Looking for the cheap sweet spot AGP video card to play Call Of Duty UO with

[geoffkin]

I'm looking to buy a cheap AGP card to throw into my girlfriend's computer, so I can play Call Of Duty when I'm over there sometimes!
She has a Sony Vaio with 512 RAM and a 1.5 - P4 processor.
It already has an AGP 4x AGP Nvidia TNT2 M64, I'm guessing that's way too old to support the required DirectX 9.0b? RIGHT?
So could you suggest the cheapest/best card to look for? I'm guessing I could spend between $50 and $100 to get a decent card for this game?
THANKS!

 

[sisq0kidd]

In the For Sale/For Trade forum:

9800 Pro - $80 or less

6600gt - $110 or less

Those should handle that game just fine.

 

[RussianSensation]

If you just want to play call of duty 1, you dont need DX9 capable videocard. If you want to play call of duty 2, I dont think that p4 1.5 ghz 400mhz FSB will cut it. I would probably get:

$70 9700Pro 128mb

You can always spend a bit more and get say 6600GT but I doubt it's worth it given the processor.

 

[geoffkin]

I found these suggestions in another thread, sound about right?

$70 - ATI 9600Pro & XT or 9800SE. NV 6200. About the same performance as your ti4200, but will run DX9 games. 800x600, low quality, no eye candy, low frame rates.

$90 - 9700, 9800 Pro, 6600 AGP non-GT. Double the performance of the $60 category. Will run new games, just don't expect miracles. New games will run at 10x7, medium quality, low to no eye candy.

I'm guessing the computer only has 4X AGP, since that is what the card is that it came with? So are these still ok for only 4X AGP?

 

[geoffkin]

Just looking to play COD 1 with the expansion pack.
I heard COD 2 isn't worth it and I"m still stuck on multi-player COD 1 anyway!
Kinda leary to buy a used vid card, so looking for the best deal storewise probably.

 

[geoffkin]

Thanks for the suggestions you 2, that store bought one looks about right. Might look around for a better deal if it's possible to find..

 

[sisq0kidd]

Spend the extra $20 for the 9800 pro. Definately worth it over the 9600 series.

4x agp won't matter as the information passed won't even saturate that amount of available bandwidth offered. The card will just dumb down to 4x agp, which will have a negligible impact over 8x agp.

And COD 2 is definately worth it!

Edit: Oh and here's a 9800 pro for a decent price.

Edit 2: Newegg 9800 pro

 

[geoffkin]

I can always play COD 2 on my 2.4 & 1 gig rig at home. I just want to be able to play COD 1 at her place. Is the 9700 plenty for just COD 1 or should I go for the 9800 PRO?
What are those extra wires coming out of the PRO, are they standard, so this Vaio will have them in there ready to attach?
Since it's a Vaio, I'm sure it has a 300 watt power supply.

 

[mwmorph]

well i dont have direct exprience with COD1 on my 9800pro at xt, (I still had a geforce 2 then) but in Call of Futy 2 dx7 mode max everything, 4xaa, max af 1152x864 resolution it ran at a average of around 50fps. That should be comparable ot call of duty 1.

 

[geoffkin]

I am looking at this weekend's Fry's Ad and the have a 128 MB DDR GEFORCE FX 5200 8x AGP for only $30 after rebate! Would this WORK for COD 1? Doesn't have to be fastest, but at least very playable for me...?
I'm probably being too cheap, that's an OLD card huh? Before COD's time...

 

[Killrose]

Should'nt you really be doing something else when your over at your girlfriends house

 

[geoffkin]

HEHE, you can only do that so much! I'm over there even when she isn't man!!

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
If you just want to play call of duty 1, you dont need DX9 capable videocard. If you want to play call of duty 2, I dont think that p4 1.5 ghz 400mhz FSB will cut it. I would probably get:

$70 9700Pro 128mb

You can always spend a bit more and get say 6600GT but I doubt it's worth it given the processor.

That is not a PRO version. It is a 'P' version. Look at the memory interface, 64 bit!!!!

 

[geoffkin]

Good catch Surgeon! So I'm still wondering which card I should get, without getting too much card for this system...???

 

[v8envy]

I saw COD1 run on a mobility radeon 9000 on a Stinkpad. Looked fine to me. Doesn't appear like that game is very demanding.

FX5200 might even be enough.

But don't be such a cheapskate. Without searching too hard, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814153028

There you go, $55 shipped. That should do ya. Most of the game slowdowns will be due to the first generation P4 with no cache (probably with SDR ram too), not the graphics card.

 

[fliguy84]

Originally posted by: v8envy
I saw COD1 run on a mobility radeon 9000 on a Stinkpad. Looked fine to me. Doesn't appear like that game is very demanding.

FX5200 might even be enough.

that's right. i used to play cod1 with p4 2.4, 512mb ram and FX5200. i think i used almost max settings and it went just fine

 

[DAPUNISHER]

MSI 6200 Plenty for CoD, passively cooled, PureVideo and HDTV out, in case you or your GF want to also use it for MCE box or watch HD stuff on it, and it uses the 500mhz ram instead of the 400mhz on some of the 256mb models.

 

[Steelski]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102408

nice card.....maybee.....it will definatley work with COD
It even says it in the bottom review of the card on that page !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[geoffkin]

So many choices, hard to identify the card that will work fine for the least $.
Thinking of checking Egay...