Friend considering upgrading..

rabidbunny

Distinguished
Mar 1, 2006
786
0
18,980
Hello, my friend has an HP a220n desktop and wants to upgrade the graphics card for one last kick in his system...Here's what he has.

-Amd Athlon XP 2600+
-2x 512mb ram
-120 gb hd 5400rpm (he's considering an upgrade on that one too)
-integrated graphics..

He's just started playing a few old games and finds his system haveing some trouble...I suggested he get a graphics card.
He's playing Halo and a few other old games too (not sure what ones )

We've decided that a 7600gs AGP card would suffice for his system nicely as pretty much anything else he puts in that is moer powerful will bottleneck his system even more than a 7600gs..
He likes the price of the 7600gs on newegg (aroudn $140 usd i think) and is now considering buying a faster, 7200 rpm hd..

My question is:
Is the 7600 a good choice for the 140 $$ that he wants to spend on a graphics card? He would love to get more $$ to buy a better card, but he doesn't have that much..I just want to help him choose the best for his budget.

Note: I have seen Tom's latest agp platform review on the x1950 agp card and checked out the VGA charts too...

Thanks.
 

rabidbunny

Distinguished
Mar 1, 2006
786
0
18,980
Thanks for responding.

My friend was looking at that EVGA card for $100 with rebates..He liked it...I did happen to find a Sapphire x1650 PRo card..dunno why it says 'crossfire'..

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

It's basically the same price as the GS..However, Tom's VGA charts have a similar card with higher specs and it comes out a bit lower than the GS in games except in 3Dmark...

Compared to that card the GS seems a bit more powerful.
Cleeve, can you find anything that supports your reply? I am very curious to see what the difference in games between the two is.

Note: Sorry, we found the same things...I was posting and finding info while Cleeve posted again.
 

beliskner_thor

Distinguished
Oct 12, 2006
34
0
18,530
im the friend by the way and the responses are appreciated yes the evga card is the one im looking at as well as a 7200 rpm western digital caviar 250 gb hard drive so again thanks for the help
 

rabidbunny

Distinguished
Mar 1, 2006
786
0
18,980
im the friend by the way and the responses are appreciated yes the evga card is the one im looking at as well as a 7200 rpm western digital caviar 250 gb hard drive so again thanks for the help

Whoa. didn't know you'd show...It makes things better though..sweet.!
 

cleeve

Illustrious
Cleeve, can you find anything that supports your reply? I am very curious to see what the difference in games between the two is.

I just happen to have a few supporting reviews up my sleeve: :wink:
Here are two reviews:

http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=163&Itemid=27

http://www.techspot.com/review/24-radeon-x1650pro-vs-geforce-7600gs/

RESULTS:

Quake4: 7600 GS wins

FEAR: TIE
Far Cry: TIE (almost an X1650 PRO win)
Need for Speed Most Wanted: TIE

Oblivion: X1650 PRO wins
Prey: X1650 PRO wins (An OpenGL title! Strange. Good spread, too.)
HalfLife2: X1650 PRO wins Not by a ton though, although at high res it pulls notably ahead.
Age of Empires 3: X1650 PRO wins
Call of Duty 2: X1650 PRO wins significantly
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory: X1650 PRO wins

Final score:
7600 GS: 1
X1650 PRO: 6
(ties: 3)
 

JJMAN

Distinguished
Sep 2, 2005
120
0
18,680
Cleeve, can you find anything that supports your reply? I am very curious to see what the difference in games between the two is.

I just happen to have a few supopoorting reviews up my sleeve: :wink:
Here are two reviews:

http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task...ew&

http://www.techspot.com/review/24-radeon-x1650pro-vs-geforce-7600gs/

RESULTS:

Quake4: 7600 GS wins

FEAR: TIE
Far Cry: TIE (almost an X1650 PRO win)
Need for Speed Most Wanted: TIE

Oblivion: X1650 PRO wins
Prey: X1650 PRO wins (An OpenGL title! Strange. Good spread, too.)
HalfLife2: X1650 PRO wins Not by a ton though, although at high res it pulls notably ahead.
Age of Empires 3: X1650 PRO wins
Call of Duty 2: X1650 PRO wins significantly
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory: X1650 PRO wins

Final score:
7600 GS: 1
X1650 PRO: 6
(ties: 3)

Nice information Cleeve. GJ! Having that kind of information put like that saves alot of time and effort. NOT that you didn't put your own in but you can save some people. Good Job! :)
 

rabidbunny

Distinguished
Mar 1, 2006
786
0
18,980
Sorry, couldn't get to the elitebastard$ site since i'm not a member...I did look at the techspot and the benchies are interesting...I would still consider the GS after the techspot review..

further information would be great..
 

beliskner_thor

Distinguished
Oct 12, 2006
34
0
18,530
it looks like i might switch to the x1650 pr it has a faster core speed as well as gddr3 instead of gddr2 and a faster memory clock for the same price. and i cannot dispute against the solid proof that cleve (sorry if the spelling is incorrect, should have looked before responding) provided.

again thanks for responding.
 

beliskner_thor

Distinguished
Oct 12, 2006
34
0
18,530
okay after reading through the resources that cleeve posted i think i should go with the 7600gs because the 1650 only pulls ahead in the newer games whereas the only games i play are older with lower system specs so thanks for the sources of comparison cleeve, and by the way newegg has the 1650 listed as having 12 pixel pipelines and that article lists it as having 4 which should i beleive?
 

rabidbunny

Distinguished
Mar 1, 2006
786
0
18,980
Sorry cleeve to break your bubble, but the elite bastards link is for a 7900gs and x1950 pro. Not a 7600 gs and x1650 pro.. Dunno if that's what you intended.

Kaotao, as far as a psu goes, the current stock one he has can handle it as far as wattage.. I used psu calculator and the system as it is now with an extra hd and graphics card added in comes out to be below 240 watts..Plenty of room.. considering his stock system runs around 230 watts perfectly fine..Eventually maybe a new one should be put in. Thanks for your concern though.

I would have to agree with Beliskner_thor on the gs. The ati card only gives a few more fps at higher resolutions, and his monitor doesn't support such high resolutions. Either way he should be in fps heaven compared to integrated GeForce4 Mx... :D
 

beliskner_thor

Distinguished
Oct 12, 2006
34
0
18,530
ya i will probably end up getting the 7600gs because it runs the older games fine (i have a xbox 360 to run high end games on) and it only uses 229 watts vs the x1650's 242, so i wouldn't have to upgrade my psu right away which is another expence that i dont need right now

thanks for all the help
 

cleeve

Illustrious
Sorry cleeve to break your bubble, but the elite bastards link is for a 7900gs and x1950 pro.

Yeah I know, I had to fix the link a third time. Ridiculous.

But my comparison still stands. X1650 PRO still beats the 7600 GS 6 to 1, with 3 ties.
 

rabidbunny

Distinguished
Mar 1, 2006
786
0
18,980
Yeah I know, I had to fix the link a third time. Ridiculous.

Boy, it's not your day is it?
No problemo...

Ill probably be helping bt install everything...
should be fine..no problems..

I will update when it's all over though..he may order the parts tonight, or tomarrow..we'll see..then normal 3 day shipping..so probably around friday..will let everyone know...