New interim gfx card upgrade - worth it?

[Adnams Drinker]

Can't stretch to a complete new rig anytime soon, so I'm looking to upgrade certain components in the system I have got and one of the candidates is a new gfx card.

I must confess I've been out of touch with the hardware scene for a couple of years and a look through the Gfx card section of the OcUK shop has left me nowt but confused.

There are a some main requirements for a possible new card, which may restrict my options somewhat:

i) needs to be for an AGP slot - 8x is fine
ii) needs have a VGA out - my monitor doesn't have DVI. Unless some sort of adaptor can be fitted to connect one to the other - I warned you I was out of touch ...
iii) needs support for Shader Model 3

I'm currently using a Radeon X850 which fails on point iii), which is starting to rule out some games, which while my system is old, is perfectly capable of running. Have a Gigabyte 8KNXP mobo with a P4 2.8Ghz CPU and 2Gig of RAM (4 x 512MB Corsair PC3200). I'm not under the illusion I'll be able to run the likes of Crysis anytime soon

I've stuck with Radeons for the last few years but I'm told the balance of power has swung back towards Nvidia recently. Not fussed as to which brand to buy - bang for buck is the key requirement ...

One of these looked like a particularly good buy, but although the picture shows a board with VGA and DVI outs, it doesn't mention VGA in the description anywhere ...

Leadtek GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (AGP)

Are there any other suitable boards that anyone would recommend?

 

[Z][GGY]

whats your budget mate? plus any card that is dvi only always come with a dvi - vga adapter


but as a stab in the dark how about http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-081-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=403

 

[Adnams Drinker]

whats your budget mate? plus any card that is dvi only always come with a dvi - vga adapter

Oooops - that just shows how out of touch I am with the hardware scene as a whole

but as a stab in the dark how about http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-081-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=403

Budget-wise, hopefully less than £100, but depends what's available and what balance of spec vs. price ...

Somehow I missed the one you linked to - can't argue with the price. Will definitely add that to the list of candidates - thanks for a quick reply

 

[Z][GGY]

np lol i'm at work till 08:00

 

[Stonedofmoo]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-137-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=403

Easily the best midrange AGP card out at the moment, the 1650 is fairly pitiful performance wise. You could get one much cheaper second hand...

 

[gt_junkie]

The 7600 is a great card and is better than the x850 and older 6800ultra.

For a touch over your budget @ £105 the 7800gs is a far more powerful item.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-016-BG&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411

I upgraded from an x850xt (PCI-E) to one of these (also PCI-E) and noticed a real performance increase. Probably close to double what i'd previously seen. No only that but the card i linked to is a BFG which comes with a lifetime warranty.

Finally, the king of AGP has to be the x1950pro but is out of budget - i suppose you may find one second hand for less but remember that it will probably come with either a reduced warranty or none at all.

gt

 

[Adnams Drinker]

Thanks for all your suggestions gents ...

I was reading about the 1950 a few weeks ago when I was looking into a dual-monitor card for my machine at work - I think I'll rule that one out now for the same reason I ruled it out then, not so much the price, more the bloody length of the card as mentioned in the reviews!

Therefore, I think it's a straight fight between the 7600 and the 7800GS, assuming that the 7800 isn't the same length as a 1950. I'll have to have the side off the machine and see if it would obstruct any wiring/other components before I decide.

 

[gt_junkie]

Couldn't find the 7800gs and 1950pro together but i found these that compare each to the 6800. Looks like the 7800 is a similar length... possibly a little shorter.

gt

 

[HangTime]

Personally I'd be a bit wary of upgrading from an AGP x850. Apart from the lack of SM3 it is a reasonably capable card, not much slower than the 7600GT. To make the upgrade worthwhile you really shouldn't look anywhere but the x1950pro.

 

[jak731]

how about this as a the first step?
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail £37.99
(£44.64) £37.99
(£44.64)
Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 (Socket 775) PCI-Express/AGP DDR2 Motherboard £36.99
(£43.46) £36.99
(£43.46)
Sub Total : £74.98
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.25
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £14.57
Total : £97.80


i know it isnt a graphics card, but it would give you access to the PCI-E, give you a C2D cpu (your old cpu seems to be skt 478 and is therefore incomaptible with this MB.) however you will loose 1 GB of ram, have to keep your current graphics card unless you can find more funding for it as well. but it will allow you to slowly upgrade your PC provided you have the cash

you could go for a e2180 over the e2140, both can overclock to 3GHz or more with a P35 MB however it is easier with the e2180 due to its higher multiplier. The MB in the spec is NOT a p35 based MB and will not overclock well.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

be weary of the x1950pro agp, i got one and its agp driver support is ended now. so you would prossibly be stuck on catalyst 7.7 for the agp ati card. if you do opt for a x1950pro best to check out the rage3d forums first for more information on its issues.

 

[Adnams Drinker]

how about this as a the first step?
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail £37.99
(£44.64) £37.99
(£44.64)
Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 (Socket 775) PCI-Express/AGP DDR2 Motherboard £36.99
(£43.46) £36.99
(£43.46)
Sub Total : £74.98
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.25
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £14.57
Total : £97.80


i know it isnt a graphics card, but it would give you access to the PCI-E, give you a C2D cpu (your old cpu seems to be skt 478 and is therefore incomaptible with this MB.) however you will loose 1 GB of ram, have to keep your current graphics card unless you can find more funding for it as well. but it will allow you to slowly upgrade your PC provided you have the cash

you could go for a e2180 over the e2140, both can overclock to 3GHz or more with a P35 MB however it is easier with the e2180 due to its higher multiplier. The MB in the spec is NOT a p35 based MB and will not overclock well.

Hmmm, that's given me a great deal of food for thought ...

 

[thecremeegg]

Hmmm, that's given me a great deal of food for thought ...

Only thing is you have to budget in RAM and a GFX card, but otherwise thats not a bad way to head tbh

 

[Bane]

how about this as a the first step?
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail £37.99
(£44.64) £37.99
(£44.64)
Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 (Socket 775) PCI-Express/AGP DDR2 Motherboard £36.99
(£43.46) £36.99
(£43.46)
Sub Total : £74.98
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.25
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £14.57
Total : £97.80

When you start seeing things like that, you release how over-priced AGP graphic cards are.

From what I remember the 7600GT isn't far off a 7800GS if you decided to stick to current motherboard. Was the memory controller reduction from 256-bit.

 

[Adnams Drinker]

how about this as a the first step?
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail £37.99
(£44.64) £37.99
(£44.64)
Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 (Socket 775) PCI-Express/AGP DDR2 Motherboard £36.99
(£43.46) £36.99
(£43.46)
Sub Total : £74.98
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.25
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £14.57
Total : £97.80


i know it isnt a graphics card, but it would give you access to the PCI-E, give you a C2D cpu (your old cpu seems to be skt 478 and is therefore incomaptible with this MB.) however you will loose 1 GB of ram, have to keep your current graphics card unless you can find more funding for it as well. but it will allow you to slowly upgrade your PC provided you have the cash

you could go for a e2180 over the e2140, both can overclock to 3GHz or more with a P35 MB however it is easier with the e2180 due to its higher multiplier. The MB in the spec is NOT a p35 based MB and will not overclock well.

I'm 99% positive the HD in my current machine is SATA - to be honest, it was so long ago I built it I can't remember and haven't got the email confirming the original order. Am I right in thinking that SATA2 is a new 'standard' for HDs? Assuming my HD is SATA1, would it be backward compatible with this new board?

 

[gt_junkie]

I'm 99% positive the HD in my current machine is SATA - to be honest, it was so long ago I built it I can't remember and haven't got the email confirming the original order. Am I right in thinking that SATA2 is a new 'standard' for HDs? Assuming my HD is SATA1, would it be backward compatible with this new board?

Yes - it'll just run at SATA1's rated speed which is about half that of SATA2.

gt

 

[Adnams Drinker]

In the last week, I've bought one of the Asrock boards mentioned and I'm awaiting the arrival of an E2160 to go in it. My bro has a Scythe Ninja or Freezer 7 Pro he's not using, so we'll use whatever fits the mobo and/or my Antec case - hopefully the Ninja!

I know the mobo isn't a lot of good for overclocking but we'll have a go and see what we can get out of it - anything's a bonus. I'll stick with my current RAM for the timebeing but eventually replace it with something like this:

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)

 

[Uriel]

Well now PCI-E is an option, the 7600GT becomes a very cheap option for you:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

I'd take that more as an illustration than a recommendation. There's a whole host of relatively cheap cards that will perform better.

Sorry it's a bit late to mention but your x4 PCI-E slot is rather non-standard. Make sure you check whether newer graphics cards are compatible. I've heard some newer PCI-E 2.0 cards may need a BIOS flash to work.

 

[Adnams Drinker]

Well now PCI-E is an option, the 7600GT becomes a very cheap option for you:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

I'd take that more as an illustration than a recommendation. There's a whole host of relatively cheap cards that will perform better.

Sorry it's a bit late to mention but your x4 PCI-E slot is rather non-standard. Make sure you check whether newer graphics cards are compatible. I've heard some newer PCI-E 2.0 cards may need a BIOS flash to work.

Cheers dude - will bear that in mind. To be honest, getting some faster RAM will be my first priority once the initial build is done, but a new video card is the next item on the list.

At the moment, I just wanna get a dirt cheap system together that can at least run most of the modern games at a playable frame rate, even if it's without all the eye candy!

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Sorry it's a bit late to mention but your x4 PCI-E slot is rather non-standard. Make sure you check whether newer graphics cards are compatible. I've heard some newer PCI-E 2.0 cards may need a BIOS flash to work.

They will need flashing for that board, so id get a differnet one, as even if the newer cards can be flashed to work (8800 GT works after being flashed i know), a 4x slot probably cripples them.