card upgrade?

[hugejeans]

I have an ati 9800 pro 128 at the moment .
What is the best card I could get for my pc using AGP as I dont have a pci slot?
I would like to stick with ati as well.
My pc has
amd athlon xp 3000
1024 ddr ram
160 gig HD.
I have looked around but not really sure which is the best.

And would I be able to play cod4 and crysis at some decent rate?

Thanks in advance

[briareos_kerensky]

And would I be able to play cod4 and crysis at some decent rate?

Nope, you'll be CPU limited. The X1950 is the most powerful AGP card from Ati, but if your PSU hasn't at least 20A on the 12+V line you'll have to replace it as well.

[WazMeister]

Same Boat

Hi

I'm in same boay
Exact same system

Xp3000
1 GIG ram
Radeon 9800xt 256

I can run TF2, ETQW just about, so a little more bump and I thnk I can run them alot smoother. TF2 plays smooth in 1280x768 and all other settings low and ETQW well.. diffrent story.. Hvaing that looking worse than Quake 2 still runs really bad but I don't feel its mainly my PC fault...

So all I want is a little more trickle, little more bump...... I can't and won't be able to afford a full PCI DUO CORE upgrade for a min and I mean a MIN 2 years...
And tbh no games will keep me excited online for that, My main games online will be TF2, ETQW and maybe some Quake Zero when its out.

Any single player games = Xbox 360.

So what do you do?

Well in my honest opinion and what I going to do is
A)Get another gig of ram, this will help more than you would think. Having 1 gig is board line and getting another gig wreally will help.
ANother gig is about 34 quid for good brand.

B)I was debating on a 7800 Geforce or something but reading reviews the ATi X1950 Pro 512 it beats it all
At 103 pounds inc Vat you can't go wrong.


My PSU is a new 520 so tat should be fine for it all.

But that should if not then something is wrong-
A)Make TF2 run smoother in current settings or heck even higher.....
B)Run ETQW in lowest smooth.


Maybe even better... Still have friends same spec with a 6600GT and run TF2 dead fine near med....

[WazMeister]

Just to add, I dout your run Crysis if at all... I won't try as I don't like it.. tried my friends.

Cod4, not sure.
I know some online friends with near same spec as you with a X1950 pro 512mb are running it fine in med settings.....
Dunno though.

[Dazzyman]

New stuff like Crysis and COD4 are both CPU AND GPU dependant and you wont get either of them looking nice on both a cpu and a card upgrade without major frame rate issues. Crysis is a serious hog and even on my 2.67 dcore and a 8800gtx 768mb card I get 25fps on ultra on DX10. I have COD4 on both systems and prefer it on 360 as they look near identical anyway PC slightly higher textures but then on flip side I cant run it as well at 1080p as I can on 360. Crysis is nice but it aint all that.

[NeilMcRae]

better to upgrade the board at the same time.

[eastyy]

to be honest you would probably just be better off getting a new computer and using your existing monitor .....cos it wont be long before there will be new games that you wouldnt be able to run at all

[Kit]

to be honest you would probably just be better off getting a new computer and using your existing monitor .....cos it wont be long before there will be new games that you wouldnt be able to run at all

Yep, and considering how cheap hardware is at the moment it's well worth the investment.

Decent bundles.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=339&sortby=nameA sc&subid=944&mfrid=

Combine that with a moderate graphics card/PSU upgrade and you're laughing.

[hugejeans]

Like wise I can run the orange box fine,TF2 looks ok.

Might just wait to see if crysis appears on 360 or PS3 cause there is no way on earth the wife will go for a new pc.

[smouty]

Have a look at toms hardware gpu charts and just get the best AGP card you can afford.
It will at least be better than what you have. It is surprising how good the 9800 cards were as I tried HL2:ep2 on my older PC recently and it was fine with a few settings dropped down a notch. It also runs Bioshock reasonable well.
My newer PC only has a 2600XT in it as it is mainly used for Bluray/HDDVD and is a bit faster but not enough to run Crysis without massive popup at default.

Old PC is 1280x1024
New PC is 1360x768 (TV)

A 7800GS should be a major improvement

[WazMeister]

Smouty what spec is your 9800xt system?

I been playing HL2:EP1 in 1280x768 near all full.
Just no AA or HDR.

It has a few glitches or bits of hic up loading in new areas, but is fine!!

Maybe a slight slow down in big battles with all the pyshics going on, but seems fine.

TF2 is another storie, 1280x768 and everything at possible lowest I get about 40 FPS idle in a empty room.
Soon as I see someone to ifght hits 23fps or lower..... annoying. Dunno why?!?!?!?

Recently got ETQW with a driver update running smooth constant 30fps but everything lowest looking like Q2 but res 1280x768.
If i can run that, TF2 should be running a bit better?!?!?

3Dmark06 I got 1094 score, lol... Seemed quiet good comparing to other systems they showed me.

Not tried Bioshock, presumed it would not even load so gotit on 360.....

I presume with my results upabove,, if I put another 1 gig ram in and bought a X1950 Pro AGP (best agp atm). HL2:Ep1 and EP2 run smooth as silk in all high with HDR and ETQW will run a bit better with slight up on graphics
And TF2 should run heck alot better?
Surely should.
I've been eading people using a X1950 pro from a x800 get a 20fps in most games.
an x800 is about 30% better than a silly old 9800xt.. so I'm presuming from a 9800xt to a X1950 Pro i could get 30fps or more in most games.. espcailly with another gig ram.

Sounds maybe extreme.. but also logical!

So another good year in my silly old PC! GET IN!
Heck maybe even 2 as all I be playing online for next few years is ETQW and TF2 and some LOTOR... anything else be 360!

yes!

[WazMeister]

Also if a 7800GS is a major improvement, then a X1950 Pro be a mega?

As from alot reviews and VS articles the X1950 Pro 512mb edtion leaves 7800GS standing.

[smouty]

Also if a 7800GS is a major improvement, then a X1950 Pro be a mega?

As from alot reviews and VS articles the X1950 Pro 512mb edtion leaves 7800GS standing.

It will do if there are no other bottlenecks in the system. The power requirements for the 1950 are excessive and it is very particular on PSU choice.

My older system is P4 3.0 HT
1 Gb RAM