Looking to purchase new video card and ram

[Twisted4liter]

I'm looking to purchase a new video card and ram, but I haven't decided what to go with yet. I did some searching on these forums and have gathered a few things but, still would like a little assistance. I'm really heavy in to gaming, such games as Counter Strike and Day of Defeat Source, Guild Wars, Battlefield, Star Wars Galaxies, Etc. I'm looking for good graphics and fast frame rates. Here's some of my computer specs.

Intel Pentium 4
Core Speed - 1994.2 MHz
Multiplier - x 20.0
FSB - 99.7 MHz
Bus Speed - 398.8 MHz

Graphics Interface
AGP Version 2.0
Transfer Rate - 4x Max Supported - 4x
Aperture Size - 64 MBytes
Side Band - Disabled

Memory
DDR-SDRAM
Slot 1 - 256 MBytes Samsung
Slot 2 - 256 MBytes SpecTek Incorporated
Frequency - 132.9 MHz
FSBRAM - 3:4

Main Board
Manuf. - Intel Corporation
Model - D845BG
Chipset - Intel - i845D

I know going out and buying the biggest and baddest video card and ram prob is not going to suite my needs since my system can only do so much. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[vnf4ultra]

For a graphics card, look for an agp 8x/4x compatible card. You can only run it at 4x, but that shouldn't be much of a bottleneck, as most cards don't use more than the speed of agp 4x anyway(or so I've heard).

Depending on your budget, a card like a 6600gt might suit. It's about $150-180 usd.
Ex.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130220
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125168

Here you can compare some cards performance.
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050705/vga-charts-pcie-02.html#3d_mark_2005

I'm not exactly sure what ram you'd need, it looks like it's 133mhz, so I'm guessing it's ddr 266(pc2100). Also you may have your ram slots full since you already have 2 banks full, and many boards only have 2 dimm slots. I'd suggest you get a gigabyte of ram, like either a 2x512mb kit, or a single 1gb stick. Either way you will have to take out either one or both of your ram modules to upgrade.

Actually as long as you have 184 pin ddr memory, you could just get some ddr400(pc3200) ram, it's faster than you need, but might be cheaper, and will downclock to the appropriate speed.
(if you don't have ddr memory, then you probably have pc133 memory, which is also available from many stores).

I like corsiar ram, it seems to be very compatible with most motherboards.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145505
There's a 1gb stick. You could probably stick that in with your 256mb stick(and have to remove the other stick), and have 1.25gb of ram.

 

[Twisted4liter]

Yes, its DDR(pc2100), and I have both of my slots full. I wasn't sure what the maximum amount of memory this mother board supported. Also, I don't see much of a difference between the 2 cards you posted except that the eVGA runs at 900 clock speed and Gigabyte runs at 1000, do you prefer one over the other? I hear alot about ATI cards, are they not suitable for my application? Thanks again.

 

[vnf4ultra]

I just listed two cards that looked good, the gigabyte should be a little faster, due to faster memory. The evga on the other hand is slightly slower(900mhz is the standard speed for agp 6600gts, so 1000mhz is a bonus), but one of the reviewers has used it in an agp 4x motherboard successfully(a good sign for a person in your situation). They both should work, but sometimes *should* doesn't = *works* in real life.

Do you have any info on the model of your board?
That might help determine what cards it can support, and also what amount of ram is allowed.

If you can't find it, the everest home program might help you.
http://www.lavalys.com.hk/products/everesthome.asp

I didn't list any ati cards, one because the x700pro the 6600gt's main competitor is mainly available in pci express(a few agp cards are made though, but they can be harder to find, and the x700pro is slower than the 6600gt), and two, the ati 9800pro is also a good 6600gt competitor, but it's older technology(not as advanced shader model, and I don't think 9800pros have a temperature sensor built in IIRC), third ati has an x800gt, but afaik, it's only pci express. I just don't think ati has a good agp competitor to the 6600gt at this time. But that may not even be the level of performance you want, you might want more power or less power depending on your budget.

On a higher level look at 6800gt agp and the x800xl agp.

Edit, I guess you have an intel brand board, the 845gb, not just the intel 845g chipset on a different mfgs board.
http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d845bg/
http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/cs-009010.htm
The agp chart says it supports agp 2x/4x at 1.5v. I think most current agp cards are 8x/4x and support 0.8v and 1.5v, so they should be ok.

Your max memory is 2gb, so you could have 2 1gb sticks in there.
http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d845bg/sb/cs-013135.htm

 

[Sharkfood]

I have to concur with vnf4ultra- the 6600GT is probably the best "bang for the buck" videocard for that system.

The 6800GT/X800 series cards would be good upgrade paths if you plan to use a lot of antialiasing or higher resolution only. i.e. if you plan to play games at 1600x1200 with 4x/6x AA. Otherwise, the 6600GT and perhaps a memory upgrade (512x2 for 1 gig) would probably be the best direction to go for now.

Figure a 6600GT = $150-$190
2x512MB DDR = $120-$145

This would be a good configuration for the games you have mentioned.

 

[Twisted4liter]

Done. Purchasing the Gigabyte and some ram. Thank you guys for your help.