graphics card upgrade

[euphoriafish]

It was a fun summer. My GeForce4 ti4200 finally bit the dust at the same time that my old Epox motherboard had bad caps. I am currently borrowing a GeForce2 MX from a friend, and looking for an upgrade. But the rest of my system is pretty darn old and I can't afford to build an entirely new computer until I get out of college in the next year or so.

My system:
motherboard: Soyo KT600 Dragon Plus
CPU: Athlon XP 2100+
CPU fan: Thermaltake Volcano 7+
Power: Antec 350W (came with a standard steel Antec case back in 2002 when I built this rig)
HDD 1: 200GB Western Digital
HDD 2: 80GB Western Digital
CD/DVD drive
CD R/CD RW burner drive
Soundcard: Soundblaster Audigy 2 (I think but do not remember--definitely in the Audigy series though
monitor: 17" Viewsonic A70f+ CRT

I'm not a hardcore gamer, but I do game. Most of the FPS games I own are several years old and came bundled with my old video and sound cards. I have no plans for overclocking until I have a more stable job and can afford to upgrade more often. I don't want to buy an additional fan to cool my graphics card.

Also, I am an artist. So color quality and memory are more important to me than refresh rates, until I do more modelling and animation work. If I had the money right now, I would like to run double monitors. But even that won't happen unless a friend gets rid of an old one and gives it to me for cheap. I'm getting into animation with Illustrator and After Effects and dabbling in modeling in Maya, but still am mostly a Photoshopper.

My price range is around $100. I'm sure anything recent will look gobs better than either of the old cards, but I'm having trouble understanding some of the specs in the card descriptions and wanted to be sure I wouldn't have compatibility issues as far as power requirements or the motherboard are concerned. I would go to $150 if I would actually notice the difference and the card would last me that much longer.

Some things that looked good:

SAPPHIRE 100131 Radeon X800GTO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - OEM:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102608

eVGA 256-A8-N330-LX Geforce 6600LE 256MB 128-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130262

XFX PVT44AYAL3 Geforce 6200 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150125

ATI 100-437406 Radeon X700PRO 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102605

XFX PV-T73K-YAL3 Geforce 7600GS 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150166

Advice? Anything else I didn't know to look for?

Thanks in advance!

[TRIGGER]

Re: graphics card upgrade

I would say the 7600 GS for for a few reasons. First it has 12pixel pipelines. It has 512mb of video memory which it will never utilize, but its a plus. And i also think the card is a great value and will outperform some of the other cards you were considering. If i was in your situation that would be my card.

[fuflo]

Re: graphics card upgrade

uhm.. not all 7600gs have 512mb memory. i have one from msi with 256mb. even though i find it pretty good.. i'm an average gamer and it works nicely for me. i don't know much about ati, and probably won't so i can't judge those cards.. but for nvidia i'd go with 6600gt or 7600gs

[zaqwsx]

Re: graphics card upgrade

The 6600gt are really old and wont play many games but on the other hand the 7600gs is grate first of all it's a 7 series 12 pixel pipes and should run most games on high until your computer starts limiting it. Also prices are not bad around 150 max and under.

[zaqwsx]

Re: graphics card upgrade

Acutly if you can spend around 165 go with this card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143045
I run all games on max 1280*1024 the games are crazy and smooth and you will really like it. Also if your lucky you could unlock the pixel pipes to 16 and you would be set for like a long time

[casecutter]

Re: graphics card upgrade

I found the deal of all deals for $99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102002R

That is the card you want for $100. No sense in spendinga penny more for an AGP based card. Get that and it will easily play anything out. SM3 is hardly used and just not needed yet.

[euphoriafish]

Re: graphics card upgrade

Thanks! I'll probably go with that Radeon x800, if you don't think my system would use the extra pipelines and memory the more expensive cards have.
It seems to be a milestone in graphics card evolution? Since a lot of people whose advice I read own them?

[orangutang91]

Re: graphics card upgrade

that x800 looks beautiful!!! I would definitely buy it.

[casecutter]

Re: graphics card upgrade

Your system would probably bottleneck an X800 pro so I'd say it is plenty fast for your needs. Plus, I wouldn't spend any more than $100 for a new AGP card considering how fast they are becoming obsolete. It will definitely be an excellent high end card for your system and will be just as fast as a stock 6800GS.

[Yawgm0th]

Re: graphics card upgrade

An X800GTO for that price is a great deal, but that system would bottleneck a 9800 Pro. Even if you overclocked the CPU, you're not doing anything on an X800 of any sort. Find a 9800 Pro or SE or something along those lines. If you're going to upgrade at all, either do just enough or do a full system upgrade. You'll end up upgrading within the next six months regardless, and any X800 series cards will depreciate quite a bit. Radeon 9*** series cards have barely come down in price in the last year, and won't come down much until the next generation.

Basically, anything X800 is going to be overkill and will depreciate before you're ready to sell it. A 9800 isn't moving anywhere fast price-wise, and is the most you can take anyway. I'd go for something along those lines. I wouldn't even buy something on Newegg. Ebay or something makes more sense.