9800pro upgrade

[Athura]

Hi all

I have a Powercolour 9800pro sitting in a 2.8g P4 (533mhz) with a gig of
pc2700 ram
I am wanting to get a new video card to boost the newer games performance,
any suggestions as a modet upgrade for this older system ?

Am not concerned about make, it can be either ATI or nVIDIA.

Many Thanks

 

[Augustus]

Hi all

I have a Powercolour 9800pro sitting in a 2.8g P4 (533mhz) with a gig of
pc2700 ram
I am wanting to get a new video card to boost the newer games performance,
any suggestions as a modet upgrade for this older system ?

Am not concerned about make, it can be either ATI or nVIDIA.

The X800GTO in AGP is a real upgrade. Also the 6800GT in AGP is excellent.
The 6600GT is really not much of an improvement over the 9800 Pro.

 

[Julian Richards]

The X800GTO in AGP is a real upgrade. Also the 6800GT in AGP is excellent.
The 6600GT is really not much of an improvement over the 9800 Pro.

If you are spending that sort of cash, would a MB upgrade to PCI-E be
useful, either now or for future expandability?
--

Julian Richards
computer "at" richardsuk.f9.co.uk

www.richardsuk.f9.co.uk
Website of "Robot Wars" middleweight "Broadsword IV"

 

[Augustus]

If you are spending that sort of cash, would a MB upgrade to PCI-E be

useful, either now or for future expandability?

Well, I guess it depends. He's got a P4 box there. So likely he'd have to
upgrade his DDR Ram to DDR2 on a new m/b even if he keeps the P4 2.8.
There's also a huge PITA factor when doing a m/b upgrade even if it goes
right. I've done probably 10-12 repair installs with WinXP after a m/b
upgrade(and done the the right way, I might add) and have had 4 fail for no
apparent reason. Which meant a complete manual reinstall of the OS and all
software...about 6+ hours for what I've got installed. You can't image a
drive on to a new hardware install. Here in Canada, the X800GTO costs $239
Cdn on sale (www.ncix.com) That's about 110 Quid. To get a new decent m/b
and 1-2 gig of DDR2 ram would be well over double that amount.

 

[johns]

Don't get a 6800 AGP card. The vendors are holding a world of
failed returns, and they will gladly sell you one cheap. My 9800 Pro
walked all over my new 6800 .. which I returned to XFX for a
restocking fee of $54. I've been asking around about the X800
series, and I kind of hear the same complaints with the AGP cards.
Frankly, I just don't think any of the AGP cards topped the performance
of the 9800 series, and many are very unstable trying to do so.

johns

 

[Augustus]

Don't get a 6800 AGP card. The vendors are holding a world of
failed returns, and they will gladly sell you one cheap. My 9800 Pro
walked all over my new 6800 .. which I returned to XFX for a
restocking fee of $54. I've been asking around about the X800
series, and I kind of hear the same complaints with the AGP cards.
Frankly, I just don't think any of the AGP cards topped the performance
of the 9800 series, and many are very unstable trying to do so.

There is no way in hell a 9800 Pro will walk all over a 6800GT, which is the
card being recommended. It's the other way around. It won't outperform a
straight 6800 either. At 1024x768 they're similar, but the straight 6800
outperforms the 9800 Pro away at higher resolutions with options enabled.
The 6800GT liberally blows the 9800 Pro away at these resolutions. If you're
getting stability problems with your m/b and an AGP 6800GT or other AGP
cards, it's likely your m/b or p/s causing issues. I have never heard of a
"world of failed returns" regarding the X800 and 6800 series in AGP. I know
of at least 5 people who own various ones, and they run fast and fine. I
also don't see any customer complaint in the online stores I regularly deal
with (www.ncix.com) and these guys are very out front about issues.