Upgrade From GF3 Ti200 To What?

[fade2black]

I enjoy playing games occassionaly, but I have been out of the loop for a while ..

I recently bought HL2, Farcry and Halo for the PC.

I was shocked to see that only Halo played on my PC (only 800x600 had acceptable frame rate).

HL2 and Farcry refused to play on my GF3 Ti200 (I have an AMD 2000+ CPU and an AGP motherboard and 512 MB RAM). [Ya, I did not read the specs on the game boxes as I snagged them at Circuit City and CompUsa for cheap.]

I knew I was behind the curve, but didn't know that my rig is almost obsolete.

I enjoy FPS and Flight Sims (like IL2, FS2004). I don't need to play at very high resolutions, but smooth framerates and good rendering at moderate resolutions are needed.

My budget is $200 ~ $230.

At this price point, the refurb X800 XT from ATI seems to have maximum bang for the buck (I have been reading these forums, you see ).

Should I go ahead, or are there any other AGP cards to consider? Do you guys think there is further possiblilty of price drops as the 7800 GT just came out (pushing the middle level cards lower in price)?

Help me come out of my cave!!

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

anything from the 6800 line. Even a 6800LE AGP if you can lucky can unlock and OC to 6800GT levels.

 

[nitromullet]

You really should start thinking about upgrading your entire system.

Here would not be a bad place to start looking.

 

[Powermoloch]

a refurb X800XT is a good choice atm

 

[Powermoloch]

Originally posted by: nitromullet
You really should start thinking about upgrading your entire system.

Here would not be a bad place to start looking.

looks like a sweet deal man..I wish I could grab it and buy it, but no $$$ to spare

 

[MBrown]

Looks like you need a new system but a 6800gt will help. I dont know if the CPU is going to be a bottleneck or not. 1gb of ram is a must as well. might as well get 2gb

 

[AnnoyedGrunt]

If you don't need high rez, but instead want smooth play @ medium rez, then you will probably need to do a full system upgrade.

I had an XP 1800+ and after two years upgraded from a GF3 Ti200 to a 9700pro, but it didn't make much of a difference in the newer games (FarCry, Doom3, Halo). Call of Duty got a nice improevement, but the rest were still too slow due to the CPU.

A year after I got the 9700pro, (when the Xp 1800+ was 3 years old), I got an A64 3200+ and an X800XL (PCIe).

Now I can play very nicely at medium resolutions and at realtively high resolutions as well.

I know it's expensive to get a new Mobo and CPU (and probably RAM), but it may be worth it for you.

Anyhow, for a video card, the X800, 6600GT, and 6800 are all good choices IMO.

-D'oh!

 

[BobDaMenkey]

I'd personally grab a 6800, or 6800LE and snag an extra 512mb of memory, then save for an AGP socket 754 or 939 mobo and processor (2800-3200).

Your rig is seriously dated, heh.

 

[GrayWolf5]

I just upgraded from a Geforce 3 TI200 --- got the PNY 6800nu --- $159 at NewEgg.
Unlocked no problems - not overclocking yet
P4 2.4 Prescott

3DMark03 score - 9666

Buy something like this and save the rest of the money for other upgrades.

 

[sundev]

If you sell your Ti200 and XP 2000+, you'll get what.. maybe $75 (guessing). That would make your upgrade budget around $300.

I would get a 6600GT ($150), and upgrade that processor to a XP 2800+ or 3000+ ($100ish). Then with the leftover $50 get another 512MB RAM, and you'll have a decent setup to play FarCry, Doom3, and HL2 on medium/high settings.

Best of all, all of those prices are for NEW components. If you look for used parts, you might be able to get 6800 instead of the 6600GT.

Then, immediately start saving for a full system upgrade . Seriously though, $300 to upgrade to an AXP 3000+, GeForce 6800, and 1GB RAM is pretty good.

 

[imported_Truenofan]

yeah the x800xl pci-e is good, and unlike how that guy says snag a 512 card, they really dont show improvement, so stick with a 256, anandtech did a review on a radeon 512, and it didnt show jack for improvement, i would assume the 6800gt 512 does the same. and yeah you comp is pretty outdated, i had a xp 3200 runnin hl2 with a 9550, instead of just upgrading my video card, i knew it was time to upgrade my whole comp because of all the new athlon 64 cpus' goin on, i would also suggest a socket 939, i dont belive many cpus are going to the 754 anymore, but that might be me missing stuff. i myself before i upgrade again, im waiting till a board supports the x2 64's and crossfire from ati, crossfire seems to be way better than sli from ati since two x850xt'sin crossfire almost beat a single 7800 and beat 6800gt's in sli, in hl2 they were almost on par with two 7800GTX's in sli(and if your doubting me). http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2477&p=6 so if hl2 is a big game for you, dont go all out quite yet, and wait for the new stuff to come out.

 

[Munky]

You definitely need at least a gig of ram to play modern games smoothly. Also, get a dx9 card, but dont get an expensive one, because you have AGP, and when you decide to get a new system, you'd probably want to get PCIE, so you wont be able to keep the card for long if that's your plan. Get a 6600gt, those are decent cards and go for around $150.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: sundevb
I would get a 6600GT ($150), and upgrade that processor to a XP 2800+ or 3000+ ($100ish). Then with the leftover $50 get another 512MB RAM, and you'll have a decent setup to play FarCry, Doom3, and HL2 on medium/high settings.

That's a very good plan.

- M4H

 

[blckgrffn]

I would try to move it all, especially if you have non DDR400 ram right now.

Basically, socket754 is the best route for you to go IMHO. For instance, there is a 3200+ for sale in the forums for $125. Get a NF4 board @ the egg for about $75 and a gig of DDR400 for $80. Now, I know that just shot you budget, but guess what! You sold all your other stuff and got ~$125 for it. Since you now have about $145 to spend on a PCIe card, you can get a 6600GT and be on your merry way, and games will be much better than if you had just bought the x800xt. Further more, just buying the right 6600 along with the rest of those parts will still net you a HUGE gain and can be had for ~$100.

Good luck

 

[Budarow]

Get the ATI.com special X800XT PE or the X800Pro....VERY initial results seem to suggest these are NEW cards which carry ATI's 3 year warranty. I don't think this deal will be available much longer though so you may want to make a decision soon. IMO.

Bud

 

[Rage187]

if you arent planning on upgrading the whole system, then I would get a 6600GT, anything else is going to be so limited by your rig.

 

[blckgrffn]

Originally posted by: Rage187
if you arent planning on upgrading the whole system, then I would get a 6600GT, anything else is going to be so limited by your rig.

Yep.

Consider the $125 3000+ at ewiz and a cheap 939 board in PCIe flavor + 6600/6600GT. Great bang for the buck Or a vanilla x800 if you go jump through rebate hoops

Nat

 

[thegimp03]

With that system it wouldn't be a great idea to upgrade to an x800xt. You won't see much performance improvement at all since that videocard would be severely bottlenecked by the 2000+ processor.

sundevb has probably the best solution, and would provide the most bang for the buck in the end.

 

[fade2black]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.. it looks like I have to upgrade my entire rig and not just the video card.

 

[blckgrffn]

Sorry to say it, but yes Get completely clear of the XP line if you can do so, for gaming an A64 is nearly impossible to beat at this point, regardless of the flavor or speed you get it in.

Nat