help with video card/motherboard combo

[xenno]

I'm going to upgrade my system and i want to keep some of my older parts (till i can get more money anyway). I have a AMD athlon xp 2000+, my motherboard is a ECS L7VMM (el cheapo), i have 512mb of 266 ddr sdram, and a nvidia 440 mmx ( i would like to say that i have played halo, far cry and quite a few other games without any frame skipping ect. i've been really impressed at what this little card has done so far). Now i want to change the video card to a nvidia 6600 ultra but i have no idea what kind of board to get. As you can see my last choice wasn't very good so any idea's? AGP or PCIe ? ect. Thanks

 

[vnf4ultra]

So you want a suggestion for a motherboard, cpu(are you changing cpu)?, and video card?

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking, so I'll cover several possibilities.

Umm, afaik, there's no 6600ultra. There's a 6600gt, and a 6800ultra, which could be what you mean.
If you just want to get a new card, here's one that's a good price(assuming you're in the us).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814145107

If you want a new board/cpu/and video, then
Motherboard, Chaintech vnf4/ultra
Cpu amd 939 3000+ venice retail
Video, 6600gt pci-e, OR, 6800ultra pci-e(whichever you wanted).
Total Usd: $410-733

If you did want the 6800 ultra, consider the new 7800gtx too, it's $100 more and it's a lot faster.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130234

If you want to just get a new motherboard and video, then you're stuck with socket a boards, and I don't think you can get a pci-e sct. A board, so you'd get an agp one, but that'd be about the same as what you have, just newer.

 

[xenno]

oops sorry about that, i did mean the 6800 ultra. I'm still uncertain about the 7800 since as far as i can tell it's mainly just tweeks. I'm keeping the cpu i have. Later i may upgrade but for now i think i will keep it. I went ahead and looked at the link for the 6600's and i may go that route, my bigest problem is the board i have only has agp 1x and 2x. Since the system i have now works very efficently i'm looking for a good mb/graphics card combo that will accept that cpu.

 

[vnf4ultra]

Hey, I have possibly good news, I looked up your board, and it supports agp 4x. That means any agp 8x/4x compatible card should work with it. So you could get a 6600gt agp, or a 6800 ultra agp, and it should work fine, and you wouldn't have to replace the motherboard.
6600gt agp.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814145107
6800ultra agp
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127144

Agp 4x wouldn't be significantly slower than agp 8x, it seems that cards hardly use the bandwidth of agp 4x, so 4x wouldn't be a terrible bottleneck.

You could upgrade your board too, if you feel you need agp 8x, it shouldn't make much difference though. A new board should be about $60-80 for a decent board.

 

[xenno]

Thanks for the info. I had gone to the MB manufactures site but didn't see anything about 4x. That will save me a lot of time, now to look up the diffrence between ultra and gt

 

[Ace4090]

Just to add on that last comment.. This would be a 6600Ultra
http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/video/alb_6600u/card1.htm
http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/video/alb_6600u/card0.htm
And this would be the card owning Half Life 2 at an OK res with detail levels,AA, and AF maxed
http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/video/alb_6600u/Half_Life2_1024X768_1.JPG
http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/video/alb_6600u/HalfLife2-16x12.htm
(yellow numbers in upper-right corner are current FPS)

 

[vnf4ultra]

That is confusing. I don't think there is an official 6600ultra, and the "6600 ultra" from albatron is not even as fast as a 6600gt(6600ultra =350mhz core, 6600gt = 500mhz core).
http://www.albatron.com.tw/english/it/vga/specification.asp?pro_id=124
IMO, a 6600ultra should be faster than a 6600gt, after all a 6800ultra beats a 6800gt.