Looking for Video Card ( Need Help )

[Liquidplasma]

(new to here let me know if wrong section)

I am a newb with computers so sorry for that ^^ but anyway, all my friends have started playing Call of Duty 4 but my video card can't handle it when i tried the demo, I have only around 200 bucks in my budget looking for some advice on what I should get.

Some info i know, AGP 8x for video card type my power supply is 420W I have 1.5gigs of ram Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.80GHz.

Ive been looking and saw http://tinyurl.com/2h2rns video card and was thinking of getting that and buying http://tinyurl.com/3dktet for a PSU since ppl were saying need 450W+ for it or would my 420 be fine?

Also saw http://tinyurl.com/22hpba card and I see it's DDR2 instead of 3 but has 256-bit instead of 128 and was wondering which card would be better? and if second is better would I still need to upgrade my PSU or would 420 be fine?

Thanks guys for any help, let me know if anyone finds a better card then those two that would be good for playing Call of Duty 4 and World of Warcraft are the games I would be playing, prefer highest settings possible ^^.

So overall need Video card 200 bucks or less that would be including if I need a PSU if my 420 if fine then a card that is 200 is fine. Thanks ppl =)

PSU is For PSU says Turbolink Switching Power supply MODEL: LC-A420ATX 12V

 

[silent-circuit]

Your links are broken, they have the "..." instead of part of them. Please fix them.

AGP is going to be a major problem -- you could pick up an ATI Radeon 3850 or maybe even a 3870 for $200 or so, or an 8800 GT, but they're all PCIe only.

You might consider saving up for a new motherboard that'll give you PCIe support for that reason.

Exactly what make and model is your current power supply?

 

[Liquidplasma]

should work now let me know

 

[deadmoshun]

save money and go for pci maybe sell ur old system and if u can't then go for the minimum i think 7600 should do just fine and u can get it under 100$ i think

 

[hossdaddy]

what video card do you have now?

 

[hossdaddy]

hey Liq I did some looking for you and spending more$ on a agp card just isnt good value. With that in mind I priced out an upgrade for you,

BIOSTAR NF520-A2 AM2 NVIDIA nForce 520 $48.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138077

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Windsor 2.4GHz Socket AM2 $79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103751

A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $42.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211066

MSI NX8600GT Twin Turbo GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 $101.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127306

Total: $238 after MIR

So, you would have current technology, you can use your psu, and its very close to your budget figure.

GL!

 

[rincewind]

An X1950Pro will be sub-$200 and should run on your PSU if it is a decent 420w (an X1950XT is kinda pushing it). Alternately you can probably pick up a used 7900GT or even 7950GT which are less power-hungry and generally a tad faster than the Pro. Do you know what brand the PSU is, or how much it can supply on the +12v rail?

 

[rincewind]

hey Liq I did some looking for you and spending more$ on a agp card just isnt good value. With that in mind I priced out an upgrade for you,

BIOSTAR NF520-A2 AM2 NVIDIA nForce 520 $48.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138077

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Windsor 2.4GHz Socket AM2 $79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103751

A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $42.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211066

MSI NX8600GT Twin Turbo GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 $101.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127306

Total: $238 after MIR

So, you would have current technology, you can use your psu, and its very close to your budget figure.

GL!

All AM2 boards I've come across require a 24-pin PSU. Which the OP almost certainly doesn't have. While I'd agree that it is generally best to move to PCI-E, you can't really do a worthwhile upgrade in that direction for $200.

 

[hossdaddy]

he can buy a 20->24 pin adapter for $3. If you check the review of that card that HardOCP did you will see it will get the job done just fine. Spending $200 on 3 yr old technology is bad value. The only way to do better than my suggested upgrade is to spend more $ on a bigger video card. That cpu and ram will run solid for quite a while.

 

[rincewind]

Hmm, I tried one of those adapters and I didn't work for me (with a good Enermax PSU), but maybe I got a duff one! Still $41 over budget before shipping, but that's a decent upgrade for the money. I maintain that $200 is not enough, but another $50 and the OP would have a whole new system, which has got to be better value even if the 8600GT is generally slower than the cards I mentioned. A GTS runs more or less with that pack.

EDIT: In response to the OP, avoid those X1650's. And the 256-bit reference is to the internal RingBus controller - it's a 128-bit interface.

 

[Liquidplasma]

sent u a pm rince let me know what you think

 

[WhDemon]

hey Liq I did some looking for you and spending more$ on a agp card just isnt good value. With that in mind I priced out an upgrade for you,

BIOSTAR NF520-A2 AM2 NVIDIA nForce 520 $48.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138077

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Windsor 2.4GHz Socket AM2 $79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103751

A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $42.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211066

MSI NX8600GT Twin Turbo GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 $101.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127306

Total: $238 after MIR

So, you would have current technology, you can use your psu, and its very close to your budget figure.

GL!

Best deal. Don't Stick with AGP

 

[Faction]

the adapter works flawlessly, if you need to use a 20 to 24 pin adapter, but dump the AGP for sure.

 

[rincewind]

You should have a couple of PM's liquid

 

[areamike]

the adapter works flawlessly, if you need to use a 20 to 24 pin adapter, but dump the AGP for sure.

According to what I am reading, yo do not need one of those adapters. At least that is what my new Mobo manual says and a tech at the local computer shop concurred. The 20 pin will plug right into the 24 pin on the mobo and it should work fine. It is also fool proof so you can't plug it in wrong.

 

[rincewind]

According to what I am reading, yo do not need one of those adapters. At least that is what my new Mobo manual says and a tech at the local computer shop concurred. The 20 pin will plug right into the 24 pin on the mobo and it should work fine. It is also fool proof so you can't plug it in wrong.

That didn't work on my DFI, which is presumably why the adapter didn't either. I upgraded my Mum's aging Celeron500 to an AM2 Sempron system and I'm thinking I might have used a 20-pin Enermax unit successfully (don't recall buying a new PSU, but I know the old one wouldn't co-operate). My point is that it's not guaranteed to work, although the top-end boards are probably those more likely to balk.

 

[areamike]

That didn't work on my DFI, which is presumably why the adapter didn't either. I upgraded my Mum's aging Celeron500 to an AM2 Sempron system and I'm thinking I might have used a 20-pin Enermax unit successfully (don't recall buying a new PSU, but I know the old one wouldn't co-operate). My point is that it's not guaranteed to work, although the top-end boards are probably those more likely to balk.

...true and I am in no way recommending this, I only know what I have read.

 

[Liquidplasma]

Sent you 2 new PM's rince