Upgrading from a Ati Radeon 9550 AGP 128mb, suggestions needed.

[Omi-san]

Hi,

I want to wait after the whole Windows Vista business is settle to buy a new PC, until then, I would like to get a new video card as a last upgrade to my PC.

This is my current card:

Ati Radeon 9550 AGP 128mb

Can I replace it with any recent card that is still using AGP (like a Geforce 6800 AGP8x 256mb)? If not, how can I tell which cards would "fit" in my machine?

Can I expect better performances with a new card even if my processor is an old Athlon XP 2200+? I also have 1gb of RAM memory. If the change isn't huge, I'll still be satisfied though. I'm not a big gamer, and my machine can already handle the games I play (Red Orchestra: Ostfront, Counter-Strike:Source and Day of Defeat:Source). I would just like to improve my fps and maybe set some graphical settings higher.

Any suggestions for which cards I could/should get?

Thank you.

[lone1dog]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102042

Looks like a decent card ,I dont know if you can do much better without shelling more money ,I noticed its 256 bit and 12 pipes

[FRANKSnBEANS]

From what I've heard and seen, the ATI Radeon X1950 is the best in the AGP class right now. However, you can find something like an nvidia 7800 or 7900 for a cheaper price. Either way, you'll be able to bump up your settings in the source engine with one of these cards.

Go with what lone1dog posted or something similiar, if you don't want to shell out big bucks, you can still get a nice upgrade from your 9550.

[Omi-san]

Would it be a fair statement to say that I would get a decent improvement with most AGP cards that are priced at $120-130 and up?

Or some cards will work better with an older processor?

[SoloCamo]

Welcome to TechIMO Omi-san!

Yea, anything in the $100 range will be a huge step-up from your 9550...

and since you say you just want something for more fps, your cpu is lowend, and your on on a budget, how much would you really like to spend? Is $130 tops? As you can get something good that will net you huge increases in performance for around $100.

Also, what power supply are you using?

[Omi-san]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoloCamo

Welcome to TechIMO Omi-san!

Yea, anything in the $100 range will be a huge step-up from your 9550...

and since you say you just want something for more fps, your cpu is lowend, and your on on a budget, how much would you really like to spend? Is $130 tops? As you can get something good that will net you huge increases in performance for around $100.

Also, what power supply are you using?

Thank you,

Im not on a budget, I can spend up to $250 on this card, but I don't want to waste money on a card that my system couldn't really get the best from. You know, like putting a jet engine on a camel.

I don't know what's my power supply, but it came with the computer so I assume it's nothing to brag about. I never had any problem with it though. Is there a way to see what it is without opening my tower?

[SoloCamo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omi-san

Thank you,

Im not on a budget, I can spend up to $250 on this card, but I don't want to waste money on a card that my system couldn't really get the best from. You know, like putting a jet engine on a camel.

I don't know what's my power supply, but it came with the computer so I assume it's nothing to brag about. I never had any problem with it though. Is there a way to see what it is without opening my tower?

Yea, spending $250 on a card is a waste. Not saying the better the card woudln't help performance. But when it comes to bottlenecking, there is a point when you just creep up slightly in performance with better cards, even when the price difference is a good deal apart. Judging by your specs and what you want to do with it (hold you off until vista is settled, yet play the games you like better), then you can't go wrong with something in the $100 range.

Sadly, the only way to find out the make/model of the psu is to actually open up the tower and inspect it visually.

Whenever someone upgrades components, especially on "older" systems, it's always a good idea to make sure the power supply is up to the task. There have been far too many cases of people upgrading to stellar parts and forgeting the heart of the power, your psu. Which in end resulted in an unstable, if at all starting system.

Also, since it is a pre-built, what company and model computer is it? I know sometimes pre-builts use propietary parts that aren't so easily swappable.

[Omi-san]

The Power supply is a Dynex DX-PS300W.

http://www.dynexproducts.com/p-39-30...er-supply.aspx

[Omi-san]

How about this? Radeon X1300 Pro with a $40 discount:

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pro...10071794&catid=

[SoloCamo]

Ohhhh, that's definately not going to cut it, not because of the watts so much, but because of the low amps on the +12v rail. 15A is extremely poor for any recent graphics card.....


I'd suggest spending around 40 bucks on this PSU.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104953

It's an amazing bargain, and when you decide to buy/build your new vista ready pc, it will pretty much handle anything you throw at it, minus of course the TOP of the line power hungry parts, but it will be plenty good enough for a long time to come.

I upgraded from my "generic" Raidmaxx 420w to that psu and the difference was huge. I'm running a pretty power hungry, overclocked system and the psu run's flawlessly.

_____________________-

Now onto the GPU. Since you want a good upgrade, but don't want to buy something too strong for the rest of your rig, I suggest going with a....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161053

That's just one of many good cards in $100 price range. As i'm sure there might be some slightly better bang for your bucks out there i'm not aware of that others might find.