Don't know wich video card to buy

[The Darkchild]

Hi people. A little while ago a friend of mine gave me an old computer. He didn't use it and it was just gathering dust as it sat around doing nothing. It's a decent computer (a lot more powerfull then the Pentium 3 I was using) but it could really use a new video card. But I'm not sure wich one to buy to maximize the rigs performance. I don't want to buy a card that's to strong for the PC because that's a waste of money. On the other hand I don't want to buy one that's to weak and miss out on performance.

Here are my system specs:

AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton core
MSI KT4V motherboard
1.5 gigs of memory
And currently a Gainward Geforce FX5200


I've been thinking about buying a Geforce 7600 GT (Geforce 7 is the last Geforce series that has AGP) but i'm not sure if that's overkill or if it's not enough. If it's not enough I could always go for a Radeon, they have much more powerfull cards with AGP. Like I said, I want to maximize the rigs performance. I want to make it as fast as possible.

Thnx

[LiNuX]

look at the PCI slots available and then go with the best one that fits. if it has a x16 slot then you can probably get away with a 8600gt and if the mobo is good enough, it won't be overkill, it'll be the right amount of kill

but the current GPU suggests that it's still a pretty old computer. to get better performance You'd have to replace a few more parts, such as cpu, mobo, and ram (assuming it's 184-pin ram and not 240-pin)

[The Darkchild]

ROFL. Thnx for your response Linux. Don't tell me that you didn't gather from my post that I don't have a PCI-E slot. I mentioned AGP a number of times.

Quote: to get better performance You'd have to replace a few more parts, such as cpu, mobo, and ram (assuming it's 184-pin ram and not 240-pin)


LOL! Such as CPU, Mobo and ram, in other words a new computer. You're funny man. Anyway, buying a new computer is not an option. This one will do just fine for now. All
I need is a better graphics card.


((( Something has come up )))


I was just checking video card prices and it seems I can get a HD3850 for the same price as I can get a 7600 GT. Wich basically solves my entire problem. The HD series by Radeon are much much faster then the Geforce 7 series. In fact I actually have a major performance margin now. It doesn't really matter wich HD series I take, it's still going to be faster and cheaper then a 7600 GT. Teehee :)

LOL I've been waiting for almost a week to post on a forum and then I solve my own problem. Funny funny funny.......

[LiNuX]

missed the agp part, I made the post above while on the phone so meh..

and no you don't need a completely new computer - keep the case, psu, and all other components, the major parts are just old for today's gaming

and I've never had a radeon card to know what's better than what << nvidia guy

but glad to see you figured it out - you have decent specs but computer technology these days are advancing really quickly - those parts will soon be said to be from the stone ages :) but as long as you can make it work for you, nobody'll care

[The Darkchild]

Indeed. Trust me, if I had the money I'd have an i7 with 2 gigs of triple channel memory, a nice GTX 295, raptor, raid etc. etc. But no money right now, and I don't play crappy games like F.E.A.R. and Crysis. So I don't need to buy new hardware. I can even play Red Alert 3 with this rig after I get the HD3850. And that's a new game. Old can still be good I guess :)