Upgrading a graphics card

[gef2003]

I have a ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe motherboard. I have a 2.4 Intel P4 CPU with 1GB of ram. I have a NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420 card now. It has 64MB of ram. I am thinking about getting a GeForce FX 5200 for this machine as an upgrade.

What do you guys think? I do play games on this machine.

Thanks

[him61]

How much money will you be spending?
What interface is the card?

Weather it's PCI, AGP, or (I doubt it) PCI-Express, there are better cards out there unless you are on a tight budget.

Edit: Oops, didnt see your motherboard there

You have an AGP 3.0 4x/8x slot, which is standard for any AGP card you can find.

But still, what kind of budget are you on?

[carl33p]

Your motherboard supports AGP 4x/8x.

Dont get a FX5200. They are old and will yeild minimal improvement over what you have now.
The Nvidia 6200 is the cheapest card that yeilds decent performance.
Slightly more

If your willing to spend a little more: 6800XT

[gef2003]

I dont want to spend over 100.00. I do want to go 256MB.

[him61]

I'd go with a 6800XT then. BTW, what kind of Power Supply do you have? (A 6800XT will consume quite a bit more power than an MX 420)

[gef2003]

350 is the power supply

[him61]

What is the manufacturer, model?

[gef2003]

dont know

[him61]

Look inside of your case. In the upper left hand corner of the case should be your Power supply. There is a sticker on this power supply, and it will tell you the model number and manufacturer on it.

[gef2003]

Allied Model AL-A350-ATX

[him61]

Well, you are definately going to need a new power supply if the info I dug up on it is correct (10 Amps on the +12v rail is not good. You'll want at least 18 or more) Here's a few good Budget PSUs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817174027
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104951
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104901

Any of these should power your system quite well.

Along with this card that Carl suggested, you should be along nicely:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143089

And BTW, you will notice no difference between 128MB and 256MB because the memory bandwidth on these cards are so low that all of the 256MB cant even be utilized.

[gef2003]

What would be a good 256MB card to get those results you mention?

[Dj-Icer]

Eh..?

The 7600 GT 256MB ones is good to get. Reasonable price. Or get something a little better than the 6-series, 7600 GS 256MB, which is cheaper than the GT. I'm buying the 7600 GS, probably today.

Do search, review the stuff you want to get, make a list and then survey the price in stores, before you bought it.

[gef2003]

Will that 7600 work on my Motherboard? The mamual of my board states do not use a card over 1.5 volts

[him61]

That's an AGP 3.0 Card, which runs at .8V.

But why are you so intent on getting a 256MB card? It has no impact on performance until you get into the upper range cards that can actually utilize that much memory. Even then, the change is small. I'd personally suggest getting a good 128MB card, unless you wanted to spend a bit on a good card and good PSU. Here's the cheapest 7600GT (256MB):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150210
$165, which is a bit above your budget.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125039
That's a GS. It's a lot cheaper, but it's still above your budget (it's $121).

So, I'd deeply suggest that you look at a 128MB 6-series card or simmilar x1xxx card. Remember that a PSU upgrade will be necessary if you upgrade to a better video card, because 10 Amps will not hold a newer video card.

[Dj-Icer]

Just bought a 7600 GS 256 MB for my old computer.

My further advice is, getting cheaper cards, for example, if you're getting a 128 MB ones, that is good. It's good for todays games. But in the long term, future games that you'll might going to get, will be more advance and you need a powerful card.

As for me, for now I get a 7600 GS which is about YEN 2500 lesser than 7600 GT. If you just might going to change into a new motherboard for your computer, you may have an extra budget left for that.

Buying a powerful card which can be pricey as well, is a waste for some.

[gef2003]

I think im going to go for the 6800gt and a new power supply. That sounds like that is the best deal for me.

[Rootstonian]

Good choice! The FX 5 series won't handle much in the way of games...Solataire maybe! LOL. This coming from a guy who tried to play KOTNR on a FX5500! Not good

[gef2003]

My computer seems to be running slower since I put this card in. I have 1gb of ram now. Should I put more ram in?