video card upgrade (agp)

[lrbtav]

Current PC specs: 3200+ 64 bit, 1GB PC3200, Geforce 6600GT AGP, xp
sp2. Playing Battlefield 2 is not a good experience as you can imagine
(I can play at 1024x768 but at low avg frame rates), and when Unreal
Tournament 3 comes out in Q3/4 I will need to upgrade anyway. I would
like to play BF2 and UT3 at reasonable resolution/framerate without
replacing my entire computer. Here is my plan...

Replace 6600GT with eVGA 256-A8-N506-AX Geforce 7800GS 256MB 256-bit
GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X.
Add 1GB PC3200.

Will this give me what I want?

With such a slow cpu, should I look into a passive cooled 7600? I feel
a 7800 may be better paired with a faster cpu (according to a few
benchmarks at least); thanks for your help.

 

[kony]

Current PC specs: 3200+ 64 bit, 1GB PC3200, Geforce 6600GT AGP, xp
sp2. Playing Battlefield 2 is not a good experience as you can imagine
(I can play at 1024x768 but at low avg frame rates), and when Unreal
Tournament 3 comes out in Q3/4 I will need to upgrade anyway. I would
like to play BF2 and UT3 at reasonable resolution/framerate without
replacing my entire computer. Here is my plan...

Replace 6600GT with eVGA 256-A8-N506-AX Geforce 7800GS 256MB 256-bit
GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X.
Add 1GB PC3200.

Will this give me what I want?

With such a slow cpu, should I look into a passive cooled 7600? I feel
a 7800 may be better paired with a faster cpu (according to a few
benchmarks at least); thanks for your help.

No you should not replace it with a passive 7600, unless the
money saved causes you to purchase a whole new computer
sooner.

Now is the time to do that. It makes no sense to put down a
lot of money on an AGP card, especially when they cost more
than the PCI Express versions and are sometimes slower too,
I mean due to lower clocked GPU or memory.

I'm sure you would "like" to not replace anything to play,
wouldn't everyone? You can just replace the card wit hah
7800 if you like it will help, but it is only the short term
and ultimately more expensive, not cheaper, solution. It is
just not cost effective to buy a high performance AGP video
card today. Even the 7600, that money put aside would get
you a motherboard or CPU... that much closer to a new
system.

 

[Sleepy]

Current PC specs: 3200+ 64 bit, 1GB PC3200, Geforce 6600GT AGP, xp
sp2. Playing Battlefield 2 is not a good experience as you can imagine
(I can play at 1024x768 but at low avg frame rates), and when Unreal
Tournament 3 comes out in Q3/4 I will need to upgrade anyway. I would
like to play BF2 and UT3 at reasonable resolution/framerate without
replacing my entire computer. Here is my plan...

Replace 6600GT with eVGA 256-A8-N506-AX Geforce 7800GS 256MB 256-bit
GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X.
Add 1GB PC3200.

Will this give me what I want?

With such a slow cpu, should I look into a passive cooled 7600? I feel
a 7800 may be better paired with a faster cpu (according to a few
benchmarks at least); thanks for your help.

with your CPU I would look for a 2nd hand 6800 on Ebay - the 7800GS would
give you a noticeable boost but you wouldnt get the best out it with that
CPU.
Is there any chance of overclocking your CPU ? What socket is it?
and what motherboard do you have?

 

[lrbtav]

Is there any chance of overclocking your CPU ? What socket is it?

and what motherboard do you have?

No chance of that unfortunately, the CPU is definitely locked due to
it being a Compaq Presario machine.