New video card? X1600? X800? or...???

[Gurm]

So I'm milking the most I can out of my current board - an A7N8X-E Deluxe running a couple gigs of dual channel pc3200 and a mobile Athlon clocked up to 3200+.

Just not in the financial situation right now to buy a new board, chip, maybe RAM, AND video card... not to mention sound card because the newer nForce boards don't have SoundStorm. Ick.

So my video card right now is an AGP 9600Pro. It plays Civ4 just fine, which has been my drug of choice lately, but there's a whole list of games on the horizon that it will be pretty slow with. Quake4 was a suck-ass game, but I had to turn down the options to play it. I haven't been brave enough to install Prey yet.

So I want to upgrade. What are my options?

Two generations exist newer than the 9600. The X*00 and the X1*00.

The nicest cards just aren't available in AGP at this point. The fastest thing I can get in AGP is an X1600XT, or an X1600Pro. Starting off around $110. Ok, that's reasonable I think. $110 to more than double my speed in virtually all games? Not too shabby.

Problem? I already blew out my Antec Sonata's PSU a few months back, and I've been running a spare Enlight 450 I had floating around. Odds that the Enlight - although it was top notch 2+ years ago - will handle the massive power requirements of the X1600? Unclear. Plus there's all that HEAT. I'm already running hot with the CPU clocked up...

So if I drop back a generation... there's the X700 and X800. The X700 is around $95, and substantially faster than the 9600, but not "twice as fast and sometimes 3x as fast". Doesn't really sit right with me given that the X1600 is only $15 more! The X800 is only $100... in PCI EXPRESS. The AGP X800's start at $150. Yeah, I know, we're quibbling over $50. But my budget for this card tops out at around $125...

And I know NOTHING about the world of nVidia at this point.

So, anyone want to make a recommendation?

I think the differences between ATI and nVidia, in terms of drivers and display quality... are growing much smaller now. I don't honestly care, I just want to squeeze another 6 months or a year out of this board before I have to do the "$1000 worth of upgrades" thing again.

[Mehen]

Don't push yourself to spend too much, with Vista and Dx10 coming out it might not be the best to spend too much $.

Check http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html to see the difference between X1600 and X700. They are kind of back and forth, might depend on what games you want to play. If it ends up being a toss up, go with the cheaper one.

Or if you can find a 6600GT cheap, (ebay or something) definitely go for that. Better card than either of the above.

[lowlifecat]

I wouldn't worry about power and/or heath with the x1600. I run my x18xt on a 350watt PSU.

as for which card.. x700 < x1600 < x800.

best advise is to wait a little bit longer.

[Tjalfe]

I got an AIW X800Xl AGP on sale for $169CDN about a month ago.. overclocks nicely to X800XT speeds.. if that is of any concern.. plays anything I throw at it

[Gurm]

I wouldn't worry about power and/or heath with the x1600. I run my x18xt on a 350watt PSU.

as for which card.. x700 < x1600 < x800.

best advise is to wait a little bit longer.

Really depends on who's doing the comparison. Tom's (not that we trust Tom) reports that the X700 is slightly ahead (like by 1-2 fps) of the X1600 in many games. But yes, I'd prefer to get an X800. *sigh*

What frosts me is that the X800GTO for PCI Express is $99, but the AGP version of the same card is $149!

[Helevitia]

The only prob with an X800...no HDR(in most games) or SM3. I have an X800 and I love it. I'm not sure how much I am missing without SM3?

[degrub]

i'm happy with my BFG 7800gs AGP. Blows the 9800 pro out of the water (last card) . My first Nvidia card after years of Matrox and then ATI.

And now i see the 7600gs AGP is out on shelves. 160-200 USD. IIRC, it is in the same league if not slightly faster than the ATI cards you were looking at.

Just be sure to verify what voltages your AGP slot supports.

[Mehen]

Find a 6600GT, I don't think any of the X800 series will meet budget requirements. Don't spend too much, your system is too old to be spending lots on. You could get a 7800GS, but you're still not going to be able to run Crysis or UT2k7.