Geforce MX 420 upgrade

[rabidbunny]

I recently posted a question on upgrading my GPU on my current system:

Dell Dimension 4550:
intel 845PE motherboard with a 4x AGP slot
1280mb ram
P4@ 2.4ghz

And this is what I found that would work:cards

I need to know which card would be the best of the ones in the link.

I also found an ATI x1600 pro with 512 mb memory and was wondering if it would be better than the 256 version?

Thanks.

 

[malphadour]

The highest performer is the X800GTO, tho this is also the most expensive. The next best to get would be the x1600pro. The 512 card will give a performance boost in just a few games that make specific use of 512mb textures. The thing is that these tend to be games like Quake4 which you would never run at this setting on a 1600pro because it would run at about 10 fps. The 256mb card is adequate for mid range gaming and sensibly priced.

There are a couple of games (tho their names escape me) which do run better with 512mb irrespective of quality settings, and the other thing to bare in mind is that future games may also do this, tho nothing is guaranteed.

 

[rabidbunny]

So which one should I get? The x800GTO or the x1600 pro???I can spend money on either one.

I am only going to have games on this pc for the rest of this year and a little into next year (building a pc) and all I want to play is Half Life 2, The chronicles of spellborn, BFME2, NFSPD: most wanted, etc.... that's it. After that this pc will be used for word and other basic apps.

Any suggestions would be great.

 

[rabidbunny]

Update: the X800GTO is not currently in stock.

 

[malphadour]

Looking at that little lot, get the GTO, its about 20% in Half life vs 1600 pro at 1024x768 with a 4xAA and 4xAniso

 

[rabidbunny]

but it's not in stock