I'm thinking of getting a new graphics card soon once I get the money and I'm thinking of getting one that's within the range of 100-200 dollars. I'm thinking of sticking to the Nvidia GeForce series (but only out of preference) but I'm willing to go with ATI if they have a better deal.

Here are the limitations that I'm sticking to for the new card:

- Must be under 200 dollars. I'm not interesting in getting the most high end of cards, just need one that would give my computer enough of a boost to play games like Guild Wars at a frame rate of at least 50-60 FPS. Would also be nice if the card could run games like F.E.A.R. or PREY are a decent rate of 30 FPS.

- Must be AGP 8x, no PCI-Express cards. I'm not interested in shelling out more cash for a new motherboard just to get a PCI-E slot. Feel free to educate me on PCI-E in case I'm missing out on something I should know.

- Must be better than my current card, which is a Geforce FX 5600 XT.

- 512 MB RAM would be prefer although I guess 256 MB would be fine.

BTW, my CPU is going to need a boost too but I already have an idea in mind of what CPU I'm going to need. I just need advice on graphic cards since I haven't upgraded my rig in over 4 years and I've been out of the loop when it comes to that kind of stuff.

FWIW, my X800XL runs HL2 in 1680x1050x32 with everything max'd out...haven't tried it with FSAA/anis, though. Haven't tried FEAR in a while..hmm.

I've heard good things about the ATI X1950 Pro series...

HOLY CHRIST YOU'VE GOT A 5*00FX? What the hell is wrong with you.

X800XT, if you can find it, good luck. Maybe a 7900GS, but I think those are over 200.

Good luck finding a good, cheap AGP card--they're rare and probably will be for a while. There's a reason they said PCI-E was phasing out AGP.

I figured that PCI-E will kill AGP soon just like how AGP killed PCI graphic cards but I'm really don't want to get a new motherboard at the moment, mostly because of Windows XP giving me crap that last time I got a motherboard.

As I said already, I have a Geforce FX 5600 XT at the moment. I also have AMD XP 2500+ 1.8 ghz CPU and a motherboard that was made sometime in 2003.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161070

That'll do you plenty well enough. We need to know what MoBo you have so we can find you a CPU.

EDIT: You may consider upgrading your MoBo because a) You won't get any CPU in there much faster than your current one and b) the money you save on your PCI-E video card can probably buy you a cheap Motherboard.

dude seriously, it's new compy time.

XP only allows 2 minor hardware upgrades a year. The CPU, motherboard and OS hard drive are considered major upgrades. You will be getting harassed no matter what, so you might as well not waste hundreds of dollars on a video card you can't use in the future.

The last time I upgraded anything was back in 2004 so if what you say is true, I shouldn't have a problem then.

I'd just overclock the barton--it's probably unlocked. Maybe get a 7900GS for AGP or whatever it's called.

Honestly, save up and get yourself a new computer.

Can't you just call MS and solve the problem..?

the CPU is a major upgrade


You are going to have to call Microsoft no matter what. Replacing your CPU with another socket A Athlon and replacing your video card with another AGP8x card is just wasting your money and isn't even fixing the problem with XP you claim to have.


yes

Didn't do that to me last two times I upgraded.

I could just do what I did last time and call MS telling them I just upgraded my system. The last time I did that, they gave me a new key with no extra charge. If that doesn't work, I could just spend another 89 bucks for another license or buy an upgrade to Vista for a little more.

I am aware that my system is pretty old and I probably should just save up the money to just buy a whole new rig. Hopefully I can find a good deal somewhere where I can just get a new computer without buying any input and output devices. My current monitor, speakers, keyboard, and mouse (the mouse I just got a few weeks ago) are fine as they are.

I prefer going the upgrade route than buy a whole new system if I can save money in the end. I'm pretty confident that I can build a system without a whole lot of trouble. The only trouble I had in the past was faulty hardware that was glitch but that mostly occurred because of bad shipping.

You won't save money in the end, and you'll more than likely end up getting much worse performance.

Seriously, your mindset is one of the more stupid among the pc gamers' out there. Upgrading is fine, when the technology you're using is at least somewhat up to date. You're using 5 year old technology, wanting to upgrade and gain performance when the last vestige of said technology was thrown out the window 3 years ago.

And I find it hilarious that you're willing to spend 89 on windows, but not on parts which could benefit you. Honestly, 500 bucks and you'd have a system that would get 3-5x the framerate your current one does. If you spent 500 on your current system on upgrades you'd still get only double the framerate if that.

http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=46992

I just got the PCI-E 512 MB version, runs like a beaut.

It's a good buy..

The only reason I was considering getting upgrades rather than a new computer was because I rather just get a quick boost to my computer just to run the software I got right now for the time being. I figured that a new video card and a CPU would be enough for now until I get the money to completely replace the parts in my system.

At least, that's how I use to think. It would be much better if I just save up and get a whole new system. Although I do admit I take pride in making my computers from scratch, I haven't upgraded my rig in so long that I'll just have to swallow it and just get a all new rig.

If I do get a new rig, I guess I could just hand my old parts down to my mother's computer like I've done in the past. She still has the same monitor and keyboard for over 14 years



That was only if I was forced to get a new license after I got the upgrades. I wasn't quite thinking it completely through when I wrote that response to Jon's post.



Heh, I didn't think you could get a computer that cheap now of days. I figured you had to dish out at least 1.5k - 2k for a decent computer gaming rig.

Why don't you build a new computer yourself and only order the parts you need?

You know you can buy a motherboard by itself, right? And a video card, and a CPU, and a HSF, and a case..... you don't need to buy a big box computer at all. You'd almost certainly even be able to keep your existing case.

That's what I was planning to do from the start but Yoshi is saying otherwise.

Well, I think I'll go do some research and see if I can build a computer with the parts I need Vs. a brand no computer without input/output devices thrown. I'll check out the cards suggested in this thread.