Stop Gap Graphics Card Advice?

[Bradburger]

Whilst I do plan to do a full upgrade sometime in the future, for the meantime, I'm looking for advice on a purchasing a stop gap graphics card to replace my ageing and (rather troublesome) Asus GeForce FX 5900 Ultra.

I must admit, I've never been to happy with it (FS2004 has been a real pain at times - maybe I should have gone ATI as advised!), as I've had nothing but trouble with it, both performance wise and with crashes and BSOD's - the latter two seemingly caused by all the various detonator drivers I've used!

Just lately, it's seems to be doing it on a more regular basis and is driving me nuts!

I'm currently using an Epox 8RDA+ along with an Althon 2600 XP (stock speed) with 1GB of ram and Win XP Home as the OS, and was looking along the lines of buying a second hand ATI Radeon 9800 series (I think that was the ATI equivilent at the time) or is there a newer buget card that would fit the bill?

What do you recommend?

As you can see, my system isn't the best or fastest (I haven't bothered Overclocking it), and I obviously don't want to spend too much on a new GFX card, but just want something that will let me use FS2004 without the crashes and a decent level of performance and image quality on my current system.

Cheers

Paul

 

[Dark_Angel]

First of all, I am sorry to inform you that there is a maximum of 4 lines for a signature.

Anyways, I would personally overclock you're CPU (it is pretty easy to do).

As for the GPU, a 9800 pro isn't bad, or if you can, something like an X800XT is pretty good. You will probablly have to get that from auction.

If you wish to spend just over a 100, then an X1950 Pro AGP is the best solution. You only have 512MB of ram, so that probablly isn't helping either.

I would say think carefully to what you want to do... if you have about 400 or so to spend, then a cheap conroe/pretty nice PC can be built. If you are looking for a GPU, then I would say an x800 or a 9800 pro.

 

[Bradburger]

Dark_Angel,

Thanks for the swift reply and advice!

Might well go the auction route but we'll see.

Btw, signature edited - shows how long it is since I posted here!

Oh, ram is currently 1 gig, might up it some more!

I was thinking about overclocking, but am a bit concerened as my voltages (I have a 350W psu) for the MB, Ram @ AGP seem slighty over what they ought to be - nTune always shows them in the red, so thought it was best to leave things as they are for the meantime.

However, I've got the expertise of the OC forum and guides from it somewhere, so I might give it another shot!

Cheers

Paul

 

[peetee]

definatly overclock.
If you can stretch to a x1950pro definatly get one, although i say get the cheapest one you possibly can. You're really due a full upgrade soon

 

[Bradburger]

definatly overclock.
If you can stretch to a x1950pro definatly get one, although i say get the cheapest one you possibly can. You're really due a full upgrade soon

Yeah, don't I know it!

But with the DX10 cards around the corner I thought I'd wait a bit longer plus I need to read up on the latest CPU's and MB's!

Btw, just been eyeing up an auction X800T PE - might go for it!

Cheers

Paul

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Yeah, don't I know it!

But with the DX10 cards around the corner I thought I'd wait a bit longer plus I need to read up on the latest CPU's!

Btw, just been eyeing up an auction X800T PE - might go for it!

Cheers

Paul

you need to get access to the members market there are some right good deals available including mine

 

[Bradburger]

you need to get access to the members market there are some right good deals available including mine

How would I do that?

Do I need to have made a certain number of posts?

If that is the case, I better start several more!

Cheers

Paul

 

[Dark_Angel]

You know what, something to think of:

You could get an:

E4300
Asrock Dual VSTA motherboard
X1950 connect PCIE motherboard

For about 260 quid (motherboard is NOT available on OCUK). sell your old stuff for a bit of money, keep the RAM though, and use that on this system.

It will run DDR and DDR2 ram.

Just a suggestion though

 

[Bradburger]

You know what, something to think of:

You could get an:

E4300
Asrock Dual VSTA motherboard
X1950 connect PCIE motherboard

For about 260 quid (motherboard is NOT available on OCUK). sell your old stuff for a bit of money, keep the RAM though, and use that on this system.

It will run DDR and DDR2 ram.

Just a suggestion though

Thanks for that suggestion Dark_Angel.

I'll bare it in mind!

As I have no firm time or date set to upgrade fully (probably be the summer/autumn at the earliest), it might well be worth doing!

Cheers

Paul

 

[marc2003]

maybe take a look at getting a 7600gs? they're about 80 sheets brand new. they do offer less performance than a used 6800gt/ultra or x800/850xt but they're still quite capable little cards. and of course they're fair bit faster than a 9800pro/5900ultra. if you can stretch to 100, maybe a 7600gt (not from ocuk) would be ideal (these are faster than the aformentioned used cards).

unfortunately ati have nothing to offer in this price range -well they do, it's just the nvidia products are better....

 

[melbourne720]

AGP Cards:-

9800 Pro(S/H), 6600 GT(S/H), 7600 GS (£78), 6800 GS(S/H), 6800 GT(S/H), X800 XT(S/H)…, 7600 GT (£118)…, x1950 Pro (£141)

6800 GS might be a good idea.

 

[Cartho]

The Nidia 7600 GT would be a good choice - very fast at sensible resolutions (1280 X 1024 and lower) and nice and cheap. Also draws very little power and is nice and small in your case.

The X1950 PRO is MUCH faster, but draws more power and is VERY (almost 10 inches) long.....

 

[Ecl]

I'd get a cheapo one for about £50, will run most modern games