Upgrade Graphic Card

[Bubblehead]

I've got the Nvidia GForce FX5600,  256M AGP graphic card installed. Is it worth upgrading now?

Bubblehead  ???

[the_autopilot]

Depends on your system specs and on how much money you have/or willing to spend.

[BDS]

I have the same graphics card and memory on mine as well.

I have a celeron 2.4 with 512mb ram. All on a agp mobo (dont know much more than that.)

The highest fps I get is around 20-24 when there is barely any scenery. Generally I get between 10-15, and sometimes down around 5-6 when landing at a dense airport. My anti-aliasing is maxed on the board and I still get jaggies, and my screen shots never get close to "photo-realistic" as some others. I've even tried downloading the latest drivers...

I dont know if going to another card would work, or if a whole system overhaul isnt necessary so I dont hold the card back by the rest of the system.

I'd be willing to spend up to $150 for a new card, although that might be unrealistic, or on some other change that might make the difference.

Any thoughts?

Sean.

[Bubblehead]

Autopilot:

My specs are:  1.67 GHz AMP Athlon XP, 128 Kb cache
                       Asus A7N8X2.0, 133 MHz Bus
                       1 GB RAM
                       2 HDs @ 80 GB each
                       Creative SB Audigy

Maybe its the system I need to upgrade

Bubblehead

[the_autopilot]

For both of you, it seems like the vid card is fine. It seems your system is bottlenecking the vid card. The vid card is not actually that bad.

I'd upgrade the CPU if I were in your case.

For the guy with the celeron, I would stay away from these budget celeron cards. I'd get a northwood pentium 4 (around 3.06) as those I think will work on your board. Be nice if you gave me the socket number.

As for the AMD, a 3200+ is recommended. That will make a huge difference. I'm not sure about your socket number.

If you guys really want to upgrade the gfx, upgrade your processor as a better gfx card will be bottlenecked by the CPU.

[Bubblehead]

Autopilot:

Thanks for the input. My mobo (Socket A [462]) only supports 333/266 MHz bus speeds. My processor is an AMD 2600 XP 2.133 GHz box. So it looks like I'll have to upgrade the bundle. I've had good luck with Asus. Do you recommend other brands. I built my present PC from the scratch  so ensuring that proper pins and jumpers and Bios settings are made, I should'nt have problems with installing the existing peripherals.  I appreciate any heads up.

Thanks.

Bubblehead

[Gunny04]

My system specs are in my Signature, I am also upgrading card to a 5200 for about 2 months because my current card (built in) Is chowing down 64MB System ram.... what could I gain from having a 5200? cheers, Gunny

[4_Series_Scania]

[quote]

Autopilot:

My specs are:

[the_autopilot]

My system specs are in my Signature, I am also upgrading card to a 5200 for about 2 months because my current card (built in) Is chowing down 64MB System ram.... what could I gain from having a 5200? cheers, Gunny

A 5200 is better than any integrated solution. You should exspect a increase of at least 2 times what you have. Probably more.

[the_autopilot]

Autopilot:

Thanks for the input. My mobo (Socket A [462]) only supports 333/266 MHz bus speeds. My processor is an AMD 2600 XP 2.133 GHz box. So it looks like I'll have to upgrade the bundle. I've had good luck with Asus. Do you recommend other brands. I built my present PC from the scratch  so ensuring that proper pins and jumpers and Bios settings are made, I should'nt have problems with installing the existing peripherals.  I appreciate any heads up.

Thanks.

Bubblehead

I myself have a asus mobo. No compliants. Never have had  a problem.

[Gunny04]

Yea, The 5200 is only going to be for 2 months, then its yanking some money from the bank and getting prolly a 6600 or 6800 And a 500 watt power supply, this HP Came with a 250