AGP Card

[giangsta]

I am deciding whether to upgrade my video card or not rite now. SO should i upgrade now or wait for the next gen although i doubt we will see AGP anytime soon afterwards. Or should i just upgrade my system.

Running a P4 3ghz.
1gig of Samsung ram.
Creative Sound Audigy 2
Shitty Dell mobo.
120gb drive

So should i just take the P4, sound card, hd, dvd burner, and upgrade the power supply, case, video card, and mobo?

 

[Dafaad]

There will always be a "next" generation video card. Did you update to the last "next" generation card? Nope, so the answer depends on your needs vs wants. Often when I try to update a componant at a time I find that I need more and more, then I say heck and just do the whole thing.

What do you use the machine for? What problems does it give you? You don't like the Dell motherboard for some reason. (cant say as I blame you) AGP will likely be with us for awhile yet, some motherboard manufacturers are making boards for both PCI-express and AGP, so you can either. It offers a decent upgrade path.

Wishing you the very best on this one....

 

[cleeve]

What card do you have now?

 

[fainis]

good question from our friend up stairs ... what card do you have now....?
what kind of performance boost do you accept?....what kind of money do you plan to spend on that upgrade?
well you can always find a good card on agp......if you plan to keep your old set of components....if you plan to switch to peg you will have to change the cpu too it goes lga775 now or 939 (who knows for how long, amd has other plans now)........

 

[giangsta]

sry. rite now i have a Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb. And i mostly play games and want something better then medium settings. If I have to build a new computer, I want to make one under $1700, if possible.

 

[parlee]

well ive never owned a p4, but the 3.0 is still a decent chip (if it has ht)... if u really wanna get a better card id go straight to pci express, find out what socket that processor is and buy a cheaper mobo with pci express support, then upgrade to a 7800gt, or if ur willing to spend more a x1900xt is very powerful, and if u wanna spend around 200 for a card get the x800gto2 (make sure its the gto2 because it comes with unlocked pipes) that would be the most cost efficent way to upgrade, getting another agp card is kinda a waste since there on average more expsnive than pci-express cards and have lower clocks... so do urself a favor and get pci-express now instead of blowing more money on agp (even though i still support agp, and im currently on the same boat as u)

 

[pauldh]

IMO, You have a decent CPU and 1GB ram that would be a good reason for buying a higher end AGP. If that system is stable I'd upgrade to a 6800GS or X800 pro at the least. They can be found for $200. If you want even more speed, look for a good priced AIW X800XT, X850XT, or 7800GS. (all three overpriced right now, but your specs are a good candiate for such an upgrade). These would all be quite a boost over a 9800 pro... my 9800 pro to GF6800U on a P4 2.6C, made a huge difference in playable settings.

I should add, you could look into a Socket 478 PCI-e mobo (keep your cpu/ram) and a 7800GT and have more performance for just a bit more money. I haven't tried one of these, but I know Albatron makes one anyway. I'd ask for more recommendations before buying one. http://www.albatron.com.tw/english/it/mb/specification.asp?pro_id=160 . I think personally, I'd just go NF4 S939 A64 myself before buying a new S478 mobo. Tough call on doing a full system now given your current specs, but for $1700...you could sure do a nice gamer.

 

[linux_0]

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/WishShareShow.asp?ID=1890228

Here you go

$1300 delivered!

PS If you Samsung RAM is 184pin PC3200 DDR SDRAM you can reuse it and safe a few bux

Abviously you could reuse your Optical drives, HDDs, sound card, keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc as well and that would bring the price down. You will need a new PSU, mobo, CPU and PCI-Express VGA.

 

[giangsta]

thankz linux_0. That might just be what i am gonna get. But i am only like 47% of the way there to pay for it.

 

[lakedude]

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/WishShareShow.asp?ID=1890228

Here you go

$1300 delivered!

PS If you Samsung RAM is 184pin PC3200 DDR SDRAM you can reuse it and safe a few bux

Abviously you could reuse your Optical drives, HDDs, sound card, keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc as well and that would bring the price down. You will need a new PSU, mobo, CPU and PCI-Express VGA.

Not bad but you need 2 cd/dvd drives to copy stuff so add another drive (like the NEC) if not reusing existing optical drives. Also the HD is the single slowest item in any box so having a Raptor boot drive is the ONLY way to go on a system this nice. If you need to save money somewhere axe the ram down to 2x512 (dual channel),2GB is overkill. The motherboard you picked already has nice 8 channel sound so the extra sound card is not required.

Also the XFX 7800GT is $20 cheaper at the moment.

XFX $275:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150108

NEC 16x DVD burner (much quieter than the LO, I know I have them both):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058

Raptor HD:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144160

 

[linux_0]

Here are some updated configs for you that are more budget friendly!!!!

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/WishShareShow.asp?ID=1894863

$950 delivered


http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/WishShareShow.asp?ID=1894869

$600 delivered

You can always upgrade later

 

[linux_0]

The eVGA was 285 just a few days ago..... doh!!!!

 

[giangsta]

i like the 1st 1 better but guess i mite have to give my entire comp to my sister, which means i need to buy everything. oh well. i can wait til next year or so since this year's lineup of games doesn't look very promising right now.

 

[Nytro]

alternative: u could wait 4ever, there will be always something new and better in that price range