, 07:02 PM: Message edited by: CoolColJ ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolColJ Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 There is a 6800GS too see the handy table someone posted here of AGP cards http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/585473.html fastest to slowest http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/index.cfm?a=wiki&tag=rmp_vds LOL all these GS and GT gets so confusing! :mad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolColJ Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 7600GT review and not bad price wise, its the Ti4200 of this gen http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_7600_gt_performance/ 7600 GT is essentially half a GeForce 7900 GT: the GeForce 7600 GT has half the pixel shaders as GeForce 7900 GT (12 versus 24), half the ROPS (8 versus 16), and half the memory interface (128-bit versus 256-bit). Essentially the only portion of the GeForce 7600 GT that isn’t sliced in half are the vertex shaders. NVIDIA equips the GeForce 7600 GT with five vertex units, whereas the GeForce 7900 GT has eight. the 7800GS+ I have is essentially a 7900GT in AGP format. Gainward is the only company to make it. [ September 17, 2006, 07:01 PM: Message edited by: CoolColJ ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iplaygames2 Posted September 18, 2006 Author Share Posted September 18, 2006 Thanks a bunch ColJ. I appreciate all the info from a person with, obviously, more knowledge than myself. I guess that's what internet forums are for..... I am rather surprised that I grabbed the demo of company of heroes (multi) and can play it with decent framerate. I have high hopes for current gen games after I upgrade my vid card! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted September 24, 2006 Share Posted September 24, 2006 Originally posted by iplaygames2: I'm in the process of upgrading my PC. What kinds of video cards will ToW be optimized for? I've been using an Nvidia card for most of my gaming life, but I hear from friends and colleagues that ATI is superior for gaming. I'm basically looking to upgrade my video card, and maybe get some more memory. My CPU will be the last thing to get upgraded. Currently have a P4 2.6GhZ processor, 1GBDDR400 RAM, and a GeForce4Ti4200 (128MB) vid card. Haven't put anything new in this rig for a year and a half or so. I'm just itching to get the box open and put in some new goodies, but I'm on a budget, too. Any tips appreciated! :cool: Do you have a 2.66 GHz Pentium-4 with 800 MHz FSB (front-side bus)? If not, if you have the older model of P4 you can most likely forget about upgrading the processor, and your current one is just not fast enough. Although PCIe and AGP themself are not notably different speed-wise (both have enough bandwidth for current video cards), the current top-of-line AGP cards cost more than similar speed PCIe cards, much more, in fact enough more that you can pay for a new mainboard easily. Last but not least you PSU is almost certainly not capable of feeding any modern grapihics card. Why anybody on the BFC forum would recommend or consider anything with an ATI video chipset is bejond me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolColJ Posted September 24, 2006 Share Posted September 24, 2006 Originally posted by Redwolf: Last but not least you PSU is almost certainly not capable of feeding any modern grapihics card. I don't agree Wattage isn't the only factor My 380Watt Antec TruePower PSU from my Antec Sonata case is running my overclocked system and my Gainward 7800GS+ (7900gt) which is also overclocked to 500/700 (just under 7900GTX speeds) And my PSU only has one 12 volt outlet so I have both molexes from the video card and all my 3 HD molex pligs into this single 12 volt outlet as well Whereas someone else on the net blew his 500w PSU with the same video card.... That's why I say the quality and ampage of the PSU is more important. Most modern systems will not draw more than 300watts at full sustained load, and no systems will draw at full sustained rate more than a few seconds at a time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iplaygames2 Posted September 24, 2006 Author Share Posted September 24, 2006 Originally posted by Redwolf: Do you have a 2.66 GHz Pentium-4 with 800 MHz FSB (front-side bus)? If not, if you have the older model of P4 you can most likely forget about upgrading the processor, and your current one is just not fast enough. I have no idea, but after running aida32, this is what it says. Computer Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition OS Service Pack Service Pack 2 Internet Explorer 6.0.2900.2180 Computer Name ADAM (Adam and Erika's computer in the basement!) User Name AdamY Logon Domain ADAM Motherboard CPU Type Intel Pentium 4HT, 2600 MHz (3.25 x 800) Motherboard Name Intel Bay Field D865GBF (6 PCI, 1 AGP, 4 DIMM, Audio, Video, LAN) Motherboard Chipset Intel Springdale-G i865G System Memory 1024 MB (DDR SDRAM) BIOS Type AMI (06/24/03) Communication Port Communications Port (COM1) Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1) Display Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 (128 MB) 3D Accelerator nVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 So, does that make my request for info any easier to help with? I feel so out of touch with technology nowadays. Pretty sad because just 2 years ago I used to build PCs for a paycheck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted September 26, 2006 Share Posted September 26, 2006 You can use Pentium-4s with Northwood core and maybe-probably also Prescotts cores(both up to 3.4 GHz) in that machine, and even the extreme edition P-4s (socket 478 only). That would make this a wothwhile computer for a modern card and might justify a new AGP card. As we said, the power supply is a different matter, you'd have to post the maker/model or the individual power ratings at the different voltages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iplaygames2 Posted September 26, 2006 Author Share Posted September 26, 2006 Is there any way to discover what PS is in my box without opening it up? I really hate to pull mine out from it's tucked away hiding spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted September 27, 2006 Share Posted September 27, 2006 Originally posted by iplaygames2: Is there any way to discover what PS is in my box without opening it up? I really hate to pull mine out from it's tucked away hiding spot. No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iplaygames2 Posted September 27, 2006 Author Share Posted September 27, 2006 OK Redwolf, according to the PS, it's an Antec True430, 430W Max. Does that help you? I am in the debt of you and others like you for the technical advice, by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolColJ Posted September 27, 2006 Share Posted September 27, 2006 then your good to go. Antec make good quality PSU Mine is a Antec TP 380 watt and runs the Gainward 7800GS+ overlocked and my system is also overclocked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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