OxenBreeder
Member
+46|6030|KTRI
I'm looking to upgrade my current AGP card, from the AIW 9800 pro 128mb card that I currently have. My system is a P4 @ 3.0ghz, Intel 865Perl mobo, ATI 9800 AIW, 2gb pc3200 ram, and a 485w psu. Would my PSU be my only bottle neck, or would what I have be able to handle it? See PSU specs below.

My reason for wanting to upgrade is that I just bought a new Samsung T190 monitor, and I don't feel like my crappy 128mb video card is giving me full benefit of the monitor.  Here's the card I want to get Radeon X1650PRO 512MB


I've got a friend that has an ATI x800xt, which is more or less just the 256mb version of my card. I want to buy it from him, but he says that his recovery cost would be to great for me, more or less because he paid so much for it back then. Well didn't we all pay a lot for our systems back then? He told me that I'd be better off buying a new one, or wait till I build a new system. Well, as ancient as my system is, it's gonna have to last for at least another year or two. Hell, I even offered to swap him my card for his, he's only keeping his for a backup to capture video. He's not even using the damn thing. What a  friend huh?

I don't have a clue when it comes to this PSU technical stuff.

Anyway Here's my PSU specs

Just Pc (Usa) Inc
Model ATX485-12v

Input              output

115vac            +12v 22a max
12a max          +5v  38a max
60hz
230vac            +3.3v 30a max
6a max            -5v    .5a  max
                        -12v  1.0a max
50hz              +5v/sb  2a max
supports P4


Am I wasting my time/money to upgrade to this card?

Thanks for any input on this guys.

Ox

Last edited by OxenBreeder (2009-02-01 20:55:16)

Freezer7Pro
I don't come here a lot anymore.
+1,447|6461|Winland

That card is a lot faster than your current card, but it is also something that the rest of the world upgraded from three years ago.

You can get it if you really need an upgrade now, but in the long run, you'll regret it. It's better to save up for a ~$450 new build.
The idea of any hi-fi system is to reproduce the source material as faithfully as possible, and to deliberately add distortion to everything you hear (due to amplifier deficiencies) because it sounds 'nice' is simply not high fidelity. If that is what you want to hear then there is no problem with that, but by adding so much additional material (by way of harmonics and intermodulation) you have a tailored sound system, not a hi-fi. - Rod Elliot, ESP
Catbox
forgiveness
+505|6980
yeah... i had an older system and wanted to buy an ATI 3850 agp DX10 card but read that a p4 3.0 would be the bottleneck...
i agree... save up 400-500 bucks and buy some current parts... you will have a very powerful comp that should be able to handle most games out now easily...   ati 4850/nvidia 9800... 125-150 bucks.... q6600/q9400 180 bucks... 2-4gb of ram...  25-75 bucks... good 500-600 watt psu 75-100 bucks...  asus p5q pro or gigabyte moboard... 75-110 bucks...  good luck either way
Love is the answer
max
Vela Incident
+1,652|6831|NYC / Hamburg

It'll work but really isn't worth the money. Even with the shittiest job $400 are quickly earned
once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot  xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.
Cheez
Herman is a warmaphrodite
+1,027|6703|King Of The Islands

Even onboard GeForce 6100 (aka GeForce 7150) outperforms a 9800.

Though the 4200+ I had in at the time may have had something to do with it.
My state was founded by Batman. Your opinion is invalid.
KuSTaV
noice
+947|6775|Gold Coast
newbuildtbh
noice                                                                                                        https://static.bf2s.com/files/user/26774/awsmsanta.png
OxenBreeder
Member
+46|6030|KTRI
Hey guys, thanks for replying. I did take into consideration your suggestions about building a new system. I've actually tossed that idea back and forth numerous times.

I've decided to go ahead and get the Radeon X1650PRO 512MB card. Right now I don't feel like I can afford to build a new system, as much as I'd like to, and trust me, I really want to. @Max, you're right, $400 isn't that much for a rebuild, which would blow the doors off my current setup. Unfortunately it's not my main priority at the moment. I'm going to see how this economy pans out for a bit. I could use my income tax refund and build one hell of a system, but I still think I'll put it off for now.

Plus I'll probably sell my old card on Ebay, one went last week for $41, more than I thought it would bring. That would make my cost roughly $30. Not too bad imo.

I do save my change for a couple of years or so, and buy something for myself with it. I just bought a laptop, which I paid for with what I had saved, plus my new monitor mentioned above. I'll just save up for a couple of years and build at that time. I had over $525 in change in about 2 years time, so I should be able to build a sweet ass system for that in 1-2 years.

I'll be asking what to build in about 1-2 years, looking forward to hearing your suggestions then.

Thanks again guys for taking the time to reply.

Ox

Last edited by OxenBreeder (2009-02-02 16:39:55)

OxenBreeder
Member
+46|6030|KTRI

jamiet757 wrote:

Tell your friend he is not going to get anything for the card, whether it is from you now, or someone on ebay in a few months.
I don't understand his reasoning either, It's just the way he is. Hell, I was willing to give him $30 for the card. I can only assume his "recovery cost" would have been roughly what I paid for the X1650PRO $59.99 I just bought. I paid like $219.xx for my ATI 9800 128mb 4 years ago, so if I can get $20-$25 back out of it, I'll be a happy camper. Unlike my "friend," I'm not delusional,

I'm going to write him shortly, it won't be a nice email, lol.

Last edited by OxenBreeder (2009-02-02 21:26:55)

GodFather
Blademaster's bottom bitch
+387|6484|Phoenix, AZ

OxenBreeder wrote:

I'm looking to upgrade my current AGP card

OxenBreeder wrote:

to upgrade my current AGP card

OxenBreeder wrote:

my current AGP card

OxenBreeder wrote:

AGP card

OxenBreeder wrote:

AGP
LOL
OxenBreeder
Member
+46|6030|KTRI

GodFather wrote:

OxenBreeder wrote:

I'm looking to upgrade my current AGP card

OxenBreeder wrote:

to upgrade my current AGP card

OxenBreeder wrote:

my current AGP card

OxenBreeder wrote:

AGP card

OxenBreeder wrote:

AGP
LOL
It is kinda funny isn't it?
GC_PaNzerFIN
Work and study @ Technical Uni
+528|6678|Finland

lol X800XT is twice as fast as 9800pro... I have Asus X800XT Platinum Edition 256MB PCI-E. yeah the most expensive card from that time.

And bullshit the card is worth less than 30€ atm.... which was the reason why I didn't sell mine... (I paid almost 600€ and was one of the first 3 guys getting it here. Directly from Asus factory. And it was PCI-E which was the ultimate hotness that time as it was brand new tech. Got it with the first PCI-E A8N-SLI Deluxe)

Good luck saving money.
3930K | H100i | RIVF | 16GB DDR3 | GTX 480 | AX750 | 800D | 512GB SSD | 3TB HDD | Xonar DX | W8
Scorpion0x17
can detect anyone's visible post count...
+691|7030|Cambridge (UK)

GodFather wrote:

OxenBreeder wrote:

I'm looking to upgrade my current AGP card

OxenBreeder wrote:

to upgrade my current AGP card

OxenBreeder wrote:

my current AGP card

OxenBreeder wrote:

AGP card

OxenBreeder wrote:

AGP
LOL
Shut up!

My AGP X800XT PE still owns!

Spoiler (highlight to read):
in my dreams
FatherTed
xD
+3,936|6764|so randum

Scorpion0x17 wrote:

GodFather wrote:

OxenBreeder wrote:

I'm looking to upgrade my current AGP card

OxenBreeder wrote:

to upgrade my current AGP card

OxenBreeder wrote:

my current AGP card

OxenBreeder wrote:

AGP card

OxenBreeder wrote:

AGP
LOL
Shut up!

My AGP X800XT PE still owns!

Spoiler (highlight to read):
in my dreams
Owns a place in history moar liek
Small hourglass island
Always raining and foggy
Use an umbrella
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,054|7036|PNW

OxenBreeder wrote:

I'm looking to upgrade my current AGP card
Do yourself a favor and check performance comparisons.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/vga … ,1070.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/desk … e,590.html

Wow, look at that X800 go. For a bit more than a 1650, you could get a 3650.

I can understand your friend though. There's no way I'm ever going to let go of my 6800 Ultra AGP, even when its system replaced. If someone offered me $100 for it, I'd turn them down.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2009-02-04 23:48:33)

OxenBreeder
Member
+46|6030|KTRI

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

OxenBreeder wrote:

I'm looking to upgrade my current AGP card
Do yourself a favor and check performance comparisons.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/vga … ,1070.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/desk … e,590.html

Wow, look at that X800 go. For a bit more than a 1650, you could get a 3650.

I can understand your friend though. There's no way I'm ever going to let go of my 6800 Ultra AGP, even when its system replaced. If someone offered me $100 for it, I'd turn them down.
LOL unnamednewbie13, thanks for posting that. Bad part is it's too late, the card should arrive today. I never even thought about looking for performance reviews. I just knew that the Radeon X1650PRO 512MB should blow my AIW 9800 128mb out of the water.

I really didn't want to put more than $60-$65 for a card, I got it for $59.99, so it was exactly in the price range I was willing to spend. Too much more and I would have been better just to rebuild, I know I should have done that to begin with, and others told me to do the same. It's just not my main priority at this time to rebuild.

I checked the links you posted, and on the second one, my old card isn't even listed, imagine that, and the new one gets roughly 60fps on the Half Life 2: Episode One test. It will do its job for the next year or so till I build again.

Thanks for posting those links though.

Ox





Edit/update  I just wanted to post back that I got my card, did a reformat and everything seems to be ok. Well I had my onboard NIC card crap out on me, but a friend had a spare, so... all is well now.

On the update about the new GPU, it's funny, I ran 3Dmark 01, lol, yes I said 3D 01, just to see what I'd get before I took out my old 9800 card, got something like 14,xxx points, with the new card, it was like 1,200 points lower. My 9800 wasn't over clocked, and I wont be oc'ing the new one. Just thought it kinda weird that the new card was slower having 4x the memory, and the clock speeds being higher. I also ran 3D '06, which I didn't even hit 1,000 points, almost but not quiet. I've yet to run '06 with the new card, but I don't think it would be much better because of the CPU.

Anywho, I wasn't going for higher points on a benchmark, I was going for better graphics which is what I got. BF2 is now played on high, at 11xxX 768, compared to playing it at 1024 x 768 on medium. The main thing I've noticed is that when playing BF, especially say in a tank, all motion is a WHOLE LOT smoother. I used to think it was lag, I couldn't have been more wrong.

rFactor being the only other game I really play, the difference is like night and day. It's like going from having muddy glasses on, to having a brand spanking new pair of spectacles. The detail I saw last night blew me away. I had everything on rFactor on med before, but again I had some choppiness, now, it's a smooth as silk per se on high.

I know if it was most of you, you wouldn't have spent the $60+ on upgrading an AGP card. And I appreciate your advice in that matter. That's why I came here, to seek advice. But I think it was a well spent $6 to get another year or so out of my ancient and decrepit system. It wont run most of the top end games, but I've not bought any new game since rFactor anyway.

Again to all who gave their opinion, Thanks, I really do appreciate it.


Ox

Last edited by OxenBreeder (2009-02-07 17:14:13)

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