Upgrade Graphics card

[klinger1]

First timer at these forumz!! Looking for suggestions to upgrade graphics card to play some of the newer PC games.Right now my card is a GeForce Fx5200 and I have 768MB of ram. Thanks

 

[figaro]

You have to post comp.specs first because there is no reason to upgrade videocard if your computer is too old.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

Suppose your system is agp based? Get a used x800 pro modded to xt pe on ebay ... or I'd suggest you wait till cleeve shows up and see what he sais - or go read the article he wrote not long ago about the best cards for each price range

Edit: Link to his article:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/09/26/the_best_gaming_video_cards_for_the_money/

 

[purdueguy]

A little more information is needed.

CPU, motherboard?

I'm assuming that the FX5200 is an AGP card but from doing a quick search on it, that card did come in a PCI flavor.

I will assume that your mobo has an AGP slot.

I suggest getting the X850Pro - $136. It might be overkill but for this price, what the heck.

Also, do you have 3x256MB sticks of RAM or 1x512MB and 1x256MB sticks? If you have the latter, I'd pick up another 512MB stick of the same type of memory, get rick of the 256MB, and put your system in dual-channel mode.

 

[klinger1]

I have the latter. 1x512MB and 1x256MB and yes it has a AGP slot Dell
Dimension 4400 Series
GenuineIntel
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.70GHz
1694 MHz
100 MHz

 

[bornking]

It looks like you could use a new system...although I don't know what you are doing with it.

So, saved your cash and get a Conroe when the quadcore Kemptsfield comes out. By that time the Conroe will be at a lower price.

I say this from a performance to price ratio point of view. With a nice Core 2 Duo 6400, you can look at a satisfactory Graphics Card that will suffice until the DX10 cards come out, and their bugs worked out.

I know you asked for 'graphics card upgrade' advice...but your system is getting up there in age.

Cheers.

 

[cleeve]

Ouch... that Pentium 4 1.7 Ghz is going to have a lot of trouble with new games, regardless of the videocard.

Time to upgrade. Then you can have access to the cheap and amazing PCI express cards like the 7600 GT...

 

[purdueguy]

Take a look here and here. I don't know if the 5200 you have is the "ultra" version or not, but it doesn't matter. If you don't, it just means the performance is less.

Just based on these reviews, the 9600Pro will give you a boost in performance. Sapphire 9600Pro - $61.

This eVGA 6600GT - $102 will be overkill for your system so don't bother with the X850Pro.

I think the CPU will be the bottleneck even if you get the 9600Pro, so this is the cheapest route, unless you can find a used one on Ebay. ANyone? agree? 8)

But, ultimately, Cleeve is correct. An upgrade is in your future.

 

[cy9394]

You should also consider your PSU. A PSU that old might not have enough power to power a x800 series card.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

Cy9394 is right.
http://support2.jp.dell.com/docs/systems/dim4400/specs.htm
According to the specs here, you'd have to get a new psu if you want anything done I think.
And even if you get that, a 2.4ghz p4, an x800 you'd still be stuck with a rather slow system. I agree with the above. Wait and buy.
I'd suggest you wait till a tad after xmas, when people sell their hardware on ebay because they got new, or a wrong product.

 

[SumDumGuy]

I have the latter. 1x512MB and 1x256MB and yes it has a AGP slot Dell
Dimension 4400 Series
GenuineIntel
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.70GHz
1694 MHz
100 MHz

If you're looking for an upgrade on the cheap, you can go for some very well budget priced systems based on Socket 939 AMD CPUs, provided you're content with the level of performance it will provide and not looking to upgrade again in the not too near future. Judging by the fact that you're still using an RDRAM based 1.7 GHz P4 system, it seems like you'll be keeping your next PC a while.

A cheap upgrade would be any mid-level S939 Athlon X2, like a 4200 and Asrock S939-Dual SATA II mobo, and this combination will serve you well for at least the next 2 years, not to mention the Asrock motherboard has an expansion board to accomodate AM2 CPUs and DDR2 memory... of course, if you're willing to spend just a little more, you could also go Core 2 Duo, it's all a matter of how much you want to spend.

If you really must go with a newer video card alone, I believe NVidia as a 7600 series GeForce for AGP, but this will quickly go the wayside. If you choose to go the upgrade path and go with PCI-X graphics, the Radeon X1900 XT 256, for the money, is the best right now, period.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

I agree with all of the above, except the asrock part!
I've got an asrock 939 sli board, and last week I contacted support regarding where to aquire that am2 expantion board ... and it's friday in 3 hours, yet I haven't received any reply. So I'd say, go with any cheap 939 board (altho not matsonic, ecs, pcchips etc) but don't go asrock. The board layouts usually suck, and the support in general isn't very good.
Go soltek, msi or something else that is cheap, but don't go asrock.

 

[cleeve]

I think you can find that expantion board at NCIX.com for $35:

http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18722&vpn=AM2CPU%20Board&manufacture=ASRock

 

[bliq]

I think the CPU will be the bottleneck even if you get the 9600Pro, so this is the cheapest route, unless you can find a used one on Ebay. ANyone? agree? 8)

I can't imagine even a 1.7GHz P4 will bottleneck a 9600Pro. I stiill want to see what proof anyone has that a P4 class CPU bottlenecks even a high end video card. Whose got proof? Who came up with this notion, I honestly don't really read about it on other hardware boards.

 

[cleeve]

We're talking a crappy 1.7 Ghz P4 here dude.

That's going to bottleneck all kinds of games. Sure, the 9600 PRO will bottleneck at higher resolutions, but that CPU will cap the maximum framerate even at low resolutions.

It's the weakest link, IMO, and certainly would make sense to upgrade it first, because it will speed EVERYTHING up for him, in addition to games...

 

[bliq]

Let me rethink this response some more...

 

[purdueguy]

While you are rethinking, take a look at these benchmarks. I know that they can't be compared one-to-one, but I think it tells the story.

P4 1.7GHz with a GeForce Ultra 2, here. This benchmark is over 5 years old. When was the last time you saw a video game benchmark at 640x480?

Athlon FX-51 with a Radeon 9600Pro, here. This benchmark is coming up on 3 years old.

There's a reason that there are no benchmarks of a P4 1.7GHz with a 9600Pro or other "modern" cards. They would have the same results or practically the same. The P4 1.7GHz would be the bottleneck.