Breathing life into old machine.

ham_mcfist · 21 Apr 2008 at 17:18

Hi guys, i'm just after a little advice on a replacement card for my old desktop.

specs: Asus A7n8x Deluxe, Athlon 3200XP, 1GB and a dead ATI 9700 pro.

I know we're going back at least 5yrs here, but I just can't let the old girl go. So a new graphics card it is!

I've read the sticky about choosing a new AGP card and i'm guessing something like the x1950 Pro is going to cause some serious bottle necking on my system. Also assuming anything HD isn't going to work, due to lack of CPU speed and ram. So can anyone recommend a card that'll make the most of my system. Thanks.

benjo · 21 Apr 2008 at 17:19

I'd look for a x8xx of some sort. The X800XT-PE or the X850XT would do nicely! Can be had for £30 tops

thefishdude · 21 Apr 2008 at 17:43

yeah i used to run an x800xl on a 2600 bart. altough it recently bust and was replaced with a x1650pro and 3700 san deigo core.

ham_mcfist · 21 Apr 2008 at 22:36

Thanks for the input guys, it's much appreciated. Unless anyone else has some more suggestions, I'll get looking for a cheap 800/850.

Cheers.

benjo · 21 Apr 2008 at 22:43

I used to run an Athlon 3200XP, 1Gb, and a 9800Pro. So my first system was almost exactly the same. I swapped the 9800Pro out for an X800XT-PE and the difference was amazing! Framerates were increased dramatically, i think it managed to double my 3D Mark 05 score

HangTime · 21 Apr 2008 at 23:05

I'd be tempted to go for a 6800 series (or better) card due to SM3.0 support.
At the time it wasn't all that important, but there are quite a few games nowadays that require it.

Not much point in spending more really as you'd be better off upgrading the whole system to a PCI-E/DDR2 setup.

PCZ · 22 Apr 2008 at 00:24

Get a 6800GT
Don't pay over the odds though.

benjo · 22 Apr 2008 at 00:28

Completely forgot about the 6800 series. Doh! They're all around the same speed really, but as HangTime said, the Nvidia's support SM3.

Rroff · 22 Apr 2008 at 00:37

While I'm not sure if a 6800 series card will have the umph theres going to be quite a few games out in the next little while that require SM3 as a minimum...

Big.Wayne · 22 Apr 2008 at 01:42

ham_mcfist said:
Hi guys, i'm just after a little advice on a replacement card for my old desktop

Hi ham_mcfist,

welcome to OcUK forums, make sure you read the FAQ and please do not feed the animals!

Looking at your post it appears your old AGP card has died and your looking for a quick fix replacement right? What is not clear from your post is do you actually game on the PC or what?

If you do then the lads have pretty much covered the better AGP gaming options but if you don't those cards suggested may not be appropriate.

Any of these features important to you?

Passively Cooled/Silent
Low Voltage
HD Acceleration

Cyber-Mav · 22 Apr 2008 at 01:47

7600gt AGP is your best bet.

-iceblade^ · 22 Apr 2008 at 02:14

ham_mcfist · 22 Apr 2008 at 09:59

Big.Wayne said:
Hi ham_mcfist,

welcome to OcUK forums, make sure you read the FAQ and please do not feed the animals!

Looking at your post it appears your old AGP card has died and your looking for a quick fix replacement right? What is not clear from your post is do you actually game on the PC or what?

If you do then the lads have pretty much covered the better AGP gaming options but if you don't those cards suggested may not be appropriate.

Any of these features important to you?

Passively Cooled/Silent

Low Voltage

HD Acceleration

Thanks for the welcome and all the replies, guys. I was a bit sketchy with my intended usage details (non existant in fact

) so here's a little more info.

It's currently used for casual gaming, although I'm not expecting to play many, if any, up to date titles. My 360 fulfills those needs. That leaves general desktop usage and watching TV via a sat card, as my only other requirements. And viewing on a Hyudai W241D.
So a quiet card would be good, but not essential. Low voltage isn't an issue and although HD acceleration would be nice, I'm guessing the rest of my system would still give poor results.

jeggsy · 22 Apr 2008 at 10:12

Got an Abit NF7s with a 3000XP Barton and 2Gb RAM.

Currently running a Geforce 7600GT card and runs really sweet. Runs games like TOCA3, FS2004 and also 3D CAD Inventor.

Probably pick up a 2nd hand 7600GT for £40ish. Nice cards low power & heat.

Andeh · 22 Apr 2008 at 10:31

definitly a 7600GT or maybe a 7800GS. I have a 7800GS in my AMD64 3500+ system, and its capable of running Vegas 2 and Assassin's Creed at 1024x768

I wouldn't expect the same level of performance from a AthlonXP but at least with a 7600/7800 you wont have any graphics related bottleneck.
As a general rule though, don't bother with the x8xx series as they have no SM3 support. a lot of games that you could potentially play rely on SM3 (Vegas 2 and Assassin's Creed are 2 examples)

gt_junkie · 22 Apr 2008 at 10:33

I'd go for a 7800 personally. I'd rather definately be bottlenecked by the CPU than not as you'll be getting the absolute maximum framerate at that point. Also, 7800 aren't rediculously expensive.

gt

mame · 22 Apr 2008 at 10:40

Cyber-Mav said:
7600gt AGP is your best bet.

agree

tbh · 22 Apr 2008 at 11:09

HangTime said:
I'd be tempted to go for a 6800 series (or better) card due to SM3.0 support.
At the time it wasn't all that important, but there are quite a few games nowadays that require it.

That's true, I remember being most upset because Rainbow Six Vegas wouldn't run on a X800 based system I had.

FrenchTart · 22 Apr 2008 at 11:36

S3 Virge for the win...

Failing that, the 7800 advice seems good

Having a card that's a little cpu bottlenecked is probably still far superior to having a cpu that's graphics-card botlenecked.

HeX · 22 Apr 2008 at 11:51

Yup 7 series is your best bet.

Also try and find annother GB of cheap mem, will help out loads in more modern games.