Breathing new life into the beast... AGP

[Tak]

Well, as others I'm looking to upgrade my aging system. Financially I don't have the cash to upgrade as I'd like to PCI-e and such so I'm going to stick with what I have. I was looking for some suggestions on a new card. I have a few that I was looking at, but after doing some research I find that my head hurts way too much. Any ways, here are my current specs:

- AOpen AX4SPE MaxII
- Intel P4 2.4GHz
- Antec 450w PSU
- 2x 512MB Corsair DDR333
- Leadtek nVidia Geforce 4 Ti4600 128MB AGP
- Soundblaster Audigy Premium
- 2x Wester Digital (WD) 120GB 7200RPM IDE HDD
- Seagate 7200.8 300GB 7200RPM SATA HDD

Like I said I'm looking to stick with AGP. My plans are to pick up some more RAM, OCZ 2x 1GB DDR400 2-3-2-5, and I've been looking at a few cards. I'm not brand specific as long as it performs, but I've been very satisfied with my GF4. Price range is flexible, but I'd prefer to stay under $200. Primarily, I play FFXI, but am looking to start playing BF2 as well as other more recent games so I need something that will be able to handle those at atleast mid-level graphics.

Right well here's what I was currently looking at, but suggestions are very welcome.

Manufacturer  Leadtek A6600 GT  Albatron GF 6600GT  XFX GF 6800XT  XFX GF 7800GS  Asus N6800     Saphire R X1600Pro
Model Number  A6600 GT TDH      AGP6600GT-128M AGP  PV-T42K-UDE3   PV-T70k-UAD7   N6800/TD/512M  100158L
Price         $139.99           $134.99             $146.99        $299.99        $172.99        $138.99

Chipset       6600 GT           6600 GT             6800 XT        7800 GS        6800           RX1600Pro
Bus Type      AGP               AGP                 AGP            AGP            AGP            AGP
Clock Rate    500 MHz           500 MHz             350 MHz        440 MHz        325 MHz        500 MHz
Memory        128 MB            128 MB              256 MB         256 MB         512 MB         512 MB
Momory Type   GDDR3             GDDR3               DDR3           DDR3           DDR2           GDDR2
Memory Clock  900MHz            1000 MHz            1.0 GHz        1.3 GHz        540 MHz        405 MHz
Memory Bus    128 bit           128 bit             256 bit        256 bit        128 bit        128 bit
Pixel Pipe    8                 8                   8              16             12             12

Thanks for the help. I know how old it can get seeing the same questions so I apologize, but when you have questions go to the experts, right? Oh and if anyone has any good articles explaining the finer points of GPU specs please post them. I'd like to be able to know exactly how better one card is compared to another based on specs.

Edit: It's not cool when you do something that looks good in IE just to find out it looks like crap in Firefox. That's what I get for doing it at work I guess. Sorry to those who view the table in Firefox. I know it looks like crap.

 

[Tak]

No replies? Come on I know the question has been asked a million times, but even a simple [This one] type answer would help.

 

[blitzkrieg1110]

I would probably go with the leadtek 6600gt for 2 reasons:

1. It's a very good performing card for the money and
2. Your Pentium 4 will really bottleneck a 7800gs

Thats just my .02

 

[Tak]

I would probably go with the leadtek 6600gt for 2 reasons:

1. It's a very good performing card for the money and
2. Your Pentium 4 will really bottleneck a 7800gs

Thats just my .02

Would I see a difference between the Leadtek 6600GT and the XFX 6800XT with the 6600 have the lower memory bus of 128 bit? Could the 6800 possible reach the same clock speeds as the 6600 and out perform it?

I've further narrowed my choice down to the Leadtek 6600GT and XFX 6800X. I was going to think about the 7800GS, but if it's going to be bottlenecked by the P4 then there's no sense spending that money. I'll save it for a larger upgrade later on.

 

[Tak]

After reading a bit more I might be considering a Sapphire X800 GTO. It's a 256MB GDDR3 card, with 256 bit memory bus, but it has 12 pixel pipelines which in some cases can be unlocked to 16. It also has been reviewed to overclock well.

 

[Dan0512]

After reading a bit more I might be considering a Sapphire X800 GTO. It's a 256MB GDDR3 card, with 256 bit memory bus, but it has 12 pixel pipelines which in some cases can be unlocked to 16. It also has been reviewed to overclock well.

Yes. My x800gt (8pp, 256bit bus, 256MB GDDR3) spanks the 6600gt all over the place. Cost the same, but I got the 256bit bus goody, and extra 128MB memory.

The x800gto should even be an even better performer.

BTW, can you OC your CPU?

dan

 

[Tak]

Yes. My x800gt (8pp, 256bit bus, 256MB GDDR3) spanks the 6600gt all over the place. Cost the same, but I got the 256bit bus goody, and extra 128MB memory.

The x800gto should even be an even better performer.

BTW, can you OC your CPU?

dan

Yeah, I tried OC'ing my CPU a little bit ago. Just a small jump to 2.52GHz. I was able to change the FSB to 133 to 140, but I'm not able to change the clock multiplier. I'm really not sure how well my mobo OCs. When I changed the FSB it automatically changes a memory setting as well. I'm going to increase it a bit more to see how far I can go.

For now I've also OC'd my TI4600 to 320 core and 670 memory. Nothing spectacular, but it runs 3DMark03 smoothly.

 

[White_Pawn]

try ocing the cpu some more. I thinkt eh 6800xt or a x800pro are good choices.

 

[Tak]

Right, I know this is really the wrong forum to talk about OC'ing CPUs, but that's where the conversation went. To be quite honest I know very little about OC'ing. I've further increased my FSB to 166 with the multiplier locked at 18. This takes me to 2.99GHz. I was locking up when trying to boot with the memory in it's 'Auto' setting so I reduce it to 166 x 2.0 which keeps me around DDR333 which my chips are.

Specifically, I've got 2 512MB Corsair XMS DDR333 chips model # CMX512-2700C2. The timing I've set to 2-3-2-6 from the default 2-3-3-7. I also increased the CPU voltage from the default of 1.5250 to 1.5375. It seemed to help smooth things out. I'm real apprehensive about doing much else simply because I know just enough to get myself in trouble as they say.

Here are some CPUz screens incase I didn't mention something.

Cache Tab - Mainboard Tab - SPD Tab

Am I going to fry something with these settings? I seem to be running smooth. I didn't see any noticeable errors while runnign 3DMark03 or while playing a bit of FFXI. How about suggestions? Can I squeeze a bit of performance from somewhere reliably and safely? I'm going to leave the machine running overnight as usual. I guess I'll notice if something goes wrong tomorrow morning.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Dan0512]

Right, I know this is really the wrong forum to talk about OC'ing CPUs, but that's where the conversation went. To be quite honest I know very little about OC'ing. I've further increased my FSB to 166 with the multiplier locked at 18. This takes me to 2.99GHz. I was locking up when trying to boot with the memory in it's 'Auto' setting so I reduce it to 166 x 2.0 which keeps me around DDR333 which my chips are.

Specifically, I've got 2 512MB Corsair XMS DDR333 chips model # CMX512-2700C2. The timing I've set to 2-3-2-6 from the default 2-3-3-7. I also increased the CPU voltage from the default of 1.5250 to 1.5375. It seemed to help smooth things out. I'm real apprehensive about doing much else simply because I know just enough to get myself in trouble as they say.

Here are some CPUz screens incase I didn't mention something.

Cache Tab - Mainboard Tab - SPD Tab

Am I going to fry something with these settings? I seem to be running smooth. I didn't see any noticeable errors while runnign 3DMark03 or while playing a bit of FFXI. How about suggestions? Can I squeeze a bit of performance from somewhere reliably and safely? I'm going to leave the machine running overnight as usual. I guess I'll notice if something goes wrong tomorrow morning.

Thanks for all the help.

Nice! That should give a nice boost in performance. I recommend you try some games @ first, and if it's stable, let it run prime95 for a couple of hours.

dan

 

[Shinobi13]

6800GS is a good card as well. Look at my sig. Running at ultra levels. I am NEVER going to buy a mid range card again. I can finally run everything at high settings (BF2, HL2 (lost coast), DOOM 3, Quale 4..etc. My 2 cents