Video Card upgrade?

[m0ttz]

Well I'm looking to upgrade my video card because the one I have now is hard to play BF2 with so I was wondering if anybody could give me a few recommendations. **Keep in mind I need an AGP slot card**

What I have:
I currently have a Nvidia Geforce 5500OC 256MB which gives me about 30FPS in a 18 slot server and i'm on all low settings

What I want to achieve:
I would like a card that lets me play on medium/high settings (non on low). I would also like a 80+ FPS on servers.

Also, could my comp specs do with a bit of upgrading?

Specs:
P4 2.62ghz
1 Gig ram (2x 512mb)
Nvidia Geforce 5500OC
Dynex 5.1 sound card

If you need any other info just ask :)

[megawhompertoo]

Re: Video Card upgrade?

If budget is no object, then a 7800gs would be the way to go:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130269

except that for $269, you could ALMOST buy a pentium D 805/820 dual core CPU (~$100), plus a PCI-E motherboard (~$60), plus an x850xt (~$120) that will give you such a performance increase over your current system that you wouldn't miss the the 7800gs.

If you're a little more budget conscious, a 7600gs ($142) or a x1600pro ($105) would get you pretty close to being a very happy gamer:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130051

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102666

I've got this card, but I bought mine quite a while back, with a rebate. It's $169, not quite as good for gaming as a 7800gs, but it is still a very good card and it will do other things that make up for (tivo, recording FM radio shows like Car Talk, etc).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006BC57O/sr=8-1/qid=1156364383/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-3290346-2646335?ie=UTF8

Personally, I would probably go with the x1600pro if I was buying an agp. It is very hard to justify spending a boatload on an agp card right now.

[m0ttz]

Re: Video Card upgrade?

If I was to upgrade those computer parts, would I have to make sure they all have the same chipset?

Also, with the x1600pro and the 7600gs could I run everything on medium with a few highs without any problems?

[imported_Bull3t]

Re: Video Card upgrade?

If I was to upgrade those computer parts, would I have to make sure they all have the same chipset?

Also, with the x1600pro and the 7600gs could I run everything on medium with a few highs without any problems?

With an pci-e x1600 PRO, I can run high settting no problem.

[m0ttz]

Re: Video Card upgrade?

What about AGP? Or is it not even worth getting it? Should I just upgrade my mobo and cpu and get a pci-e card?

[megawhompertoo]

Re: Video Card upgrade?

1600pro-agp (same as x1600pro PCI-E): People on these forums seem really happy with them. On paper--to me--they look like low-to-almost mid-end cards. Either the newer chipset compensates in some way that isn't apparent in the specs, or the upgraders are just so happy with the x1600pro's compared to what they had before (onboard, PCI, or 5200, etc).

This 6800gt would run close to full tilt, also, and it's much better than that that 7600gs I linked to earlier.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122195R

What about AGP? Or is it not even worth getting it? Should I just upgrade my mobo and cpu and get a pci-e card?

depends on your budget. if you've only got $100, that x1600pro is your answer.

if you've got ~$350

then this mobo will let you plug in a Pentium D now (cheap, power hog, but pretty fast and dual core) and a core 2 later, plus it will accept both ddr memory (keep yours) and it will accept ddr2 when you decide to upgrade. Not shabby for $51:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135023

This is a fast dual core pentium D for $137:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116253

and here's an x850xt that is the best price/performance card on the market, imho (although the 7600gt is in the sweet spot too):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102688

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143064

Total price=$307 plus shipping for a system that you can move your current memory into, will play bf2 FAST on medium/high, is upgradable to conroe, and that you can plug a better graphics card into when you need to.

So, like I said. Depends on your budget.

edit (last one this post): i downloaded the Dark Messiah (based on the modified Source engine) last night, and ran it on all high, 2xAA, @ 1280x1024 and it looked/played...EXCELLENT on my aging (x800xt AIW, p4 3.0E, 2x512mb ddr400) system. If I had $400, i'd go for that pentium D setup above with a better gpu, or a dual core athlon while all the "oober-leet upgraders" are paying to beta test Conroe.

[m0ttz]

Re: Video Card upgrade?

Alright, thanks a lot. You've provided a great deal of info for me :), I think i'll just be buying a new video card for now as in a year or less i'll be buying a new laptop :)

[OafyC]

Re: Video Card upgrade?

You may want to add at least another 512 of ram too. I have a 6800 Ultra which I know is outdated but it wasn't when BF2 came out. I can't run on high with 1 gig of ram. Even on medium-high it gets choppy.