Please help an older mobo owner...

Hi Doceye,
My bro in-law has a similar setup to you but only has a 2.4 chip, he is running a 9700 pro on his and has no probs playin HL2 with it but you have to have a spare molex to plug into the board itself for power,but if you want to spend a few more dollars maybe 9800 pro would be better check the reveiws and see what u think.
p.s You should get service pack two on your system as the new ati drivers require it not sure on the nvidia
Hope this might help as i have not had anything to do with the latest cards on the market . Cheers Herb

 

Thanks for the reply...

Herb,

Appreciate the quick input. I really was hoping to stay with Nvidia. Never used any ATI stuff. It's becoming clear to me that if I want to run a mid-level Nvidia GPU (say, a 6600GT) that I'll probably have to upgrade the mobo and PSU.

Thanks again, I appreciate the help!

Best,

DocEye

 

You can get s 6600GT in AGP. But a Radeon 9800 Pro or 9600XT would be a better match for your system. Newegg has 256mb 9600XTs for $94. Or you can check Ebay for 5700 Ultras. Ive also seen FX5900s and 5950s really cheap.

 

VegasGMC,

I'm curious as to why you think the ATI stuff would be a better match for my system. Got any specific reasoning?

And thanks for the input, it is much appreciated.

Best,

DocEye

 

Not specifically ATI but that generation of cards. With a 4x AGP slot and a sub-3 ghz processor you would be throwing your money away on a newer card. I dont have a preference for brands. Ive gone back and forth. I just got an FX 6800 GT to replace my Radeon 9800.

 

Interesting thought...

VegasGMC,

Thanks for your insight. Is it strictly my P4S333 and P4 2.6 proc holding me up then? I guess it is from what you and others have said. But the bleeding edge has never appealed to me from a price/performance standpoint. I get a bigger kick out of waiting 3-5 years and then doing a big upgrade. Looks like I either go with one of the older cards you suggest or bite 'da bullet and do a big upgrade now.

Oh, well. Thanks to you and all who've responded. I do appreciate your time very much.

Best,

DocEye

 

I think you'd be very happy with the cards I mentioned. There is alot going on in the computer world in the next 6 months. Thats why Im waiting until next year for my big upgrade.

 

Hmmm...

I posted this message earlier tonight in response to another post... may not be what you want to hear, but we both may be able to figure something out, clunking heads together... the link to the thread is here:
https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic22223.html

Btw, Radeons are great video cards too... the 7500 worked in his comp just fine... Im almost 100% sure the 8500 will also.... mucho better than the 7500, but not as good as the 9600...

Good luck,
AKVirgo

P.S. There is a newer BIOS version out, but I still don't think that will solve the problem... :giddy:

ABIT KD7/KT400 Mobo, AMD Athlon XP 2500+ overclocked to 3000+ specs, 1 Gig 333mhz DDR RAM, Gainward Ti4800 Vid Card w/128 Megs RAM, 40 Gig Internal 7200rpm HDD, WD 80 Gig External USB 2.0 HDD