Chick needs new AGP card for gaming

[Kasey]

Hi!

First and foremost, I'd like to state that when it comes to computers, I know a little more than the average user but far far less than most of you! So please be patient with me and my noob-ness

I need a new graphics card. My old one, a BFG Tech, Nvidia 7800 GS, completely conked out on me after I discovered the wonders of FEAR 2 ... at least I suspect that's the reason... Anyway, the card is completely fried now.
As I'm sure you guys know (and I only JUST found out,) BFG no longer offers their Lifetime Warranty on graphics cards, so I'm forced to find another card.

My comp is a:

Compaq Presario
AMD Athlon 64 Processor
3400+ <---- I have no idea what that number is...
2.41 GHz, with 2 GB (2 X 1 GB) of RAM

My monitor runs at:

1280X1024 60Hz

Unfortuantely my comp was made without a PCI-Express port, so I have no choice but to look for an AGP card.

Some sites recommend a Radeon HD 3850 512MB AGP or a RADEON HD 4650 AGP 8X 1GB as being the best AGP cards.

I've read some stuff here and there about power supply playing a factor but I'm really not sure what that means; my comp, monitor, etc. is plugged into a power bar which is plugged into the wall... do they mean that power supply? <---Note my noobness.

I found on ebay a well priced SAPPHIRE RADEON HD 4650 AGP 8X 1GB VIDEO CARD Dual DVI and before buying it, I want to be sure that it'll work and that I won't be screwing up my computer using it.

I'm a gamer and I've been so sad for the past 2 1/2 weeks not being able to play anything on my comp (I have a jonesing for some Silent Hill 2 action!) So please please please- impart some wisdom so I can make the right choice and get back to James and Alma!
Thanks!

 

[ltrazaklt]

nice card , good company ..but too Much money ..also in that Ebay pic the box shows 4650 ..the spec says chipset 4670 ..(Ebay, is iffy imo, but its also very easy to get things consufed with all numbers and acronyms) after shipping its like $125

check this one out ..has DDR3 instead of DDR2 also after rebate , like $90 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161337

what doe the rest of the guys ( and gals ) think ?

 

[ltrazaklt]

also dont worry about the VGA output , most cards these come with adaptors for such things

 

[Kasey]

Wow, scary! I read reviews for both the 4650 and 4670 and lots of people complain about driver installation. *gulp*

I've also noticed that the 4670 has issues with Win XP and some had to re-install their OS to make it work. I am not into doing that at all. I also don't have SP3 installed because when Microsoft told me install it, I ended up having to do a System Recover (not restore) and lost most of my games, pictures, writing, etc. basically everything in My Documents. Never again.

Between the two cards, it seems like the 4670 has the most driver issues and is recommended only for advanced users. Is this something I should risk, or should I stick with the 4650?

 

[mightymaxio]

Its not too bad, actually amd made driver support alot better since the 10 series of drivers came out.

 

[4745454b]

You do realize one is linking Canada ebay and the other is linking normal newegg right? I don't think the op is in the states guys.

As for 4650 vs 4670 drivers, I don't see how'd there would be a difference. They use the same chip and drivers don't they? Unless they use a different bridge chip on the 4670.

 

[Kasey]

I looked up the equivalent cards on newegg.ca (the 4650 and 4670)
As I'm now leaning towards the 4670, I'm looking at this page:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=14-161-337&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=6

It's gonna be about $130 total with taxes and shipping, but includes a $20 mail-in rebate. All in all, it turns out to be less expensive than the ebay ones AND there is a 30 warranty on the item which obviously ebay does not provide. Hooray!

From the reviews I read in general, both cards had difficulties being installed properly (some advising others to use only the cd provided drivers rather than updated ones from the websites, others the opposite) and some people couldn't get the cards to work at all.

With the 4670, reviewers often stated that getting the card to work took quite a lot of trial and error along with a whole mess of BSODs. More than a few advised against its purchase as the hassle was great. You apparently need hotfixes for the card and some other stuff I'm not sure about.

But I have hope...

 

[4745454b]

The issue is that pesky bridge chip. All cards being made these days "speak" PCIe. They have to use a bridge chip which changes the PCIe which the card uses to AGP which the motherboard uses. I've heard of plenty of people who have had issues getting newer cards to work in AGP boards. The last native AGP cards made were the x800/850 series from ATI, and the 6800 series from Nvidia. All cards after that used a bridge chip.

Put the card in, install the AGP hotfix and drivers and see if it works. If it doesn't, you might want to try returning it and getting something else.

 

[ltrazaklt]

Make sure you remove the old drivers first ..I think you said you can still boot up.. I dont understand why SP3 made you do a system restore ..and you might want to backup all your Pics and docs, writing etc ..either burn them to a CD or DVD , or put on an external drive ..anything that dont want to lose ..even if the install goes ..best to have a backup of everything you want to keep ..because EVENTUALLY ..and it could years or a decade from now ..eventually your HD or MB or something will die , and cause you to lose that data. so might as well back up everything while you're in there

 

[ltrazaklt]

a lot of graphics install issues comes from people not removing the driver for the old card ..especially if they go from say Nvidia to ATi or vice versa ..you cannot just simply pop out the old card , and install the new drivers with new card ..you must remove the drivers of the old card first ..

 

[Kasey]

Thanks ItrazakIt!
As soon as I comfirmed that my card was indeed fried, I immediately removed all traces of Nvidia drivers using Driver Sweeper- I hope that's enough!

SP3 has a problem with AMD processors it seems, and when this happened a few years ago, every time I turned on my computer it would tell me I needed to do a system recovery (I honestly don't remember whether safe boot was even an option!)

And very sound advice about backing things up! I obviously did not do that the first time around but this time! This time at least I will back up my documents!

EDIT: Didn't want to post and bump up the thread needlessly, but I want to give a big thank-you to all who offered their advice- I bought the HiS Radeon HD 4670 and it's amazing!! Fear 2 runs so smoothly now!! YAY!