Video card hunting

I have to upgrade my video card, that is, get a new one. I have a "bottom of the barrel" nVidea GeForce2 MX/MX 400. It came with my pooter in 1999. According to SIW my GeForce is a PCI-based card.

Look at the first card offered on the Tiger Direct link below. (XFX GeForce 9600 GSO Video Card)

That card used to be top of the line a few years ago. Now only $80. I can manage that. Do you tech pros here think it's worth it, or have you heard bad reports about this card?

I know if I go to Best Buy they'll probably charge $300 for that card...or not even have it, which is most likely the case with Best Buy.

A concern I have is that I have an older pooter with XP SP3, 512 ram. Think this would be a problem?

If you notice a more appropriate card for my old beast on that page please let me know.

Tiger Direct

Thanks for any input! :)

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Ugh, I see a problem already.

Make sure your motherboard is compatible with this video card. For example, PCI Express video cards won't work with motherboards designed only for AGP or PCI video cards, and vice versa. Please read the specifications carefully or call us for expert advice.

My pooter is built for PCI and AGP cards. Guess it's a Vista kinda card. The bulk of them look like this. <_<

Ummm....PCI-Express has been out for a while now. Honestly, it's not worth it to upgrade your card in that PC. They don't make PCI cards any more, and there's hardly any AGP cards around. My best guess is that it is going to be better to upgrade your whole system. It's not worth it to sink any money into that system. And how are you getting by with half a gig of RAM? I know it's XP and not Vista...but still, that will definitely slow you down.

Second. The 9600 came out as a mid-range card, and was never top of the line. The 9800GTX and 9800GX2 were the top of the line cards for that line of cards. But, it is a very capable card. If your system could handle it, I would definitely get it.

Why do you have to upgrade? Did it die? If so, find yourself a cheap AGP card, cause I have a feeling you won't be doing any gaming on it.

AJ

Corona I just have a Geforce 6200 on my xp system. Made it up to 1gig and things run fine.

As CT says, it depends on what you are using your computer for.

I have to upgrade my video card, that is, get a new one. I have a "bottom of the barrel" nVidea GeForce2 MX/MX 400. It came with my pooter in 1999. According to SIW my GeForce is a PCI-based card.

My pooter is built for PCI and AGP cards. Guess it's a Vista kinda card. The bulk of them look like this. <_<

Well Corona thats the same graphics card as mine, NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 and mine is an AGP card, which I fitted last year. Doing a web search I've read many posts saying PCI or AGP is better. I've also read about the graphics card memory types. If it doesn't use that correctly the card robs the normal memory which can slow things down a little if you are running a graphics hungry app.

There are loads of graphics cards out there, the most popular appear to be NVIDIA. NVIDIA also have their own forum which I've used to download drivers. ;)

Well, I wasn't planning on playing Halo, WOW or anything like that. I just play graphic adventure games. I'm not into online MMORPGs or FPSs.

I like casual games (Big Fish, etc.). Some of those are using particles & such that eat up my ram pretty fast. As far as more memory, nah. My beast runs on RAMBUS. Yes, RAMBUS. That's like the steampunk version of ram and about as antiquated too. 6 gigs of normal ram goes for $209. 1/2 gig of RAMBUS costs $320. Easy math project there. <_<

Holy crappppppp!!! Yeah, RAMBUS is dead. Sadly, your best bet is to save for a new system. Sorry, but your system is beyond the "makes-sense to upgrade" threshold.

AJ

If & when I do get a new system it'll prolly be Windows 7. However when that happens I am NOT getting rid of my current XP machine. Won't make that mistake again. :rolleyes:

wow, that 9600GSO sure requires a good bit of Power to run (Min. 500W?) i've seen ATI 4850's require only 450W.