What graphics card?

[bigslim]

Hi, I'm looking to upgrade to a better graphics card but I'm totally confused as to which one to buy......... .

I have a Compaq Pressario 6150UK
Amd Athlon XP Processor,
512 Ram (PC2100),
Processor speed is 1891MHz,
my current graphics card is NVIDIA 32MB onboard.

I think the info above is correct and I would really appreciate any help or advise.
My budget is no more than £100 and I would attempt to fit it myself if it's as easy as the firewire ports I fitted.
Thanks in advance.

 

[muckshifter]

Have a look in the manual for me, and see if you have an "AGP" slot we can use.

 

[bigslim]

I'm in work just now but yes I think there is a "AGP" slot available. I knock of at 14:00hrs so I could rush home and take a photo of the motherboard and attach it to a post.

 

[ChristopherP]

Radeon 9600XT should be about £100 inc VAT.

Thats if you have an AGP8x slot

Best card for the money

 

[muckshifter]

Chris, that's why I was asking what type AGP slot he has ... no good plonking a card in only to find it doesn't work.

The manual will give us better information than any picture bigslim, even if a picture can paint a thousand words.

 

[ChristopherP]

Hence why i said about the type of AGP slot...

If it IS AGP 8x, the best card would be the 9600XT...

THATS what i was saying...

Although i think choices maybe limited if it is not AGP 4 or 8...

 

[Reefsmoka]

I'd go with the Ati Radeon 9600Xt. Pretty nifty card for the price. But if your wanting to play the latest games, you really need to get more memory/ram.

£104 inc vat from Ebuyer
£111 inc vat from overclockers (2nd from bottom)
£106 inc vat from PC World
£108 inc vat from komplett

 

[ChristopherP]

LOW have one?

I think its a good card - my parents have one and the 3Dmark scores arent bad

 

[bigslim]

Yea troops I've got a "AGP" slot (if it's the Brown one), but how do I determine what type it is?

 

[ChristopherP]

either scan through the manual or have a look in BIOS if you are familiar with it. There will be an AGP setting on there somewhere...

 

[floppybootstomp]

Yea troops I've got a "AGP" slot (if it's the Brown one), but how do I determine what type it is?

Have a look in the motherboard manual or enter the BIOS and see what's the maximum speed you can set it to.

Another vote for the 9600XT, even if it has to run at 4 x.

Best card available for the money, imo.

 

[floppybootstomp]

If it's vital the budget is kept under £100.00, inc. shipping, I'd suggest an Nvidia FX5700, available in several flavours, here's a selection: FX5700

 

[ChristopherP]

Sapphire Radeon 9600XT Atlantis 128MB DD AGP,ATI9600XT,DVI-I,TV-Out, Lite-Retail

UNDER £100 DELIVERED

I'd say that be a bargain,
Sapphire too!

 

[floppybootstomp]

Sapphire too? Sapphire are, how shall we say, at the lower end of the market.

Twice bitten, thrice shy, me.

Still, maybe I was unlucky, I know of dozens of people using them who haven't had a problem at all.

 

[ChristopherP]

My 9800pro is a Sapphire.

I think my parents 9600XT is too...

Both work flawlessly

 

[Reefsmoka]

Sapphire too? Sapphire are, how shall we say, at the lower end of the market.

Twice bitten, thrice shy, me.

Still, maybe I was unlucky, I know of dozens of people using them who haven't had a problem at all.

I've heard nothing but bad stuff about saphire and i have also been bitten! My bro's 9000pro kept over heating and making the computer lock up. I mean a 9000pro, surely they could have put a decent enough fan to cool it! I just slapped on my old 9800pro cooler on it when i got my Artic VGA silencer. Seems 100% fine now.

They are at the budget end of the graphics card market, but i'm sure i read that they have revised some of there cooling methods and now opt for the Ati reference coolers instead of trying to skimp out by using there own.

I dont know what the cooling on the 9600XT looks like, but it should be pretty hefty with the 9600 core at 500Mhz :/.

 

[ChristopherP]

The 9600XT has a VERY good cooler... Bigger than the 9800pro's, Its quiet too.

My 9800pro is exactly the same as every other 9800pro i have ever seen! it performs the same too and my 3DMark03 scores back that up.

I don't think that it was even the cheapest one availiable when i bought it in January, it did cost me £240 and that wasn't even for the Full retail package.

I have treated my card like <expletive> and by that i mean not giving it good airflow in case, leaning it against the leg of my desk and carpet when taking it out, overcloking it giving it no mercy even with the standard cooler and yet it has failed to do me bad!

I think to be honest, the case is that Sapphire may have been a bad brand a few years ago, the 9000 is hardly a modern card, and they pulled their socks up (to their armpits!!) because i have no reason to believe that Sapphire are worse than any other video board manufacturer out there at the moment.

Chris