newer graphics card on older computer

[starfleet40]

I have an AMD 1100 mhz tower with win xp sp2. i have pretty much
tweaked all i can out of it with services disabled and a good virus
protection program that doesnt use much cpu. with 512mb of pc133 this
is as fast as its gonna run. [swap file is split on other drives and c
drive has no swap file]. i have had a 9800xt in a state of the art
machine and i'm pleased with the performance. would i gain much if i
swap out my nvidia riva tnt2 with a 9800 or 9600 family card so i can
run halflife 2 or doom 3? i just cant upgrade right now especially not
to pci-express as i dont have the funds for that. i could afford
spending 200.00 on a videocard upgrade if it will help.
thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions.
visit me on the web at http://starfleetscommand.com
visit us on the web at: http://ezarlodge281.org

 

[Jerry G.]

It will help as far as the display card is concerned. But, the machine
performance will only be as good as the mother board, CPU, and the rest of
the hardware are concerned. As for the IO speed of the card, there will be
no improvement. A newer card will only allow for improved performance for of
what is using the internal operation of the card. Therefore a newer card in
an older machine will have some bottle-necking, as far as the IO of it is
concerned.

Have you considered updating the mother board, and CPU while you are at
spending good money on a newer display card?

--

Jerry G.
======


I have an AMD 1100 mhz tower with win xp sp2. i have pretty much
tweaked all i can out of it with services disabled and a good virus
protection program that doesnt use much cpu. with 512mb of pc133 this
is as fast as its gonna run. [swap file is split on other drives and c
drive has no swap file]. i have had a 9800xt in a state of the art
machine and i'm pleased with the performance. would i gain much if i
swap out my nvidia riva tnt2 with a 9800 or 9600 family card so i can
run halflife 2 or doom 3? i just cant upgrade right now especially not
to pci-express as i dont have the funds for that. i could afford
spending 200.00 on a videocard upgrade if it will help.
thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions.
visit me on the web at http://starfleetscommand.com
visit us on the web at: http://ezarlodge281.org

 

[kony]

I have an AMD 1100 mhz tower with win xp sp2. i have pretty much
tweaked all i can out of it with services disabled and a good virus
protection program that doesnt use much cpu. with 512mb of pc133 this
is as fast as its gonna run. [swap file is split on other drives and c
drive has no swap file]. i have had a 9800xt in a state of the art
machine and i'm pleased with the performance. would i gain much if i
swap out my nvidia riva tnt2 with a 9800 or 9600 family card so i can
run halflife 2 or doom 3? i just cant upgrade right now especially not
to pci-express as i dont have the funds for that. i could afford
spending 200.00 on a videocard upgrade if it will help.
thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions.
visit me on the web at http://starfleetscommand.com
visit us on the web at: http://ezarlodge281.org

$200 would mostly be wasted on a video-card-only upgrade.

You might consider a Radeon 9600 Pro, and putting the rest
away, saving towards upgrading the CPU, then motherboard and
(DDR) memory as soon as reasonably possible.. Ultimately
for satisfactory results you will need to replace all 4
items, no amount of tweaking the operating system will make
a 1.1GHz w/PC133 run modern games fast enough.

 

[theyak]

I have an AMD 1100 mhz tower with win xp sp2. i have pretty much
tweaked all i can out of it with services disabled and a good virus
protection program that doesnt use much cpu. with 512mb of pc133 this
is as fast as its gonna run. [swap file is split on other drives and c
drive has no swap file]. i have had a 9800xt in a state of the art
machine and i'm pleased with the performance. would i gain much if i
swap out my nvidia riva tnt2 with a 9800 or 9600 family card so i can
run halflife 2 or doom 3? i just cant upgrade right now especially not
to pci-express as i dont have the funds for that. i could afford
spending 200.00 on a videocard upgrade if it will help.
thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions.
visit me on the web at http://starfleetscommand.com
visit us on the web at: http://ezarlodge281.org

halflife2 and doom3 are beyond the scope of that machine. Even if you
stuck a bfg6800 in there the card would be starved for info from that
cpu.