AGP upgrade from 9550

[artois281065]

I've read the forums and I know the preferred route is new motherboard etc to move away from AGP. Only recently installed more ram, new psu and hard drives are ata. The 9550 has only been in for a short time and from what I've read I should get a good increase in performance by upgrading the card. I'm considering 6800GT/GS, X850XT or even 7800GS. What will give the best performance for the money given my system : 2.53 P4, 1GB 3200RAM, 550W power supply. I'm not sure about the Powercolor X850XT on this site not heard good reports, and not many X850XT's about otherwise.

 

[artois281065]

Guess this would mean 2 new hard drives and PSU? If so the card only could be a viable upgrade until I upgrade the whole machine? Is the processor really a problem?

 

[artois281065]

When I fitted the new psu recently it was a doddle. Are motherboards a standard fit as well - the case is a compaq? I didn't know I could transfer the RAM I thought it was board specific. Won't I need different connectors for the PSU for the ATA drives?

 

[artois281065]

The existing board is a micro star 6577 had the pc since Jan 2003.

 

[artois281065]

Existing board is micro ATX socket 478. Doesn't look like there's enough room for a bigger board. Case itself is 15 wide by 14 high