Graphics cards

[B42L8]

Need some advice, have a RADEON 9200 card 9762 RAM) on1.48 machine............what is the max RADEON card I can put in this machine,  maybe couple ideas based on cost and performance,  appreciate the help

[congo]

What matters is that you have the right voltage to your AGP Slot.

If it's a 4x or 8x AGP support mainboard, the voltage should be correct for any modern video card.

Some of the more powerful late model video cards require an extra power connector, the same as the ones on your hard disc and cdrom drive. You probably have a spare connector inside your PC....

However...

If you have a small power supply unit, (under 300 watts) you may find you need to replace it with a higher wattage power supply unit to help power the new video card without any problems.

It doesn't have to be a Radeon, you can use any brand video card.

As for cost, $300 U.S. Dollars buys an amazing video card.

[B42L8]

Congo, will check on power supply but, any ideas on which card is the best value or will any of the 9600, 9700, etc make a change in the Fs performance??  Anybody out there, like to know what upgrade does..........

[Delta_]

The 9700 is the fastest out of those 2 you mentioned.  Although for a new card you will be able to pick up a 9800pro/xt for a good price now and expect much improved performance in fs.

[congo]

I wasn't talking about a Radeon card at all.

Do some price / performance comparisons, the answer is obvious.

Here is a hint: www.pricewatch.com

Do a search for the NV6800 and check the prices, keep an eye out for a particular card and compare it's specs with others..... Gainward Golden Sample 6800. There are probably other good buys as well.

I haven't done a lot of research on the 6800, but really, at that level of performance, even the cheapest card is going to produce awesome graphics.

Forget about the Radeons, with the exception of the 9800XT, which is still quite pricey... and for good reason.... it performs.

If you really want a budget card, you should be looking at the FX5900XT. It performs midway between a Radeon 9600XT and the 9800XT.  

Note that the 9600XT is the performance model of the 9600 range, yet it's not much, if any, better than the old nVidia TI4x00 range.

[B42L8]

Congo, thanks for the insite, guess I will order the bigger power supply and look to get the 9800xp, anxious to see what difference between that and present 9200................one last question, machine now is 1.5 GHZ, Dell says I can get a 2.0 chip in here at $350 bucks,........do I need this?   and can one from cheaper sources work as well, again , thanks for the advice........