Modest computer upgrade?

[Paddy]

I currently have a XP3200 Barton on an A7N8XE with 1GB DDR and a AIW9800 Pro.
I'm more than happy with my current config, but it is getting a little tired when it comes to playing the more recent games.

How could I modestly upgrade the system to increase the resolution thats I'll be able to play modern games? Would changing the graphics card alone suffice?

[dbdg]

I recently upgraded from a 9700Pro to an 850Pro and I've noticed the difference in newer games, now able to play with more settings maxed and at slightly higher res, I general play at 1280 * 1024.

Fear still pushes my rig but it is very playable at a reasonable quality @ 1024 * 768

[Admiral]

Second hand 6800GT if you stick with AGP, and maybe an Athlon 64/Sempron 754 together with motherboard.
X1600 Pro/XT, budget motherboard and Athlon 64 939 for PCI-E.

[KeiFront]

If you got the cash look no further the fastest AGP graphics card http://www.gainward.net/products/pro...products_id=48

[Byock]

Yes, you would notice the most difference going with a new video card. I have the AIW9800 and upgraded to an AMD x64 3400+ and games are smoother, but not near the upgrade I was hoping for.

[Mehen]

bleck, dont spend any more money on AGP

you could probably build a beast of PCI-E machine for a decent price

805D* + 7900GT + new mobo/ram would be killer

(*only if you want to overclock)

[Paddy]

How much would that cost?

[Mehen]

unfortunately probably a little more than you were thinking to spend but you gotta future proof at least a little bit

The Unreal3 people said that to run the game at just 1024 you would need a 6800 ultra

So if you wanna stick with AGP, get the absolute best - 7800GS i think.

[Whirl-Secret]

I actually think that the core system is just fine, and that simply upgrading the gfx card to a budget-fitting agp card would give a nice increase in frame rates. Yes it's not future proof, but with the system that Paddy has (very similar to mine except I have a P650 instead of the 9800), the next upgrade he does will likely be a complete overhaul anyway. However nice a Dual Opteron with a Raid 0 15k scsi array and 4 gigs of memory would be, simply upgrading the gfx card at this point would work fine imho. If he spends enough, it will likely be ok for another 18 months to 2 years.

[Mehen]

Well, the 9800pro is still a fairly capable card, I would say hold off on the upgrade and buy a whole new compy next year if possible.

There aren't too many games the 9800pro really struggles with - FEAR maybe...

Seriously though, UT2k7 will blow your computer away - upgrade BIGtime or wait and buy a new computer next year. Buying a 6800GT would be a waste of money, not enough of a boost.

[Paddy]

I am kind of tempted to hold on for Vista and see what their specs are . Seriously though, Crysis looks amazing!

[schmosef]

I intend to trun my current home PC in to an HTPC eventually and buy a monster quad core rig next year. Maybe even dual quad core.

I'm kind of in the same boat as you Paddy. I want to do one more AGP video card upgrade on that home PC first.

My problem is that it's a Shuttle XPC so I've got size and power demand limitations.

Otherwise I'd get a 7800GS card, or maybe a X1600 card. I also want to wait until video card makers start supporting HDCP properly. So far, it's available in the GPU, but not implemented in many available boards. The only brand I've heard of that has support for HDCP right now is Sapphire.

[agallag]

Paddy,

I've got an X700 256MB PCI-E right now, which is probably fairly close in performace to your 9800. It does well enough in everything I play right now. Once Vista/UT2k7/Crysis are all out, I'll consider getting something beefier. My proc and ram (A64 3200/2GB) will probably hold me over a little longer than yours, but not by much.

Once the wedding is paid for, I'm going big.

[Tom]

Paddy,
I wouldn't go too high end on a new video card for a couple of reasons.
Your CPU wouldn't really have the horsepower to push a really fast video card to its full potential.
Also, the money would be better invested in a new system.
For now, something like a 6800GS would give you good speed and shader model 3.0 support for a fair price.

[rylan]

Actually the XP3200+ should be able to handle whatever graphics card you stick in there. Its AGP bus remember, so odds are the bottleneck won't be on the cpu end... it will be getting data to the graphics card and processing power of the GPU.

The easiest (and cheapest) thing to do is to overclock the 9800Pro a bit and see how much that helps. Should be able to find cooling kits for the 9800 series pretty cheap. I have an Iceberg4 VGA cooler for mine... drop in replacement copper gpu cooler and copper ram heatsinks and I can do 15% overclock on the card no problem.
Also those XP Bartons overclock like mad... nice heatpipe style heatsink and crank that bad boy up.