Need help upgrading, AGP video card

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chkMINUS

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Hi, my current computer is 3 years old. I have an Asus p4c800-e deluxe mobo. It has an 8x AGP pro slot. The video card currently in it is an 128mb Radeon 9800 pro.

I'm in need of a new video card. I don't have a lot of cash. Going with pci-express would require me to buy a new mobo and I'm not sure if it's worth it if I can buy a nice AGP card for cheap. Would it be a waste of my time to upgrade to a better AGP when pci express is out or will/can a nice AGP card satisfy me for another 2 years? I'm looking at NewEgg and there are 512mb video cards for $50 bucks. Something there sounds too good to be true.

The only games I play are cs:s, battlefield, fear. However, my brother plays a game called Van Guard and it seems to run slow. Are games taking advantage of 512mb of memory on the graphics cards yet?

Also I'm planning on getting the 24" CRT fw900 in this needed 3 year upgrade. Don't know how that may factor in to video card thinking.

One last question and then I'm done. This is unrelated to video cards. I currently have 2 512 sticks of corsair ram in DDR. Mobo allows "up to 4GB using 184-pin unbuffered ECC or non-ECC pc3200/2700/2100 Dimms, and allow up to 6.4GB/s data transfer rates."

I think my current sticks are 3200 (I'd have to make sure though). I'm thinking I should get 2 more 1 GB sticks. Would this be OK on a mobo: 2 512 sticks, 2 1gb sticks? Would they need to be the same speed? And does that sound like a good upgrade?

Potential Upgrade Overview: 24" fw900 monitor, video card, and 2 GB of ram.
 
Could be a good idea, except your CPU is really getting up there in age.

If you play CPU-intensive games (especially new ones coming out this year), you may find you'll hit a wall with your old Pentium 4 CPU. And if that happens, well you're still stuck upgrading to PCIe, except now you're stuck selling your brand-new AGP card.

Are you planning on playing cutting-edge games (those to be released this year), or do you just want better performance in the games you already play? For the future, PCIe is the better option.

Otherwise, just go grab a 7600 GT or x1950 Pro, and enjoy your last AGP card.

EDIT: here's an example of a cutting-edge game: Supreme Commander.

You can barely get playable framerates out of it with an Athlon 64 X2, and Core 2 Duos aren't much better...and that's on LOW settings! It may be a matter of optimization, but I would expect a single-core P4 to get totally demolished by this game. Games released later in this year will only get worse.

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=620&p=0
 
First off.... if you are seeing something for $50 with 512mb of memory then it is not a good card at all. The 512mb of memory doesn't mean squat if it can't hold its own with the core that is on the card. Give us some links to the cards in question. Also, what is your budget for a new card? I am willing to bet that your 9800Pro 128mb card would still be better than the 512mb cards you looking at.

EDIT: HERE is the cheapest card that I found with 512mb of memory and AGP4x/8x. That is open box also.
 
Since you did not detail your processor, we will assume it is less than a three gigahertz model. Given your desire not to upgrade to a new system, look toward a used video card along the lines of a 6800GT, X850 or similar levels of performance. A 256MB video card is sufficient for your system. It would be foolish to drop more than $200 for a brand new AGP card for a processor limited system. Hopefully your power supply is up to the challenge (should be around 350watts or more of a high quality manufacture).

With regards to your RAM question, look for PC3200 modules. Again look for used pieces as DDR is being phased out and is quite expensive compared to a year ago.

You should try to limit you upgrade to $250 (monitor not included). If you plan to exceed this amount significantly, you should reevaluate your idea about building a new system.

Good luck.
 
Thanks guys. The cpu is a p4 3 GHz. I thought something wasn't right about those 512mb cards. And my power supply is currently 380w.

Used, that's an idea I never thought of. I may just have to do that. As well as a $180-$200 budget for myself.

Thanks again. And Supreme Commander looks awesome.
 
Two more questions: Do I need to have the same brand and/or speed ram across all for DIMMS or does it just matter that dimms 1and3 and 2and4 are the same? Also any recommendation on whether to go for 2gb or 3gb total ram? I'm leaning towards two right now.
 
go for 2GB's and try to keep them all the same if possible to eliminate possible problems/conflicts. You would be better off it you could find a kit of 2*1GB sticks.
 
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