Hi all,
I've got a system I've been running for about 2.5 years now. On the whole I'm still fairly happy with it, but I just don't meet the requirements for new releases nowadays (at least the higher-profile ones). I'm looking into a new PC, but I'm also wondering if I could push my hardware a little further with a new video card.
Here's what I'm running (the basics - I don't have my exact specs handy):
Athlon 64 3200+ 2.2GHz, single core
2 GB Corsair PC3200 RAM, DDR1
Radeon X800 Pro, AGP, pixel shader 2.0
Windows XP Pro 32-bit
My question is, would upgrading my video card to one of the final AGP releases such as an X1950 (does that even support pixel shader 3?) do much for me in the way of performance? I know I won't be playing Bioshock on high detail with a system like this, I'm just looking for a way to extend the useful life of my system. My goal would be to able to play games like Stalker, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, Bioshock, Oblivion, and The Witcher at reasonable detail (1024x768 with no anti-aliasing or bump-mapping at 30fps is reasonable in my opinion). I haven't tried to run those games at all yet; I know they're all system hogs, but I'm not sure just how rough they would be on my hardware.
I've got a system I've been running for about 2.5 years now. On the whole I'm still fairly happy with it, but I just don't meet the requirements for new releases nowadays (at least the higher-profile ones). I'm looking into a new PC, but I'm also wondering if I could push my hardware a little further with a new video card.
Here's what I'm running (the basics - I don't have my exact specs handy):
Athlon 64 3200+ 2.2GHz, single core
2 GB Corsair PC3200 RAM, DDR1
Radeon X800 Pro, AGP, pixel shader 2.0
Windows XP Pro 32-bit
My question is, would upgrading my video card to one of the final AGP releases such as an X1950 (does that even support pixel shader 3?) do much for me in the way of performance? I know I won't be playing Bioshock on high detail with a system like this, I'm just looking for a way to extend the useful life of my system. My goal would be to able to play games like Stalker, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, Bioshock, Oblivion, and The Witcher at reasonable detail (1024x768 with no anti-aliasing or bump-mapping at 30fps is reasonable in my opinion). I haven't tried to run those games at all yet; I know they're all system hogs, but I'm not sure just how rough they would be on my hardware.