10 year old needs help

[huhwtf]

My son is 10 years old and has an old PC and I was wondering if you could help me find an AGP card for him.

He plays old games nothing too intense.

He has an old onboard ASUS motherboard, an Athlon 1.5 GHz, 768 Ram.

I dont know what chipset it is but will find out if needed.

can someone recommend a video card for him? his games are crawling along now . thanks.

 

[Insomniator]

What games exactly?

 

[Hauk]

Welcome to the forums. You get a free pass on your first post; normally a lashing occurs on posting with complete lack of system info.

On making games run better with a video card upgrade, you likely know you're limited by the AGP factor. As such, consider what you're willing to spend, then review the following sort. 1GB is probably more than you need but what the heck. 512mb would prolly work well. I'm liking this or this.

 

[huhwtf]

thanks for the pass! and the info. He plays games like ice age 3, mom keeps the games pretty tame

 

[Insomniator]

Originally posted by: Hauk
Welcome to the forums. You get a free pass on your first post; normally a lashing occurs on posting with complete lack of system info.

On making games run better with a video card upgrade, you likely know you're limited by the AGP factor. As such, consider what you're willing to spend, then review the following sort. 1GB is probably more than you need but what the heck. 512mb would prolly work well. I'm liking this or this.

You want him to spend 100 bucks on a system that is worth ~50 bucks total??

I wouldn't spend more than like 40 bucks, and thats only assuming these games are actually that old or not demanding. check the forums for a used 6600gt agp or buy a new 6200 on newegg for like 30 bucks

 

[huhwtf]

ah ok

 

[Hauk]

30 bucks vs. 90 bucks. What's the difference?

He's right though, you can find a good deal if that's what you're hunting. Search AGP interface, sortable by various methods.

 

[RussianSensation]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16814121260R

Silent and should easily overwhelm that processor.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16814121260R

Silent and should easily overwhelm that processor.

That's probably your best bet. If you don't like open box products, consider this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102814

Make sure the power supply in his computer is up to the task. If it's a cheap-o or generic PSU, it may eventually burn out and take other components with it.

Edit: if you really want to save some cash, search around for someone selling used cards in the For Sale / For Trade forum, or eBay. Something along the lines of an ATI x1950 Pro, 9800 Pro, or nVidia 6600 GT, 6800 GT, 7800 GT should do the trick. GPUs much newer than that will be held back by the processor.

Good luck with it - my girlfriend's 5 year old LOVES the PC I pieced together for him out of spare parts. Thank God he isn't into graphically demanding games (yet).

 

[Schmide]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16814121260R

Silent and should easily overwhelm that processor.

Why the hell would you get a open box when the retail is $5 more after rebate?

$63 = $88 - $25RB ASUS AH3650 SILENT/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail

 

[FalseChristian]

Originally posted by: Schmide

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16814121260R

Silent and should easily overwhelm that processor.

Why the hell would you get a open box when the retail is $5 more after rebate?

$63 = $88 - $25RB ASUS AH3650 SILENT/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail

I agree. The card is so cheap brand new...why would you take a chance on a used one?

 

[dguy6789]

Originally posted by: FalseChristian

Originally posted by: Schmide

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16814121260R

Silent and should easily overwhelm that processor.

Why the hell would you get a open box when the retail is $5 more after rebate?

$63 = $88 - $25RB ASUS AH3650 SILENT/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail

I agree. The card is so cheap brand new...why would you take a chance on a used one?

Well it's Newegg, so if it doesn't work the problem gets solved very easily. You're also probably 100x more likely to get an open box that works than you are to ever see a rebate.

 

[Mango1970]

If you can add a bit of RAM that would help as well. Otherwise the above linked video cards would all do wonders. I was in a similar situation and had to upgrade an older computer for a friend that has a 10 year old son. I actually ended up finding a used Nvidia Ti500 AGP for $12 which made his gaming experience so much better. It's a bit older and less powerful than that ATI based one linked above but with 1.5 GB of RAM in the system and a fresh install of XP he is happier than a pig in xxxx

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102073

 

[Schmide]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Well it's Newegg, so if it doesn't work the problem gets solved very easily. You're also probably 100x more likely to get an open box that works than you are to ever see a rebate.

That's bullshit. I get all my rebates. This is FUD!!!!

 

[Schmide]

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102073

Noooooooo!!! $50 for a Radeon X1650PRO IMHO

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Originally posted by: Schmide

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102073

Noooooooo!!! $50 for a Radeon X1650PRO IMHO

It's $19 cheaper than the 3650 and with his cpu and the games his son plays there won't be a difference.

 

[Senpuu]

Originally posted by: Schmide

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Well it's Newegg, so if it doesn't work the problem gets solved very easily. You're also probably 100x more likely to get an open box that works than you are to ever see a rebate.

That's bullshit. I get all my rebates. This is FUD!!!!

I can understand why some people might doubt Newegg's rebates. I had a $50 rebate coming to me from a product I ordered in mid-December of last year. I finally received it two weeks ago. ~8 months is a long time to wait for a rebate. I pestered them a bit awhile back and got this response:

"We do not have a exact date as of right now I do understand that the process is taking long the reason for that is that the original rebate company filed for bankruptcy so a new company is taking over all of their rebates as I stated they are behind right now so we have a lot of customers that are still waiting on their rebates. They are working on this and hopefully can get it out to you soon. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you."

Anyway, every other rebate I have ever applied for on a Newegg item has been received within the stated time limits.

 

[Schmide]

The 1650 pro is only $14 cheaper, the 3650 uses 10% less power, and is about 2.5x as powerful.

Certainly he will be capped by his processor but the better card could enable AA and play at higher resolutions. The 1650 pro is slow enough that it may even bottle neck his processor.

In my opinion the value is not antiquate for the level of performance.

edit : I pulled TF2 from another thread in my memory (oops), but the logic is the same.

Italics - retracted/wrong. My bad. See post below

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Originally posted by: Schmide
The 1650 pro is only $15 cheaper, the 3650 uses 10% less power, and is about 2.5x as powerful.

Certainly he will be capped by his processor but the better card could enable AA and play at higher resolutions. The 1650 pro is slow enough that it may even bottle neck his processor.

In my opinion the value is not antiquate for the level of performance.

edit : I pulled TF2 from another thread in my memory (oops), but the logic is the same.

Well I was talking about the Sapphire model but in the end it is up to the OP on how much he wants to spend.

 

[Schmide]

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem
Well I was talking about the Sapphire model but in the end it is up to the OP on how much he wants to spend.

and what value the OP receives for that money!!!!

 

[dguy6789]

Originally posted by: Schmide

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Well it's Newegg, so if it doesn't work the problem gets solved very easily. You're also probably 100x more likely to get an open box that works than you are to ever see a rebate.

That's bullshit. I get all my rebates. This is FUD!!!!

I have well over $100 in rebates from Newegg that I'm still waiting on from last September.

 

[Fox5]

Have you considered putting the money for the AGP card into a cheap new system or cheap laptop?

BTW, I know this wasn't asked for, but that computer (and its user) seem like a perfect candidate for edubuntu, an operating system loaded with educational software.
http://edubuntu.org/
Besides that, there's tons of simple kids games available for it for free.

 

[Schmide]

Originally posted by: dguy6789

Originally posted by: Schmide

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Well it's Newegg, so if it doesn't work the problem gets solved very easily. You're also probably 100x more likely to get an open box that works than you are to ever see a rebate.

That's bullshit. I get all my rebates. This is FUD!!!!

I have well over $100 in rebates from Newegg that I'm still waiting on from last September.

Ok since you have an issue it makes it ubiquitous? Your logic and evidence is very lacking.

 

[videogames101]

It almost seems like we debate more over $30 AGP cards than $300 high end GPUs.