Radeon X1950GT performance with P4 2.2...?

[dreamking11]

I have a P4 2.2 and want to upgrade my graphics card. I'm looking @ the Radeon X1950GT AGP but I've read some comments that this may be overkill because my cpu speed wont allow it's full capability.

I'm not a huge gamer but like NFS Carbon and some FPS like Far Cry. Been playing at 800x600 on my ATI AIW 8500 thus far.

I need to stay in this $150 range, is this card a good bet or is there another that might be better for my situation?

P4 2.2 Ghz
1GB DDR ram pc2100
470 watt psu
Win Xp pro

 

[blade85]

well its true that a p4 2.2Ghz will bottleneck it a fair bit, but compared with your old set up it will be miles ahead.

what about a x1950 pro?? its a better, cooler, less power hungry version of the GT.

also your gonna have to make sure your psu can support that card. It says that 28 amps on the +12V rail is usually a safe bet.

 

[dreamking11]

Hmm yah on my PSU under 12v it says 18 amps. Is that going to be a problem? Howabout if I just run one HD & no cd drives? Can I get away with 2 HD's?

The X1950 Pro is basically the same price and has the dual dvi and s-video which I should have mentioned I liked about the other card. So i'll go with that if it'll work & no one objects 🙂

 

[dreamking11]

Oops I was actually looking at the PCI-E version. The AGP version of the X1950 Pro is getting up around $200 which is more than I want to spend.

Maybe there is a card that is a small step down, has less power requirements while still having dual display and tv-out? I guess I can live without dual display if that is the holdup.

 

[jitpublisher]

If your PSU will run it, the 1950pro will definetly run NFS carbon quite well.
The box says "450 watt power supply with 30amp on the 12 volt rail assuming fully loaded system". Remember though, that's 30 amps combined across both rails. I'd say you probably will be okay.

Whoops, I just saw you need the AGP version, those specs are from my box for the PCIe version.

 

[kaotao]

For $150 the X1950GT can't be beat in AGP. You will have to upgrade your PSU though. You'll want a 450W PSU with at least 22-30 amps on the +12V rails.

 

[blade85]

Whoops, I just saw you need the AGP version, those specs are from my box for the PCIe version.

which are exactly the same on my agp cards box 😛

 

[prov]

Kaotao is right. X1950GT is an excellent buy for your AGP system.
I think processor will not be a dramatic bottleneck, since many modern games uses more GPU resources than CPU ones. Perhaps adding 1GB of ram may stretch your CPU life a bit.
Regarding the power issue:
I have an Xpert Vision 1950GT AGP 512Megs on an A64 3200+ with 2Gigs of RAM, and with my old bulk ugly 450w PSU, the VGA goes almost always all right, even in videogames. Only one flaw: sometimes, turning on the PC, the CRT monitor remained blank (power loss). Very rarely it did so in desktop (in both cases, simply turning off and on the monitor resolved the problem). Strangely, it never did so in videogames (perhaps they goes with reduced perfomance, but i didn't noticed, since they goes very, very fast with all filters activated and with full details in 1280x1024... ).
So you can simply buy an high quality PSU (450W or more is perfect), as I did afterwards, and you will have no problems at all with the 1950GT.

Another one thing: the x1950Pro require more power and output more heat than the GT, since it is clocked at 575/1380mhz against the 500/1200 of the GT (and both are made with 80 nanometers process, with same 12TMUs, 12ROPs, 36 Pixel Shaders, 8 Vertex Shaders). And obviously is another excellent VGA.

The power requirements and heat output of the 1950XT are much greater than those of the 1950Pro/GT, since this killer-VGA has 16TMUs, 16ROPs, 48PS, 8 VS . And is more clocked... (see wikipedia, at "R520", and you will have a complete X1xxx series comparison).

Bye

 

[dreamking11]

Thanx for the input everyone. I went with the Pro only because I found it for $125 (refurb, mwave.com). I'll hope for the best with the refurb and power issues & post the outcome when it arrives.
😀