worthy upgrade?

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P3N1X0R

Gawd
Joined
Jul 30, 2005
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bit of background.

2nd pc (dads) he plays rome total war and the addons...not much else

we also use his pc to do some BF2 gaming :)

the system is an Asus a7v8-x board, amd 2700+ cpu, 1.5gb ram, SB Audigy 2. currently theres a 9600 pro 256mb in there and the gfx have to be turned down just a bit and it doesnt look so great, been naggin us for some time, so now i wanna do something about it.

currently i need an AGP card, and i wanan hit up somewheres local, and my options are best buy, and local pc club, my options are limited, and i wanna keep it under 150ish if possible....with that in mind anybody got reccomendations?

is it a worthy upgrade to go from an ati radeon 9600 pro 256mb, to upgrade to a Geforce 6200 OC? or a Geforce 6600LE? or even an Ati Radeon 9550 256mb? are those any decent upgrades over whats currently in there, the 9600 pro 256mb?
 
The best of the cards you listed is definitely the 6600LE. The problem is that 6600LE will barely be faster than the 9600pro, perhaps almost on the same level. The 6600LE has some new features going for it, but those will only limit your framerates even more.

You could get a very worthy upgrade if you were willing to go out on the net for one. I reccomend you get a card with at least 8 pipelines. It would definitely give you a huge performance boost. You could grab a 6600GT AGP in your price range (after shipping before rebate) and even have extra. You could also find a 6800NU brand new for around $150. I've seen used 6800GT's go for nearly that low in the for sale forum here.

I'll list a few cards below that you may want to consider, because I do not think any of the cards you listed (6200, 6600LE, 9550) will provide any performance increases, or so little it won't be noticable. Keep in mind the 6600LE is basicly like a 6200 but with 128-bit memory (it's a 6600 with only 4 pixel pipelines).

Check some of these cards and prices:

6800NU $145
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814140067
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814140067R <- cheaper refurb
6600GT $135
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814170082
X1600PRO $116
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814241016

I think any of those would give you a great deal of performance increase. And they are well under your budget.

Looking at the statistics, the 9600pro is definitely as powerful as the 6600LE:

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=75&card2=361

Don't purchase any of the cards you listed, it won't be an upgrade. The 6200 is dead slow, the 6600LE is a gimped 6600 and the 9550 is obviously slower than the 9600pro.
 
General Crespin said:
Are you paying for this so that you have a better BF2-playing computer, or is he?
Click to expand...

its for his pc, i dont play on it at all...my buddies use it when they come over to play bf2....thats about it but yea, im payin for it....we all know dads wont pay for shit when they think their system is good enough ;)
 
the 6800NU would be your best bet. Then just unlock the pipelines and it becomes like a GT.
 
If you're buying this for a 2nd system that only gets used for gaming by friends,
I'd go cheap. X1600pro or 6600GT. Whatever does better in BF2.
I'd setup an OC profile to severely underclock the card when running your dad's games.
 
heheheheh :)

yea thats why im tryin to do it on the cheap kinda...its not worth it to spend a whole lot. but i want them to be able to enjoy killin the mec forces in decent glory :)

all he really plays is that rome total war, im gonna try to get him into AOE3, w/ the demo, but it doesnt really matter cuz im not tryin to improve his gamin expereince, just a bit w/ bf2, and of course he will benefit from it.

so a 6800 or so eh?
 
hows about this one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102665

i see the gecube, but ive had no expereince with them before. and ive used alot of saphire before, and we use their cards at work, reliable. so im thinkin of taking that route.

those 6800's, just meh, like i said i cant justify the purchase much anyhow, so im cheapin out hehe. 119..plus shippin bla bla under 130 is a good deal for me.

for all intents and purposes that 128mb x1600 pro will outperform the 256mb 9600 pro on that setup anyways right?

wow, this sounds reassuring after doin some research and readin up on the4se x1600 cards
http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/forums/showthread.php?t=3921
 
heh, this damn thing, for 512mb version its 250

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...t&productCategoryId=cat01151&id=1130987912328

i dont think i need the 512mb version....but i am quite impatient, and wanna upgrade it now ;) but i think that the 100 bux difference will stop me....damn frys has to be half hour + away, and they close at what 9 at nite...and im tryin to finish watchin the nascar race...i dont know how this will turn out hehehe

*EDIT**

would my main system in sig below benefit from the x1600 w/ 512mb memory, or is the x800pro better than it? or on par? cuz if thats the case ill get that x1600 and put it in my main system and put my x800 pro in dads pc....justifying an upgrade in my pc ;)
 
actually, what the hell, im gonna grab a 7800 GS OC upgrade my x800pro, and put the x800pro in dads pc....

so i get the upgrade in the end :) thats more like it!!!


GOOD TIMES! upgraded to the 7800 GS OC, cost 340 n change out the door, was marked 319.99 @ the displays. sweet :) bf2 is ROCKING
 
Interesting choice, but it actually makes some sense in your case. Since you both have solid systems out of the deal, and you saw a significant performance/feature boost. So did he.
 
and neither system could be happier....not like theres any more point in upgrading either system for anything now...

bf2 never lookes better with 4x AA and 8x AA @ 1280x1024 with everything on high....time to get killin
 
All the cards you've listed are pretty much the same. If you want a cheap upgrade go with the ATI X1600PRO 256. lobit memory controller, but lots of pixel pipes, which is exactly what games these days require. I've seen them for around $120 - $140 and will run anything smoothly at a nice safe setting. I haven't yet seen anything better that doesn't cost $300+.
 
Good choice, I wouldve either gotten the x1600pro or a 6600gt, but a worthy upgrade in your specific case and will make BF2 much more enjoyable for both pc's.
 
pretty much. i just figure, why not upgrade my machines video and give him my old one....i mean i should benefit from it first if im spendin the dough. he gets the good hand me down and i get the shiny new card :) loving it i cant say enough hehehe
 
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