Which Gfx Card?

Joobs

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I want to upgrade the nvidea FX 5200 card in one of my older PCs and would welcome any recommendations on way to go. From googling around there seem to be a few decent cards I could get but would prefer to get the best available rather than just the cheapest. My main preference with this PC is to get it to its max (being AGP I realise its upgrading is about done). My main use of this system is playing some older games and WinUAE (for which the FX5200 is OK).

Specs for the system in question are:

MS-7005 Motherboard (4xAGP)
2.8MHz P4
2 Gb RAM
Maxtor SATA/EIDE PCI Card
80 Gb IDE HDD
500 Gb SATA HDD
20 Gb IDE HDD (AmigaOS - used with WinUAE)
600W PSU
16 x DVD RW
40 x CD RW/DVD R
 
What games do you play and at what res?
 
What games do you play and at what res?

WinUAE stuff at 640x480 mostly though I do also use 800x600 - In truth UAE is probably more a strain on the CPU than the GPU.

PC Games on this system are older ones such as Port Royale 2, Patrician 3 and games of that ilk. Only games I have on that computer which run a bit slow are Stronghold 2 and Civ4 (in late game only) all others run fast enough. Medieval 2 TW does get some gfx corruption (diagonal lines/ lines pointing to units - memory buffer?) at times but only when it has been running for a while. Max res I use for any of these is 1024x768. No FPS games.

None of those above are really a problem as I have 2 far better systems I can play them on. My main reason for getting a new card is that AGP is virtually dead now so I think that the cards out now are probably about as good as it'll get so I may as well get the best of them that I can while they are still on sale and bung this FX5200 into another old PC I have which I don't presently use as it only has its MB SiS 64MB VGA gfx.
 
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I believe ATI do a 3650 using the AGP slot, so I'd reccomend that.

Hmmm, I know I can get a Sapphire 3850 512MB for around £90 - is there much difference between the two. I have only used nvidea cards so don't know much about the ATI cards. I recall hearing that many had issues with many games which lesser spec nvidea cards play no problem.
 
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The 3850 will be better than the 3650, personally for the little extra cost over the 3650 I would go for that. If not the 3650 will be fine for your res and the games you play on that setup and will be a massive boost over your FX5200. You play modern games with either the 3650 or the 3850. I have a 3650 on my laptop and it can play Call of Duty at your res on medium settings. :)

You can use this chart to compare graphics cards:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/graphics-cards,1.html
 
Thanks, just had a look but the only AGP Card they have is a 7300GT 512MB (£70) which isn't that great, or am I mistaken?

The 7300GT will be a big boost over your FX5200, but it is in no way worth that kind of money. Unfortunately, reasonable AGP cards are expensive these days as they are not being made anymore.

You're not looking at anything hugely demanding, as your CPU would struggle, and a HD3850 would be strangled by your AGP 4X slot (it almost uses all of the bandwidth of an 8X slot, which is why it's the fastest AGP card made).

You're best looking for a 7600GT, a 7800GS or a HD 3650, but these are difficult to find new for realistic prices now - although they can be had on ebay or in the classifieds section here for under £30 second hand if you're patient though.

Slightly below these are the 7600GS, the X1650pro and the HD 2600pro (the latter being the better of the three).

These cards should play happily in an X4 slot, and any games you've limped along in with your FX5200 (I've been there...) will fly with any of those cards. In fact looking at your system specs, any of the above cards would allow you to play a few current games such as Call of Duty 4 or 5 on modest settings at 800x600.
 
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I'm also looking for a new gfx card, novatech & scan seem to be the best priced cards, looking for a Nvidia 9600gt myself as the reviews seem positive.
 
I'm also looking for a new gfx card, novatech & scan seem to be the best priced cards, looking for a Nvidia 9600gt myself as the reviews seem positive.

Go for a 8800gt instead if you can find it. The 9600gt is a cut down version of the 8800gt. :)
 
You're best looking for a 7600GT, a 7800GS or a HD 3650

Many thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know. I had been sorta looking towards a 7600GT which I know I can get for around £65 but I'll have a look at those other two.

...but these are difficult to find new for realistic prices now

Yeah, I've noticed that :( One of the reasons I thought I'd best get my skates on and do it now rather than wait till later.
 
Hi,
Im thinking of selling my 7600GT AGP grahpics card, with original box, its the XFX XXX version, core clocked to 580 as standard, (not sure what the stock one is)
I was wondering what kind of money I could get for it, I have been offered £24, but I was hoping for a little more......
 
Hi,
Im thinking of selling my 7600GT AGP grahpics card, with original box, its the XFX XXX version, core clocked to 580 as standard, (not sure what the stock one is)
I was wondering what kind of money I could get for it, I have been offered £24, but I was hoping for a little more......

You can buy new cards which have newer better tec for around that price. I would take what you have been offered.
 
Really?
I havent seen a better card really for AGP for less than that, as people have said, AGP cards are really overpriced, but thanks, I probably will, also selling a 7300GT for £23, and hoping to get something for my current e7300 (although not sure where to sell it), going towards an e8400/e8500/Q6600 for 115/125/125

Thanks
 

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