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Which AGP card for an old system?

Gazzafj

Gazzafj

Gazzafj

Associate
Joined
9 Oct 2006
Posts
10
Hi guys, after some advice.

I have an old Athlon 1400 based system with a GeForce 4200 card in it. I would like to up-grade the card to enable the pc to play more recent games. The question is, which would be the best card to go for? I've read that the best option is the Sapphire 1950, but it's a bit power hungry and I don't want to have to replace the psu as well.
Full system is:
Gigabyte GA7DXR motherboard, Athlon XP 1400 CPU, 512Mb RAM, 350W PSU.

Any help/advice much appreciated.

Gazza.
 
A 9800pro or perhaps an ordinary 6800 card is about as high as I'd go, that is a very old system so you'd be better saving your cash for a full upgrade if you want to play recent games.
 
I have got a card to sell mate if your interested. Its an Nvidia Geforce4 MX420 64MB AGP card. Used to be able to play Need For Speed Underground 2 at mid-high settings with no lag. Was playing Need For Speed: Most Wanted as well as Doom 3, Max Payne 2, Hitman and Serious Sam 2. Could also handle Halo with no lag at all with settings at a decent level. Let me know
 
paniK, I'm afraid there is meant to be no selling outside the Members Market, all information is in the FAQ but essentially you need 250 posts and to have been a member for at least 3 months. :)
 
paniK said:
I have got a card to sell mate if your interested. Its an Nvidia Geforce4 MX420 64MB AGP card.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't that be a downgrade from a GF4 4200?

That system is pretty old, a 9800 Pro would give you a decent upgrade and let you play recent games on medium settings, but if you want to play the newest games properly then your entire PC needs an upgrade.
 
paniK said:
I have got a card to sell mate if your interested. Its an Nvidia Geforce4 MX420 64MB AGP card. Used to be able to play Need For Speed Underground 2 at mid-high settings with no lag. Was playing Need For Speed: Most Wanted as well as Doom 3, Max Payne 2, Hitman and Serious Sam 2. Could also handle Halo with no lag at all with settings at a decent level. Let me know
Click to expand...

I also have a S4 savage 32 mb.

Is free if anybody want it ;)
 
check members market for any 6*** series card, that will do you fine. If you ain't got enough posts go to auction site. Either way you should be able to get a 6600GT for 40 quid, or less
 
"That system is pretty old, a 9800 Pro would give you a decent upgrade and let you play recent games on medium settings, but if you want to play the newest games properly then your entire PC needs an upgrade."


Hi guys, thanks for the replies. Yeh, I realise the system is old, but I just wanted to see if I could pass it on to one of my kids and then get something completely new for myself. Unfortunately the more money I spend on it the leass I will have for my new system. I was looking for something that would be good for NFS Carbone (and other similar games). I checked out the Graphics power guide thread and kind of hoped that my 350W PSU would be ok with a graphics card that consumes, say, 50W. Or is it the mobo that would cause the problem? I understand the Sapphire 1950XT needs a separate connection for power, could it plug into one of the PSU spare hard drive cables?? What about the lower spec cards, do they require a separate power feed?

Any answers/advice appreciated, thanks.

Gazza.
 
On the PSU concern, use this website to calculated; http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

I have an old AGP system, an overclocked P4 northwood C 2.8GHz, 2x1gb memory, 7900GS, 3 hdd's, 2 DVDRW, 2 PCI cards, 2x 120mm case fans, loads of usb devices and that website says I need a 386w (with overclocked CPU) and I have a 400w and its runny very stable with no problems at all.

As mav said though, I would go for a 7600GS/GT for your system.
 
fobose said:
On the PSU concern, use this website to calculated; http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

I have an old AGP system, an overclocked P4 northwood C 2.8GHz, 2x1gb memory, 7900GS, 3 hdd's, 2 DVDRW, 2 PCI cards, 2x 120mm case fans, loads of usb devices and that website says I need a 386w (with overclocked CPU) and I have a 400w and its runny very stable with no problems at all.

As mav said though, I would go for a 7600GS/GT for your system.
Click to expand...

Many thanks for that link, how good is the calculator I wonder??

Bearing in mind my PSU is 350W (max)

Just fed in my current pc config and got a calculation of 245W
Did it again with an X1900XTX and got a calculation of 342W (too much!)
Did it again with the pc in the configuration that my kids will be using and an X1950XTX card and got a calculation of 280W!! Yippee

On the face of it this looks good, I must be missing something!!

Does anyone know the details of the extra power connector on the X1950XTX, will it plug into one of the spare PSU HDD power cables!!!
 
I think those calculators probably give you a higher value than what you would actually need, people seem to you think need these incredibilly large PSU these days, even though most components are now using a lot less wattage.

I think your current system would not make much difference from one of those X1900XTX cards than a lower spec card, your CPU would probably bottle neck and if not that the 512mb of ram you have would.

About a month ago I bought 2x 500gb hard drives to run in a raid 1 array (want a backup for my stuff) and I noticed my load time on CNC3 was nearly as quick as my friend's core 2 dual system.

Then about a week after I bought 2gb of memory (had 1gb before) and was able to play cnc3 with settings on medium (apposed to low) and it run smooth whereas before it would stutter with lots of units about.

Finally I decided to sod it and buy a 7900GS and I can now play everything on high - shame the card only has 256mb though.

<edit> sorry about the power connector, its just a 4 pin molex (same as HDD connector) only PCI-E cards have a different connector - think its called a 6/8 pin PCI-E power connector?
 
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fobose said:
I think your current system would not make much difference from one of those X1900XTX cards than a lower spec card, your CPU would probably bottle neck and if not that the 512mb of ram you have would.
Click to expand...


Looks like a 7600GS/GT then, I take your point about the CPU, not much I can do there as the mobo is the limiting factor. The only upgrade option would be 2nd hand - bit of an unknown! However with the money saved on the cheaper card I could probably do something about the RAM.

Thanks for the advice fobose, much appreciated.

Gazza
 
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