Please Help With Upgrade

[AntonOle]

My PC is an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.00Ghz with 1GB Ram.

I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (128MB)


When i play games the PC is ok but when i try to play the latest games with heavier graphics then the pc gets slow

I am going to buy an Nvidia GeForce 7950 GX2 (1GB)

Will this card be enough for me to play good games smoothly?

Will an additional 1GB Ram (To make it 2GB for my Sytem) make it even smoother?

Please let me know on this (espesially about the card)

Thanks

 

[veg1992]

the card would we the best upgrade... but its a matter of bottlenecking on ur system tho..... plus i don't think the 7950 gx2 is available on AGP... either way go for a x1950pro or GT they are both on AGP too still a matter of the bottleneck but doing both is good for optimal performance

 

[AntonOle]

what is an AGP? wouldnt the nvidia i mentioned be compatible to my system?

 

[Sora]

AGP is the interface that your motherboard i think uses. There are 3 different types of slots for graphics cards

Plain PCI Slots which have the lowest performance cards in them
AGP Slots which can offer some very high powered gaming but it's more expensive becuase it's an older interface...the highest offered in it is an X1950XT which are powerful cards but for apretty penny.

PCI-E is the newest and most new cards support them and they are what offer the best price/performance ratio.

Your CPU isn't "bad" at all really and 1GB is ok so upgrade your video card with an AGP card.

 

[jonny_uk]

what he was trying to say is, with your processer it might not be the slowest one but you probably wont get the full potential of a 7950GX2 unless you have a faster processor, even with 2 gigs of ram.
Id save abit of money and get something like a 7900GT(256MB) and then get another gig of ram with the money you save on the gpu.
There are 7900 GT's available in AGP

 

[Sora]

Well 2 gigs would always help but 1GB is plenty for medium gaming as a lot of games don't see more than a 5-10% increase over 1GB of ram....suprreme commander is one of them.

I would say get a 7900GS or if you want to go all the way an X1950XT. Still the 7900GS would better fit your system, don't cost as much and can be overclocked nicely.

 

[AntonOle]

Guys, id just like to inform you that my motherboard supports both PCI,PCI Express and AGP slots..

Under these circustamces ( read my pc specs above ) which card would you advise me to get for maximum quality with no lags and problems?

Thanks

 

[b1gapl]

I agree with Sora on the 7900GS. Get the PCI-e, since you said your motherboard supports it. And if you can afford, an additional gig of ram will be nice.

 

[AntonOle]

my power supply is 400wat , wont have any problem right?

Also why shouldnt i get the 7900GTX or even a 7950 model? Will it not make a difference on my pc?

 

[b1gapl]

Because the 7900GS is a very good graphic card for it's price. It's cheap and can overclock to GT speeds.

400w is fine, as long as you have a PCI-e power connector, and enough amps. What is your PSU?