[colecampbell666]

I have a:

P4 @ 1.5 Ghz
Sapphire Radeon 9550 with 256 Mb DDR
Gigabyte GA-8IDML -C
19" CRT monitor
54 Gb ATA100 HDD

I have about 100$ to spend on upgrades, and A video card is in line. Is it worth it to upgrade this PC, or to wait a few months till the parents are ready to get a new PC and chip in then? The most I could get for 100$ is a 2600 Pro. (AGP 4X)

[Hellstryker]

Not at all my friend.. you can get a 8800 GTX for only 100 dollars more.. then again, that would also warrant a 40 dollar power supply and that would mean 10 dollars for a new case

[colecampbell666]

A 200$ GTX? For AGP? Did you mean the 7800 GTX or the 8800 GT?

[Hellstryker]

Err i meant GT.. sorry and sheesh, its not AGP... you need a new mobo 

[colecampbell666]

So the answer is no, upgrading is not worth it.

[BloodEagle]

Go ahead and buy a new hard disk.

[Hellstryker]

True, a new HDD is never a bad thing 

[WMCoolmon]

I'm thinking about upgrading. I've got an AMD64 3000+ with 1GB RAM and a 6600GT...I've been trying to play FEAR, but Extraction Point has really been the limit.

Would a 7600GT for $100 be about the best I could get? I'm sticking with NVIDIA for now, because I want to keep Linux hassles to a minimum.

Also, my case is something of a cramped fit; it's a custom-built MicroATX. Do newer video cards have substantially higher heat production?

[castor]

The most I could get for 100$ is a 2600 Pro. (AGP 4X)

Maybe a 2600XT? Otherwise you'd probably be better of with the 7600GT, like WMC was planning.

[Nuke]

I'm thinking about upgrading. I've got an AMD64 3000+ with 1GB RAM and a 6600GT...I've been trying to play FEAR, but Extraction Point has really been the limit.

Would a 7600GT for $100 be about the best I could get? I'm sticking with NVIDIA for now, because I want to keep Linux hassles to a minimum.

Also, my case is something of a cramped fit; it's a custom-built MicroATX. Do newer video cards have substantially higher heat production?

well i had a gts in my microatx case for some time and nothing burned out. of course my card dumped the heat out the back of the case. a video card with a typical heat sink is gonna dump it in your case. if you have good airflow then thats not a problem. it might get rather toasty if the heat has nowhere to go. might want to consider a custom cooler, ive seen ones that run heat pipes out the back to an external heat sink. though ive never used a custom cooler on a gpu before. on the other hand i wouldn't recommended prying apart a brand new video card.

[colecampbell666]

The most I could get for 100$ is a 2600 Pro. (AGP 4X)

Maybe a 2600XT? Otherwise you'd probably be better of with the 7600GT, like WMC was planning.

No, that is the best AGP card I could find. There are rumors about the 3870 coming out in AGP.

[castor]

Found this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102711
But according to comments there is no AGP driver support for it

[CP5670]

There are a couple of used X1950 Pros right now on ebay that seem to be fairly reasonably priced. If you can get one for $140 or less, go for it. Beyond that, if you have at least a P4 or A64 processor, I think you would actually spend less money by getting a PCIE card and a cheap board to go with it.

None of the AGP cards in retail channels right now are good buys. That 2600XT would be okay but that driver thing sounds really weird. I would avoid a card like that.

[Herra Tohtori]

Perhaps it would work in Linux?

...or not.


At any rate, I wouldn't put any serious money to a new AGP graphics card. You won't be able to re-use it in the assembly of a new PC anyway. Same likely applies for new memory.

Getting a new HD sounds like the best option...