Need help with cheap video card decision!

F

Flipside

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 18, 2003
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Hey guys,

I've been out of touch with hardware for a while, so I need some guidance.

I'm getting a free Intel 915 GVA motherboard with a 3.0ghz P4 on it. I'm going to be running 3gb of DDR400 with ~500gb of storage. I'm looking to use it as a casual web / old gaming rig (+ a little L4D and Modern Warfare 1/2 perhaps).

What PCIe video card would you recommend? I'm looking to spend $~100. I'll likely be buying off NCIX.com, so if you can post a link from there, it'd be much appreciated.

Much Love,

Sean
 
Just get something like a HD4850 or 9800GT, they should be a good balance for your system and offer great performance for the casual gamer.
 
Also, my current primary rig is a Penryn powered Macbook pro with a 8600GT that's running XP.

I'd like to get slightly better gaming performance out of this cheap rig - are such expectations reasonable?
 
Flipside said:
I'll be reusing the Enermax 450 Dual Fan in my sig. It should work/be enough, shouldn't it?
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Is this the PSU?:
http://www.thetechzone.com/reviews/powersupply/enermax450/index.shtml

If so, it's not enough for a majority of modern video cards out there. Not to mention that it's nine years old. So you would have to get a new PSU for any kind of video card upgrade.

Flipside said:
Also, my current primary rig is a Penryn powered Macbook pro with a 8600GT that's running XP.

I'd like to get slightly better gaming performance out of this cheap rig - are such expectations reasonable?
Click to expand...

No. The P4 CPU is significantly slower than your Penryn CPU in the Macbook when it comes to modern games. It will be a bottleneck or limitation for many video cards as well.
 
No, it's this one:
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=305


I'm looking at 9800GTs and 4650/4670 - so would a PSU upgrade be required as well?

For older games (and a little Moder Warfare 2) would the CPU/chipset/RAM really be the bottleneck here? I'm not looking for great performance, but I'd like to have it playable and be able to see things on a screen that's bigger than the 15 inch one on my lappy....
 
Flipside said:
No, it's this one:
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=305


I'm looking at 9800GTs and 4650/4670 - so would a PSU upgrade be required as well?

For older games (and a little Moder Warfare 2) would the CPU/chipset/RAM really be the bottleneck here? I'm not looking for great performance, but I'd like to have it playable and be able to see things on a screen that's bigger than the 15 inch one on my lappy....
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Hmmm Does it even have a PCI-E plug for it?

Sure dont look like it to?....if not then you WILL have to buy a new PSU
 
Flipside said:
No, it's this one:
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=305


I'm looking at 9800GTs and 4650/4670 - so would a PSU upgrade be required as well?

For older games (and a little Moder Warfare 2) would the CPU/chipset/RAM really be the bottleneck here? I'm not looking for great performance, but I'd like to have it playable and be able to see things on a screen that's bigger than the 15 inch one on my lappy....
Click to expand...

Still old at 6 years old. I would still recommend a PSU upgrade for anything past the HD 4670's power usage level (around 65W). Even then it's a bit dicey considering the age and relatively so-so quality of the PSU. The 9800GT would require a PSU upgrade no matter what.

Pretty much a majority of games released since 2007 would be limited by that CPU.
 
So really, maybe putting any money into this set-up is worthless...meh.

I figured a free 915GVA + CPU might give me a cheap n'easy upgrade path that would tide me over until I decide to invest big money into a new hi-po rig; however, it seems like its all too outdated. Is there any promise in trying to make this work?
 
Flipside said:
So really, maybe putting any money into this set-up is worthless...meh.

I figured a free 915GVA + CPU might give me a cheap n'easy upgrade path that would tide me over until I decide to invest big money into a new hi-po rig; however, it seems like its all too outdated. Is there any promise in trying to make this work?
Click to expand...

Eh just use it as a server then.

there is no point putting money into a system, that will bottleneck everything out there (gaming wise)
 
Flipside said:
So really, maybe putting any money into this set-up is worthless...meh.

I figured a free 915GVA + CPU might give me a cheap n'easy upgrade path that would tide me over until I decide to invest big money into a new hi-po rig; however, it seems like its all too outdated. Is there any promise in trying to make this work?
Click to expand...

For a gaming rig? Not really. Like you said, it's really outdated:
- The 915 chipset doesn't support any new C2D based CPUs that were released as far back as 2006. Just s478 P4 CPUs at most.
- The CPU itself is just too slow for a majority of modern games
- The PSU is of suspect quality and of advanced age.


Your Macbook is still a better choice for gaming sadly.
 
Danny Bui said:
For a gaming rig? Not really. Like you said, it's really outdated:
- The 915 chipset doesn't support any new C2D based CPUs that were released as far back as 2006. Just s478 P4 CPUs at most.
- The CPU itself is just too slow for a majority of modern games
- The PSU is of suspect quality and of advanced age.


Your Macbook is still a better choice for gaming sadly.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. ;)
 
You need an HD 4650, if possible with passive cooling. It won't require external power connections and is strong enough to play some games...
 
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