time to upgrade video cards!

i have a pc and xp home

amd athlon xp 1600+
1.4 ghz, 512 mb of ram

not a beast by any means, but i want to get a better video card, no more than $200

thanks guys

currently 32mb nvidea geforce 2 mx/mx 400

[Edited on October 24, 2005 at 1:31 PM. Reason : .]

10/24/2005 1:25:13 PM

best bet is to go on newegg and put in ur wants and price range and see what they provide u. then narrow it down from there.

10/24/2005 1:35:43 PM

For $200 you can get an ATI Radeon X700 with I think 256mb DDRAM (not sure about the type of ram). Anyway that is what I have, and it has ran all of my games (including BF2) without problems. It also has multiple monitor sockets so you can have more than one desktop if you want. It isn't the best out there, but it gets the job done.

[Edited on October 24, 2005 at 1:38 PM. Reason : ]

10/24/2005 1:37:46 PM

would he have enough juice to run that though? this seems like a really entry-level system and his PSU might not be able to handle it.

10/24/2005 1:38:48 PM

6600gt is a pretty decent card for a good price

also i have an athlon xp 2200 chip if you're interested

10/24/2005 1:40:18 PM

so if i went up to a 2200, would the ati radeon x700 256mb be the best bet for under $200?

10/24/2005 2:02:16 PM

Quote :

"would he have enough juice to run that though? this seems like a really entry-level system and his PSU might not be able to handle it."

xp 1600+ is plenty to run bf2

512mb is, too

10/24/2005 2:20:54 PM

plenty on the lowest settings

10/24/2005 2:41:10 PM

not really

i have mine set to Medium and it runs fine on an xp1600+

processors dont have much to do with games anymore

10/24/2005 2:55:57 PM

so you guys think i just need a better video card for improved graphics and not more than a 1600+ processor?

and if so...again, which video card should i go with?

10/24/2005 3:30:15 PM

i think i'm going with this processor

Quote :

"AMD Athlon 64 3500+ with HyperTransport Technology"

any video card recommendations? i'm looking around newegg, i just wanted some tww opinions

10/24/2005 3:46:25 PM

be sure you have a motherboard that is 64bit to support that processor

10/24/2005 3:59:53 PM

Quote :

"Quote : "would he have enough juice to run that though? this seems like a really entry-level system and his PSU might not be able to handle it." xp 1600+ is plenty to run bf2 512mb is, too "

He was speaking of the power supply not the power of the processor

10/24/2005 4:04:42 PM

hmm i figured the processor would matter, i have the athlon 3500+ with dual 6600gt in sli and the processor is definately bottlenecking

10/24/2005 4:14:12 PM

ok this is weird...i checked newegg order history and pulled out my box to get the model numbers...

Quote :

"MSI KT6V-LSR Socket A (Socket 462) VIA KT600 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail Track 1 AMD Sempron 2500+ Thoroughbred 333MHz FSB Socket A Processor Model Track 1 ASPIRE X-Dreamer II ATXB4KLW-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 420W Power Supply - Retail"

but when i go to System and Processors, it's showing amd athlon xp 1600+ not amd sempron 2500+ and i know we put that in

10/24/2005 4:17:15 PM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127150

this is about what you want. GeForce 6600GT 128MP AGP8X (it will work with AGP4x boards too). can probably find a better deal than the one I linked. I just happen to be partial to MSI products. I like their build quality.

These cards pull a lot of power and there's a place on the card for you to plug in extra power (you'll need to do this to get it to work) so make sure you read the manual to get it plugged in correctly.

also, your PSU should be enough to handle the new card.

[Edited on October 24, 2005 at 4:26 PM. Reason : more]

[Edited on October 24, 2005 at 4:31 PM. Reason : ...]

10/24/2005 4:25:29 PM

^ id go with that, good card and i like MSI

10/24/2005 4:30:15 PM

i splurged and went with a high end msi

MSI NX6800GT-T2D256E Geforce 6800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

10/25/2005 2:37:15 AM

whoa buddy. I'm pretty sure you're motherboard can't handle that. I highly doubt it had a PCI-Express slot

10/25/2005 9:09:03 AM

yeah i have to get a diff one...

what's the best 256mb agp video card under $300?

i found this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102431[

[Edited on October 25, 2005 at 11:24 AM. Reason : .]

10/25/2005 10:59:20 AM

bttt

10/25/2005 11:33:05 AM

thought your budget was under 200?

10/25/2005 12:04:12 PM

it's $300ish now...so help

10/25/2005 12:22:31 PM

for $300 "ish" I would get the 7800GT. Its a better price/performance buy than the 6800 series right now in my opinion.

10/25/2005 4:40:42 PM

it has to be AGP not pci express...my motherboard is like a year old and doesn't have pci express

10/25/2005 4:59:09 PM

low-end agp(< $100): ati 9800pro 128mb

mid-range agp($100-200): nvidia 6600GT 128mb

mid-high-end agp($200-300): nvidia 6800GT

high end agp($300+): ATI x850xt

those are my picks for agp cards.

10/25/2005 7:29:30 PM