Upgrading... advice please!

[jb2_86_uk]

Well I think its about time I upgraded my 128 graphics card, and have spotted a nicely priced 512mb card that I am very very very interested in...

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspe ... Video+Card

I was wondering if any of you far more enlightened people could tell me if a) this card is a piece of poo and b) if (given my pc spec) you think this card will make much of a difference and if its other areas of my pc i need to be paying attention to!

I would be hugely appreciative of any help any one could provide, my pc spec is listed below:

Windows XP Home Edition
AMD 64 3200 processor
1gb RAM
128 nVidia Geforce FX 5200 graphics card
ASUS Motherboard (AGP 8x - no PCI-E  >:(

I think they are the only stats that will matter but please tell me if there are other things

Thanks

JB

[waspiflab]

http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.p ... =GX-137-SP
I play oblivion, prey etc maxed out with this card although a bit more cash, it's woth it.This card is a real steal at the price.


http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... =GX-063-HT
faster than the x1600 for 3 quid more go for this one if the others are too expensive.

[ctjoyce]

Don't bother with the X1600 series of cards. Look for the X1800 or 7800s as a starting point. My personal preferance would be a 7800GS on a budget.

Cheers
Cameron

[jb2_86_uk]

thanks for your tips guys. after speaking with some friends of mine who are far more knowledgable about this stuf than me, the said I would be better spending my money on a better quality 256 card than a cheap 512 card. Being the impatient kinda guy I am, I have just bought an nVidia 7600GS 256MB AGP8 card.

Hopefully this should give me a nice boost.

With my ammended spec, do you think I will be ready for FSX or will I need to do a bit more upgrading first?

Thanks again.

JB

[waspiflab]

nope sorry it will run like crap your friends lied.

[jb2_86_uk]

cant be any worse than the current card, even if i do stick with fs9

JB

[Gixer]

It will be 'WAY' better than an FX5200 as they were a particularly poor card with little performance. You should be able to see ok results on FS9 with it but as said it will not cut the mustard with FSX. Saying that there isn't 'ANY' hardware out there available to us that will run FSX at its best currently which is why I am holding off to build a new system until sometime after May next year, though I may even wait until Christmas time next year just so I can be sure I will build myself a system that will run FSX fluidly.

[_526th_Fireman]

Along with that new card, get you another Gig of Ram.

[Gunny04]

it will run FSX perfectly fine at medium (I have only 512 more MB of ram than him) and a PCI-E 7300LE and I am running medium without clouds traffic and limited visibility rather decently. well... I have a 161Mhz overclock on the card. The 7600 has 8 pipes to my 4, plus its a little faster (I have to share system ram for the gpu) So yes it will be a LOT better. You wont run it maxed, not even close, but with a little tweaking you should have decent results. FS9 will run 100% maxed out with payware.

Gunny

EDIT: I maxed FS9 out with this computer stock with a built in 7150 and a gig of ram. Also, my old system was the exact specs of the one he has now. Was a AMD athlon 3200 2.2Ghz with a Nvidia 6200 and probably could have ran FSX decent with a few bits of eye candy. So I'm pretty sure it will run fine on it with the 7600. However if you can, get a gig of ram it will help a lot.

[jb2_86_uk]

thanks for your advice guys, I cant wait to get it all plugged in! An extra gig of ram is definatly my next upgrade, it was gonna be even before the new card, but i got fed up with jerky fs9 - nevermind even thinking about fsx! - but unfortunatly, im in a bit of a pickle at the moment as regards to RAM goes - my mobo only has 3 slots - which are all full! (2x256 + 1x512) so it will be a case of buying two 1gig ram "chips" (?) and getting rid of the others (making a few pennies out of them would be a bonus) any ideas?

JB

[Gunny04]

Well 2, 1 gig sticks would be nice but fairly expensive, but you could get 3 gigs (which wouldnt do you much good) but its the best way I think you can go. I don't really get into ram as I don't overclock, if it works, has decent reviews and doesnt kill my computer, I consider it to work  ;D

Gunny

[jb2_86_uk]

well the card arrived and was promptly installed. only to find out that it is.... FREAKING AMAZING!

Ive gone from an average of 7fps with medium graphic settings to a whopping 40fps with graphics maxed. Its like a whole new game!

Waspiflap - i dont know what you were on about! but im glad you were completly wrong! lol

Thank you all for your help!

JB