It's time for me to upgrade my video card (my GeForce 3 Ti200's fan has gone out, giving me the perfect excuse). I usually buy video cards that are right in the mid-price-range (around $200). Right now, the 6600GT cards seem like the best value ever for a $200 card, so I'm eager to get one. However, the motherboard I bought only a year and a half ago supports AGP 4X only (1.5V). The guy at the hardware store said that the 6600GT would be completely bottlenecked by the AGP 4X, and therefore it wasn't worth getting. He suggested I get a GeForce 5700 or something that was only AGP 4X. However, those cards are around $150, and the 6600GT was on sale for $189. I hate to pay almost the same price for a card that isn't half as good. So my questions are:
1. Is it worth paying the price for a 6600GT when I can only support AGP 4X? Will a 5700 work just as well for me?
2. Or should I just give in, upgrade the relatively new motherboard to a PCI-Express board, or to a board that supports AGP 8X?
3. And can someone tell me how many volts the 6600GT takes? Is it a 1.5V card, or a 3.3V card? (My 845PE supports 1.5 only). And how much of a power supply should I have to run it?
I was trying to avoid upgrading the whole system since I just got the chip and motherboard last year. I just want to be able to play some of the latest stuff.
Thanks!
Michael
1. Is it worth paying the price for a 6600GT when I can only support AGP 4X? Will a 5700 work just as well for me?
2. Or should I just give in, upgrade the relatively new motherboard to a PCI-Express board, or to a board that supports AGP 8X?
3. And can someone tell me how many volts the 6600GT takes? Is it a 1.5V card, or a 3.3V card? (My 845PE supports 1.5 only). And how much of a power supply should I have to run it?
I was trying to avoid upgrading the whole system since I just got the chip and motherboard last year. I just want to be able to play some of the latest stuff.
Thanks!
Michael