want a new graphics card (limited choise)

[Struggler]

i want to speed my computer up abit,

vista seems to imply that its my graphics card thats slowing me down,

however its rather an old motherboard so i believe my options are limited.

iirc its pre pci-e 2.0, and i believe its a x4 slot (if that makes any sence)

atm its got an ATI 9550 128mb card in there, but i want to change it for a better one to speed the old girl up abit.

its a p4 3.0ghz processor in an asrock p4v88+ motherboard?? (i think)

any suggestions?? and btw i dont have the money for a new motherboard and chip atm.

 

[Munson]

No point getting anything too posh, as it'll probably be CPU limited anyway.

What resolution do you game at, and what's your budget?

 

[conneh]

As above really, looks like you are still running AGP. The only graphics card you could buy which would be ok is a 9800XT - i was running 1 of those with a Athlon and it was fine. No point spending a great deal on a high end AGP card as its all old hack now adays and will only be limited by somthing else.

 

[Darren S]

i want to speed my computer up abit,

vista seems to imply that its my graphics card thats slowing me down,

however its rather an old motherboard so i believe my options are limited.

iirc its pre pci-e 2.0, and i believe its a x4 slot (if that makes any sence)

atm its got an ATI 9550 128mb card in there, but i want to change it for a better one to speed the old girl up abit.

its a p4 3.0ghz processor in an asrock p4v88+ motherboard?? (i think)

any suggestions?? and btw i dont have the money for a new motherboard and chip atm.

I haven't checked that myself, but if what conneh says is correct and you're running AGP - then you are really limited, unfortunately. I bought the best AGP card available about 12 months ago to speed up my nephew's PC. Although his P4 CPU was slightly less than yours at 2.8Ghz, it did have 2GB of RAM, which Windows XP was fine with.

However, even games that aren't demanding such as Left 4 Dead and GTR Evo, really really struggle to maintain a decent frame-rate. And if it ran anything like COD or GTA4, I think it would die a death. Crysis? Move on.

I think it might be time to bite the bullet and upgrade m8. Not cheap, but when that new kit turns up - the expense is all worth it! I was looking myself at the following today in order to revamp the PC. MUST RESIST!!!!!

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Product/39301/Asus-motherboard-Rampage-II-Extreme

D.

 

[Munson]

Indeed. The smell of freshly burnt in PC components is worth the upgrade cost alone.

 

[conneh]

Kinda sad but yea, new components and lots of time making a decent prime stable overclock

 

[Krispwee]

Id be tempted to go back to XP with that PC. Vista isn't particularly good for games at the best of times.

Also you probably don't want to hear this but it may be worth saving the money and waiting till you can upgrade the whole lot if your wanting to play recent games

 

[UncleGrumpy]

For an AGP system have a look at this

wont break any speed records and on anything recent it'll drag its ass like a one legged special olympian, have a pop at that, see if you can get it cheap.

if you want the fastest (nVidia) card then its this you need, pricier but a fair chunk faster, you can compare the difference here

 

[ChrisR]

If your slot is only a 4x you'll be pretty limited as well in the AGP stakes.

I've got an old AGP system that II've recently stuck some extra RAM in and bought an ATI 3850HD and it's made a hell of a difference from my old X800 XT thingy.