r520 in an old system

[Mike B]

It seems as though the r520 will be supporting both AGP and PCI Express. I
have an old AGP system with a 9700 Pro in it. I know the system is too weak
overall to compliment an r520, but I need better 3D performance in the now,
and plan on building a stronger system near the end of the year anyway,
which an r520 will be part of. My question is, will i get a noticable
increase in performance by replacing my 9700 Pro with an r520, considering
how weak my system is?

Shuttle AN35N Ultra
2500+ @ 2.2ghz
2x512 OCZ400512r3 in dual channel
9700 Pro

 

[Augustus]

It seems as though the r520 will be supporting both AGP and PCI Express. I
have an old AGP system with a 9700 Pro in it. I know the system is too
weak overall to compliment an r520, but I need better 3D performance in
the now, and plan on building a stronger system near the end of the year
anyway, which an r520 will be part of. My question is, will i get a
noticable increase in performance by replacing my 9700 Pro with an r520,
considering how weak my system is?

I would not call what is essentially a Barton 3200 with 1 gig dual channel a
weak system.
And I've read posts where people with this type of system going from a 9800
Pro to an X800XL card report vast gains. So I would say yes, you'll see
large gains. But don't do your comparisons at 1024x768 or you will think
it's not much of an improvement.

 

[First of One]

Try all your games at 800x600. If the speed is acceptable, then with the
R520 you will be able to reach the same speed at 1600x1200 with AA. If the
speed is not acceptable, then an R520 won't be of any help without a faster
CPU.

 

[Clas Mehus]

It seems as though the r520 will be supporting both AGP and PCI Express. I
have an old AGP system with a 9700 Pro in it. I know the system is too weak
overall to compliment an r520, but I need better 3D performance in the now,
and plan on building a stronger system near the end of the year anyway,
which an r520 will be part of. My question is, will i get a noticable
increase in performance by replacing my 9700 Pro with an r520, considering
how weak my system is?

Do you really want to build an AGP-system at the end of the year?

Other thing, maybe the R520, at least as AGP, will be available _at
the end of the year_.... Guess the PCI-E-versjon will come first.

 

[Mike B]

Try all your games at 800x600. If the speed is acceptable, then with the
R520 you will be able to reach the same speed at 1600x1200 with AA. If the
speed is not acceptable, then an R520 won't be of any help without a
faster CPU.

What is acceptable to most people as far as speed? I know everyone is
satisfied at different levels. For me, my goal is 60fps with max details. I
don't need 150fps, but i do like consistant, smooth motion. I am quite
content at the moment though with getting 30+ or so fps out of Far Cry at
maxed out details(without AA or AF) at 1024x768. My goal is max details for
most games at 60fps or around it atleast. I have to say though, i feel lucky
to even be able to play Far Cry and Doom3 at somewhat playable framerates
with details maxed out.

 

[Mike B]

Do you really want to build an AGP-system at the end of the year?

Other thing, maybe the R520, at least as AGP, will be available _at
the end of the year_.... Guess the PCI-E-versjon will come first.

Actually i don't want to build an AGP system. I want to build a PCI Express
system, but from what i understand, r520's are going to support both from
the same card. So i'm thinking i could replace my 9700 Pro with it and use
it as AGP until my new system is built, and then use it as a PCI E card.

 

[Augustus]

Actually i don't want to build an AGP system. I want to build a PCI

Express system, but from what i understand, r520's are going to support
both from the same card. So i'm thinking i could replace my 9700 Pro with
it and use it as AGP until my new system is built, and then use it as a
PCI E card.

It's either AGP or PCIe, not both. You won't be able to use any AGP card in
a PCIe m/b. So if you buy and AGP version of the R520, you're going to be
Ebaying it to get a PCIe version for a new motherboard.

 

[Bratboy]

It's either AGP or PCIe, not both. You won't be able to use any AGP card
in a PCIe m/b. So if you buy and AGP version of the R520, you're going to
be Ebaying it to get a PCIe version for a new motherboard.

I think he's refering to a card one vendor at a recent computershow
displayed and pic's were posted on the web. It has AGP connector on one edge
and PCIe on the other. The idea being that one can buy to use in AGP and
then later when you upgrade system or MB you can flip the card over and
viola PCIe. It was only by one company tho its not something thats part of
the basic spec that all makers will comply to. If I can recall where I saw a
pic I'll post a link to the actual card

 

[Bratboy]

If I can recall where I saw a pic I'll post a link to the actual card

Here's pic's and an article at the Xbitlabs site

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20050601233856.html

 

[Bratboy]

Here's pic's and an article at the Xbitlabs site

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20050601233856.html

oh and its an x800 chip not a 520 but am assuming they may try to do it as
well

 

[Doug]

One of the Rage3d moderators (Vengeance) swapped a AGP 9800 Pro (slightly
better than your 9700 Pro) for a AGP 6800 Gt in a system similar to yours
(he has a Barton 3200 based system running at roughly your speed). His
benchmarks almost doubled for Doom3, Far Cry and Half Life2 so you'll
definitely get a speed boost with a faster vid-card. A 6800 Gt is slightly
faster than an ATI X800 Pro.