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Non high-end purchase advice required!

shodan

shodan

shodan

Associate
Joined
4 Jul 2006
Posts
212
Location
London
Wise Sirs and Madams of the Forums,

The Geforce4 Ti4200 in my second rig has shuffled off its mortal coil, and I require a replacement. The other specs are as follows:

ECS K7S5A (AGP4x)
Athlon X1900XP
1 GB RAM

I'd like to take the opportunity to get a faster card, but obviously I'd want it to be appropriate for the rest of the system, as with this mobo I'm pretty much stuck with this dusty old processor.

Any and all help will be very much appreciated!
 
members market is best place to go, but you need to rack up a couple more posts to get there. worth it though once your there. i sold lots of goods on there and also bought a few items.
hate going to auction sites, product looks cheap but when the bidding starts you end up getting rinsed. have 1 solid price to pay thats what i always say.
 
First of all, thanks to everyone who's posted :cool:

I generally try to steer clear of second hand components, as I worry I'm getting something that has been stressed out with overclocking or has an intermittent problem. Had to RMA a Raptor I got from 'the bay' and while I'm happy now it's sorted, I'd rather not chance it unless I have no choice!

As for budget, I'm not that bothered, but £60 sounds about right. I'd be surprised if I wasn't wasting potential by putting something more pricey in this machine.

Looking at the OcUK shop I see the:
Asus GeForce N7600GS Silent HTD 256MB DDR2
is the same price as the:
Asus ATI Radeon X1650 Pro HTD Silent 256MB DDR2

Are they both suitable? How do they compare to each other?

This rig is in one of those generic beige cases. Hopefully that wouldn't mean I couldn't use that fanless 7600, would it?
 
shodan said:
First of all, thanks to everyone who's posted :cool:

I generally try to steer clear of second hand components, as I worry I'm getting something that has been stressed out with overclocking or has an intermittent problem. Had to RMA a Raptor I got from 'the bay' and while I'm happy now it's sorted, I'd rather not chance it unless I have no choice!

As for budget, I'm not that bothered, but £60 sounds about right. I'd be surprised if I wasn't wasting potential by putting something more pricey in this machine.

Looking at the OcUK shop I see the:
Asus GeForce N7600GS Silent HTD 256MB DDR2
is the same price as the:
Asus ATI Radeon X1650 Pro HTD Silent 256MB DDR2

Are they both suitable? How do they compare to each other?

This rig is in one of those generic beige cases. Hopefully that wouldn't mean I couldn't use that fanless 7600, would it?
Click to expand...

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=435&card2=447http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=387&card2=447
 
Last edited:
Thanks for that. Just realised I'll probably need to get an AGP4x card so that the signalling voltages are compatible.

Let me guess, they don't make them anymore? :(
 
shodan said:
Thanks for that. Just realised I'll probably need to get an AGP4x card so that the signalling voltages are compatible.

Let me guess, they don't make them anymore? :(
Click to expand...

i think a 8x card can go down to a 4x..
 
voltages

gareth170 said:
i think a 8x card can go down to a 4x..
Click to expand...

Not sure on the motherboard specs, but AGP has 3.3v and 1.5v The AGP slots were keyed specifically to prevent the wrong type of cards being allowed. Some slots were 3.3v only, others were 1.5v only, and some were auto (the newer boards obviously). The auto slots were not keyed and allowed any card in.

Good guide here : http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/agpcompatibility.html
 
Ok. Various sources tell me the 4x / 8x AGP thing isn't really an issue.

What does worry me though is that this case doesn't have any fans apart from the PSU, and that PSU is only 400W.

Am I going to balls everything up going for a significant upgrade? I don't want to whack a 6 or 7 series geforce in and make it cook itself.
 
shodan said:
Ok. Various sources tell me the 4x / 8x AGP thing isn't really an issue.

What does worry me though is that this case doesn't have any fans apart from the PSU, and that PSU is only 400W.

Am I going to balls everything up going for a significant upgrade? I don't want to whack a 6 or 7 series geforce in and make it cook itself.
Click to expand...

nah a 6 series card will work fine on a 400watt psu, i had a 6600gt on one and a fair few hard drives etc and it never gave me any issues
 
shodan said:
Ok. Various sources tell me the 4x / 8x AGP thing isn't really an issue.

What does worry me though is that this case doesn't have any fans apart from the PSU, and that PSU is only 400W.

Am I going to balls everything up going for a significant upgrade? I don't want to whack a 6 or 7 series geforce in and make it cook itself.
Click to expand...

400W is plenty, but if you dont have airflow, get some real cheap fans. two 80mm fans shouldn't cost more than 20 quid for decent ones.
 
While I understand your concerns about secondhand items, in this case I think it is worth considering.

First and foremost, the kind of card you will be buying is gonna be pretty old - people likely are selling it because it's old and slow (maybe they have moved on to a PCI-E mobo), not due to an intermittent fault.

I'd be looking at something like a 9800xt/6600GT/6800/x800 or similar. Dunno what the going rate is but I'd be surprised if you end up paying more than £30-40 for that class of card.

I do appreciate your point of view, for example Hard Drives are something that I would never buy secondhand. And where cpus are concerned I'm always wondering if it's being sold because it doesn't overclock well. But with a 3 year old gfx card I don't think there is much of a risk.
 
HangTime said:
While I understand your concerns about secondhand items, in this case I think it is worth considering.

First and foremost, the kind of card you will be buying is gonna be pretty old - people likely are selling it because it's old and slow (maybe they have moved on to a PCI-E mobo), not due to an intermittent fault.

I'd be looking at something like a 9800xt/6600GT/6800/x800 or similar. Dunno what the going rate is but I'd be surprised if you end up paying more than £30-40 for that class of card.

I do appreciate your point of view, for example Hard Drives are something that I would never buy secondhand. And where cpus are concerned I'm always wondering if it's being sold because it doesn't overclock well. But with a 3 year old gfx card I don't think there is much of a risk.
Click to expand...

You make a good point. I'll start scouring the bay as I clearly can't be trusted in the 'members market' :p .

Out of the cards you listed, do any of them run cooler or draw less power than the others? This case I have doesn't have much scope for adding more fans.
 
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