About to get a new AGP video card for a 3 year old computer.

[omgwow12]

Ok, my computer is 3 years old and I think its time to upgrade my video card. Currently I have a GeForce FX 5200 and I wanted to get either a 7600 GS or a X1650. I mostly play World of Warcraft now so which card is better with WoW? Keep in mind I'm on an AGP platform.

Another thing, the memory on my GeForce FX 5200 is DDR memory. The 2 cards I'm comparing are much newer and use the GDDR3 or GDDR2 technology. Will my computer still work with these newer technologies or will I NEED to get a video card with regular DDR memory? (which would be very hard to find nowdays)

 

[caamsa]

Please give more information about your computer. Processor, motherboard, how much memory etc.

 

[omgwow12]

1.5 gigs of ram
2.6ghz intel pentium 4
dunno the motherboard (the computer is a dell dimension 4600 if that helps :\)

 

[yquo]

Post your other components, CPU, memory.

The video card chip is the one that uses the GDDR2 or GDDR3 memory, your system communicates with the video card chip, so for the system it doesn't matter which memory is installed in the video card.

GDDR3 > GDDR2
memory interface 256 bits > 128 bits > 64 bits
pipelines more is better.

Top Agp card is Radeon X1950Pro

X1950Pro > X1650Pro > X1300Pro > X1300

Nvidia
7600GT > 7600GS > 7300GT > 7300GS

 

[turboflame]

1. No you don't need to get a card with only DDR, your computer will work fine with GDDR2 or GDDR3

2. Dells generally dont have the greatest PSUs, I'm not sure if either card will work on a <250W psu. If you could open up the case and see if you could find more info on the PSU, like Watts and amps on the +12 volt rail, we could help you more

 

[caamsa]

Here is a card that I think would be a good match for your system. Also you could pick up some memory and make it an even 2 gigs. You might be able to pick up a faster processor as well but probably would not be worth it at this time. If you do some modest upgrades like the video card and memory that computer should keep you happy for a while longer. That is if WoW remains you game of choice.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150210

There are other agp cards but they require a more powerful power supply. Not sure how easy it would be to upgrade your power supply.

Here is another card but is saying that it needs a 400 watt power supply....


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143046

 

[omgwow12]

Thanks a lot... that answered my second question. I have about $130 to spend so I was looking at stuff like the following.

And my power supply isn't a problem, if I find a card I really like I could always pick up a better power supply

X1650
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102057
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102073

7600 GS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130076
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814133176

 

[turboflame]

I've heard that dell uses proprietary psus so it might be dificult to find one that would fit, but then again you could just get a new one and strap it to the top of the case if it was necessary (post pics if you do plz)

anyway, My last two video cards have been sapphire and I've had no trouble with either, the 512 MB version doesn't make any difference in performance AFAIK, if you choose the nvidia route, evga is the way to go

 

[omgwow12]

Well... it's good to know Sapphire is good and I agree that EVGA is the way to go for Nvidia. So now the last thing I need to know is which which WoW tends to run better on. I found a performance guide but it only had the X1650 and not the 7600 GS so that didn't really help. Which chip or brand does WoW tend to play better on?