Realistic Upgrades For Me

[ALPHA]

I'm wondering what to do with the computer I have at the moment.

I wish to upgrade my video card from my Nvidia TNT2 M64 - It sucks!

But my computer is a 500mhz PIII and 256Mb RAM.
I'm wondering should I upgrade my video card to a Geforce 4200ti AGP 8X. I don't want to go out and purchase a top of the line card becuase it will be a waste because it would go out of date in no time.

I would need a new motherboard to support AGP 8X, but while I'm at it I would upgrade my processor. - But what to.


What do you guys think?

 

[Shannon]

• AMD Athlon XP 2000+ processor
• 512mb DDR ram
• GeForce 4 Ti4200 64mb DDR

You don't really need AGP 8x. My board (Soltek S1-75DRV5) only supports AGP 2x and I can pump out around 35fps in Unreal Tournament 2003.

 

[Solid Fro]

Athlon XP 2000+ (1.67GHz) - $80
GeForce 4 Ti4800 128MB AGP 8X - $160
512MB DDR RAM - $80
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Motherboard nForce2 chipset - $150

Total = $470

How much are you willing to spend? You could switch the Ti4800 with a Ti4600 or 4200 and it will be down to $400.

AGP 8X matters a great deal, especially in video card demanding games like UT2003. 8X has so much bandwidth compared to 2X and even 4X. I don't think the GeForce 4 cards are going anytime soon. The GeForce FX sucks so much, that card suppliers won't even ship them. So, the GeForce 4 will be nVidia's flagship for the time being.

www.newegg.com - cheapest prices on the net and excellent service.

 

[Cobraboy]

Originally posted by Viper Zero
Athlon XP 2000+ (1.67GHz) - $80
GeForce 4 Ti4800 128MB AGP 8X - $160
512MB DDR RAM - $80
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Motherboard nForce2 chipset - $150

Total = $470

How much are you willing to spend? You could switch the Ti4800 with a Ti4600 or 4200 and it will be down to $400.

AGP 8X matters a great deal, especially in video card demanding games like UT2003. 8X has so much bandwidth compared to 2X and even 4X. I don't think the GeForce 4 cards are going anytime soon. The GeForce FX sucks so much, that card suppliers won't even ship them. So, the GeForce 4 will be nVidia's flagship for the time being.

www.newegg.com - cheapest prices on the net and excellent service.

Which when converted to $NZ is about $900.
Check out http://www.ascent.co.nz they deliver or you can pop into the shop because you live in Welly.

 

[NocturnalPS]

Originally posted by Viper Zero
Athlon XP 2000+ (1.67GHz) - $80
GeForce 4 Ti4800 128MB AGP 8X - $160
512MB DDR RAM - $80
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Motherboard nForce2 chipset - $150

Total = $470

How much are you willing to spend? You could switch the Ti4800 with a Ti4600 or 4200 and it will be down to $400.

AGP 8X matters a great deal, especially in video card demanding games like UT2003. 8X has so much bandwidth compared to 2X and even 4X. I don't think the GeForce 4 cards are going anytime soon. The GeForce FX sucks so much, that card suppliers won't even ship them. So, the GeForce 4 will be nVidia's flagship for the time being.

www.newegg.com - cheapest prices on the net and excellent service.

A bud of mine got the GeForce FX Ultra in the other day from compUSA. (thursday i think it was) and well all he had was troubles with it. System errors and crashes all the time. Plus he was only hitting 2900 on 3d mark 2003 and 11000 in 3d mark 2001 se. So he just finally shipped it back to them, and is now wating for the 9800 Pro from ATI to come out. April 2nd or 3rd is when he should recive it

 

[ALPHA]

Thanks for the feed back I was just wondering what to get and how much it will cost. It's not going to happen ASAP but sometime soon - hopefully if my dad supports the upgrade

 

[Viper_Maniac]

Originally posted by Viper Zero
GeForce 4 Ti4800 128MB AGP 8X - $160

Wow I didnt know they had those. How much better are they than the Ti4600's?

 

[Solid Fro]

4800's have AGP 8X and higher clock speeds for both the memory and GPU.

 

[Viper_Maniac]

Would it be worth it to spend the money to get the 4800 if i have a 4600 now?

 

[Solid Fro]

No, the Ti4600 is powerful enough to last for another year or so.

 

[Viper_Maniac]

Ok.

 

[Pako]

One thing about the AGP 8x, is that it's lagecy compatible if you only have AGP 4x on your mobo it will still work, just at lower bandwidths. Then, when you have more $$$ to spend, you can look at different ram, mobo, processor...ect.

 

[ALPHA]

I'd rather do everything all in one go not sit around on it.

 

[Matrixhasu77]

It would probably be worhwhile for you to get an 8x AGP Ti4200. I have one, and while it's no ti4600, it still gives decent framerates in Ut2003. Obviously, you're going to have to get an 8x AGP motherboard too though if you go this route to take full advantage of it. An AMD 2000 or better is probably the best bang for your buck in my opinion. I'd suggest trying to get a board that can supports DDR 400 ram but I'm not really sure if its worth it(My board does, but even I don't know how much of an increase in fps there is.).

 

[Cobraboy]

Originally posted by ALPHA
I was just wondering what to get and how much it will cost.

Any decent upgrade will cost anything from $500- about $900.

 

[rjensen11]

What size/type of monitor do you have?

 

[ALPHA]

Well I just got a Geforce 2 GTS Pro for $70 NZ - around $32 US.

I know it's not what I wanted but it can do it's purpose.



Oh yea I have two 17" monitors - pity the card I got didn't have TV - OUT

 

[Matrixhasu77]

That Geforce 2 should do what you want it to. It was Cheaper too. My ti4200 has tv-out.. I wish it had dual monitor capability though. I guess when I get enough money to buy a bigger monitor I'll run my current 14 inch on the Onboard graphics(Yes, I really do need a bigger monitor).

 

[rjensen11]

Originally posted by Matrixhasu77
That Geforce 2 should do what you want it to. It was Cheaper too. My ti4200 has tv-out.. I wish it had dual monitor capability though. I guess when I get enough money to buy a bigger monitor I'll run my current 14 inch on the Onboard graphics(Yes, I really do need a bigger monitor).

Hehe, I guess I'm living with the best of both worlds... 2 monitor out and SVid out. If only I had a TV near the computer and if I had a second monitor....;(

 

[ALPHA]

I was wondering why the Geforce 2 wasn't improving my graphics as much as it should - my motherboard is a tacky thing that supports on AGP 2x! - NO!

I also need a new mobo anyway because it doesn't support anything better than a PIII 500 - what I have!

I am stuffed!

 

[Cobraboy]

Motherboards arent all that expensive. Around $400 for a top of the line one. CPU's arent expensive either. What are you aiming for?

 

[rjensen11]

but if you get top-of-the-line processors and motherboards, then you'll want top-of-the-line video cards, soundcards, speakers, monitor, and more storage space, better gaming controllers, etc.

 

[ALPHA]

P4 2Ghz - 2.5Ghz, mobo must have AGP 8x, USB 2.0, DDR Support and Firewire, just fro the sake of it.

Or should I go with Athlon XP?

 

[rjensen11]

USB2, hmm.... I guess that's a decent choice. I prefer Firewire, just for the heck of it. Make sure your soundcard can decode DTS.

 

[ALPHA]

I'm not sure my Soundcard is a Creative Sondblaster Live!

 

[rjensen11]

MMmmmmm, a Sondblaster Live!

 

[ALPHA]

Yes yummy. - It is better than intergrated sound!