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Upgrading slightly from a 9600xt

R

Rob001

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 15, 2004
Messages
85
My Mobo only runs agp x4. So i got my 9600xt a while ago as it was well priced and is the best card on the market that runs specifically at x4 maximum. However, i'd like to know if a better card that normally work at x8 agp will work almost as well at x4 agp? I know some people say it shouldn't make a difference, but how about in reality?

Next questions, will a 9800xt or a 6600gt running at x4 agp be a good upgrade from a 9600xt? Is either card worth it?

Then please tell me whether you recommend getting either the 9800xt or the 6600gt if you think the upgrade is worth it. Which is the better card? I can get both for roughly the same price. I hear that the 9800xt with its 256mb is better at antialising (which ill probably be using often).

Many thanks for any replies.
 
Personally, I would suggest waiting longer. I get the feeling with such chatter about the R520 and G70 going on that there will soon be a newer generation of graphics cards coming out. After that happens, the prices on current top-of-the-line cards will plummet and you may be able to get a 6800GT, 6800U, or X800XT/X850XT for that type of money. Granted, it may take several months for those high end cards to become that inexpensive. However, I would strongly suggest waiting to buy a new graphics card.

Another option that you have would be to buy a cheap mobo/cpu combo such as an A64 3000 with a MSI K8T-Neo FSR (or other mobo). Perhaps you need more RAM, I don't know. If you have to upgrade right now, go with either of those two cards as they are about equal; it is your choice.
 
To be a skeptic, I think it will take a bit of waiting for the current prices to drop even $50...
 
Thanks, you're probably right.

My 9600xt can run all the recent games, so i'll stick with it until it hinders me.

So higher end graphics cards will run OK at x4 agp then? I really don't want to change my mobo (too much hassle, and would rather wait for technology to change dramatically and get a prebuilt tower).
 
Yes, I should think that a higher end card would be fine in a 4x slot. Current games, save perhaps HL2, don't take full advantage of the power that AGP4x gives them, much less 8x or PCI-E. That will of course change over time as games become more complex and take up more system resources.
 
Judging from you have a AGP 4x slot, then I'm willing to bet the rest of your system would limit a newer card.

Could you post your system specs? It might not even be worth upgrading at all if the system will be limiting the card.
 
Depending on how the rest of your system looks, you'd probably be in good shape cpu and mobo wise with a socket 939 and A64 combo. If you plan to keep the same CPU for a pretty long time, you can even go socket 754 on the cheap without really hurting yourself, and this would be a great upgrade over most earlier chips. You can get a 754 cpu and mobo for I think 220 dollars.

If you do go A64, it will push the bottleneck from the system to the videocard, if it isn't already that way, and that might be the best time to look at videocards.

However, I wouldn't worry about upgradeability too much unless you want to go dual core at some point. I really think the A64 has a lot of staying power and current speeds will far outlast what we've had in the past, so no more top of the line systems being beat up on the cheap a year or two later - for a while, at least.

Videocards, after about 2 years of relative stagnation in the consumer market, appear to have a lot of upward momentum in the last year or so. That's where I'd play the waiting game, if you want to do that with any components.
 
well, just so you know, I run my 6800ultra @ agp 4x, 8x causes artifacts for me..and I got a margin of error in 3dmark05 and gained 50 points with agp 4x lol. So yah, you can get the top card and use it in agp4x with no performance hit.
 
My processor is a 2400xp on an asus mobo that supports up to 266fsb (so no upgrade without new mobo, which i don't want to do). Im running 1GB of 2700 DIMM Crucial RAM (seriously thinking about upping this to 2GB).

Are there any other specs that might affect the cards performance?

I think i remember reading something about voltage, or fan size. Is any of that stuff relevent?
 
Rob001 said:
My processor is a 2400xp on an asus mobo that supports up to 266fsb (so no upgrade without new mobo, which i don't want to do). Im running 1GB of 2700 DIMM Crucial RAM (seriously thinking about upping this to 2GB).

Are there any other specs that might affect the cards performance?

I think i remember reading something about voltage, or fan size. Is any of that stuff relevent?
Click to expand...

I'm running a 2500+ XP with 1GB PC2700 RAM. The only diff is that my FSB is 333 MHz. My vid card is a the 6600GT. I did notice a sizable improvement going from the 9600XT (orginal) to the 6600GT (current). I would say sell the 9600XT for $80 if you can then buy the 6600GT for $150.
 
a 6600gt will beat a 9800 and it has more features.

as far as 8x vs 4x if i remember correctly some were gettin 3-4% boost in performance.
 
A 6600GT WILL MURDER IS 9600XT...HEHE..THE 9800PRO IS PROBABLY TWICE AS FAST AS THE 9600XT, AND THE 6600GT IS AROUND 20% FASTER THAN THE 9800PRO, YOU DO THE MATH :p omg..I was typing without looking at teh screen..and Caps was on..sorry me too lazy to retype :)
 
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