Upgrade Time

V_MANV_MAN V-MAN Join Date: 2002-11-03 Member: 6217Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">For BF2</div> Basically my trusty Geforce 4 Ti4200 is to old to run BF2 so I need a better gfx card, anyone got any suggestions for me?

Price range probably won't be an issue but I would rather stay on the better side of £300.

Comments

  • The_ThingThe_Thing Join Date: 2003-02-25 Member: 13993Members
  • Black_ViperBlack_Viper Join Date: 2003-12-08 Member: 24157Members
    Whats kind of AGP do u have, 8X or 4X? Because getting one of the beffy Gfx cards wont help to much on a 4X AGP Slot. That and you need to make sure youve got enough power from the power supply.
  • CyberPitzCyberPitz Join Date: 2004-09-04 Member: 31301Members, Constellation
    9600XT. I'll get a 9800XT when I find one on the street. Too poor for buying computer parts. RX-7 parts are a bit more expensive D:
  • Omega_DeathOmega_Death Sith apprentice to a box of Cereal Join Date: 2003-08-06 Member: 19042Members
    edited June 2005
    I'm upgrading for BF2 as well, grabbing a new video card and some RAM as well. I've been told that the geforce 6600GT beats the pants off of any of the similar radeon cards and it's only $150 around 100.312 GBP, (the symbol you used in your post is the pound right?). Sorry if I messed up the currency type I'm just a dumb American who doesn't know anything about the european money systems.
  • Lt_PatchLt_Patch Join Date: 2005-02-07 Member: 40286Members
    The GeForce 6600GT in solo mode beats an ATi X300 in everything, and an x700 in some things.

    6600GT is a mid-range graphics card, and as such bests most of the ATi mid-range, up to the X700, the bester of which would be the 6800 standard, which is the end of the mid-range NV cards.
  • raz0rraz0r Join Date: 2003-07-24 Member: 18395Members
    You could get an X800XTPE for £270 (inc. VAT) from <a href='http://www.ocerclockers.co.uk' target='_blank'>Overclockers UK</a>
  • DOOManiacDOOManiac Worst. Critic. Ever. Join Date: 2002-04-17 Member: 462Members, NS1 Playtester
    Either the latest NVidia or ATI card. Take your pick, they'll both do great. Don't listen to the fanboys on either side. :P
  • V_MANV_MAN V-MAN Join Date: 2002-11-03 Member: 6217Members, Constellation
    Thanks for the pointer guys.

    To the earlier questions, I have an AGP 8X slot and a 550W PSU.
  • DaJMastaDaJMasta Join Date: 2005-01-10 Member: 34750Members, Constellation
    PSU is more than enough, you can probably get a 6800 GT for that kind of price (or the said x850) but if you want something a little cheaper, an x800 XT or a 6600GT both come readily available in AGP versions and especially the 6600GT comes at a very reasonable price.

    PS, more ram is always a boost, a 6600 GT and some bonus ram may be exactly what you're looking for.

    O and patch, i sure hope the 6600GT beats the x300, cause the x300 is a low end consumer card. It should only get close to competition with the x600s (for non GTs) and the x700s for GTs.

    To be perfectly honest, you could get most of a new computer for £300....
    (if it was like direct conversion to american prices, I have no idea how much stuff costs in the UK with VAT and all that...)
  • ProfLiebstromProfLiebstrom Join Date: 2004-09-04 Member: 31292Members, Constellation
    Well my PC upgrade which is a full upgrade. Mobo (SLi one), CPU (Venice core Athlon64 3000+), GFX card (6600GT), 1GB Corsair RAM and PSU (Some Enermax one)

    Totals £550 ish. Prefer to pay that bit extra right now so I can upgrade small parts in the future when i'm a poor student and have no money :E + I have another £100 on top of that for a new kb, DVD RW cooling etc.
  • V_MANV_MAN V-MAN Join Date: 2002-11-03 Member: 6217Members, Constellation
    My cpu is okay for now I think, it's an Athlon XP 3200+ the Barton one. Some more ram might be a good idea, I've got 1.25 so taking out 256mb stick and replacing it with a 1G stick would probably be a good bet.

    I'm still undecided about Nvidia and Ati, I've heard a lot of people say the latter out performs the former but then some of my friends have tried Ati and complain about the drivers sucking and games crashing. I would be willing to give Ati a try but I don't want to spend all that money if ity's going to crash a lot.
  • DaJMastaDaJMasta Join Date: 2005-01-10 Member: 34750Members, Constellation
    The newest ATi drivers are actually quite nice (decreased load times and less general problems), the problem is, almost all of the incredibly high performing ATi cards are for PCI-Express. If you can find an x700 pro in AGP for a simmilar price of the 6600GT, it is probably worth buying, but the 6600 GT is one of the best valued gaming cards in existance, ever... And I'm kindof an ATi fanboy too.

    Since you have an AGP slot and do not wish to upgrade mobo, cpu, ect (makes sense) the nVidia seems to be the best bet. I mean, if nothing else, you get excellent performance, for under 200 USD. Much more affordable than most other things, and it lets you save up a little more for whatever else you want <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    I don't know about the ram now though.... 1.25GB is a very respectable amount, especially for an athlon XP system, adding 768 MB (what you proposed) would give u less benifit than if you were upgrading from say 512MB to 1GB.
  • IsamilIsamil Join Date: 2003-11-25 Member: 23552Members, Constellation
    All the high end ATI cards aren't PCI express...

    (I know newegg doesn't do UK, but it's just a point)
    <a href='http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=GO&Range=1&bop=and&description=x850&srchInDesc=agp' target='_blank'>http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList....&srchInDesc=agp</a>
  • SupernornSupernorn Best. Picture. Ever. Made. Ever. Join Date: 2002-11-07 Member: 7608Members, Constellation
    I recently upgraded to:

    AMD Athlon 64 3500+
    NVIDIA Geforce 6600 GT

    Only problem was, only one of my memory sticks decided to work. So I'm now on 512MB DDR. I'm wondering if the memory is the reason why BF2 is a slideshow at anything above medium settings. I'm getting a new 512MB stick of Ram next week so this should hopefully smooth things out.
  • Omega_DeathOmega_Death Sith apprentice to a box of Cereal Join Date: 2003-08-06 Member: 19042Members
    I'm running BF2 at at least 60fps. Not sure if it's just because of good drivers or what.

    Athlon Xp 3000+
    256 2x Dual Channel DDR PC 2700
    geForce FX 5600 Ultra

    I'm assuming the RAM is dual channel because I have three slots and two of them are Blue and one is black (am I correct in assuming this?).
  • V_MANV_MAN V-MAN Join Date: 2002-11-03 Member: 6217Members, Constellation
    edited June 2005
    <!--QuoteBegin-Omega Death+Jun 12 2005, 07:04 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Omega Death @ Jun 12 2005, 07:04 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I'm running BF2 at at least 60fps. Not sure if it's just because of good drivers or what.

    Athlon Xp 3000+
    256 2x Dual Channel DDR PC 2700
    geForce FX 5600 Ultra

    I'm assuming the RAM is dual channel because I have three slots and two of them are Blue and one is black (am I correct in assuming this?). <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I have 4 sots 2 blue 2 black, don't think the ram is dual channel tho.
  • DaJMastaDaJMasta Join Date: 2005-01-10 Member: 34750Members, Constellation
    edited June 2005
    It has nothing to do with the ram being dual channel, any two sticks are technically capable of it..... (as long as they are the same size and speed).

    If you really want to know, there is probably a setting in bios or something posted as the latter part of the POST. Press pause when it brings up that table on reboot, it would probably tell you.

    And note, you are probably not running the same settings. The jump in texture or model resolution could be just enough to fill 512 when going to medium, making some commonly used textures having to be fetched from the HDD very often. But who knows, maybe medium just dosen't like your compy.
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