Graphics card upgrade on old system ??

[trebor68]

Hi, I'm new to this forum, and hope to get some advice on what to do about this....

My nephew would like to upgrade his system for gaming. Here's his current setup:

Asus CUV4X mobo, 1 Ghz PIII Processor, AGP 4x
128 MB SDRAM (PC133)
32 MB ATI Graphics Card
(http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=314&page=3)

I know what you're thinking...scrap this and get a new system! But I'm looking for some affordable options. My initial thought was to upgrade the video card (nVidia or ATI) and add more RAM. But...from what I've been told, it seems like the only option that may improve performace is to go with a PCI Video Card (e.g. ATI Radeon 9250 PCI 256MB). Is this true? Would I be able to upgrade to an AGP card instead?

He does not need to have the latest and greatest, but wants to be able to play most 3d games.

Any guidance is appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[4W4K3]

Well, the best AGP card you can get is AGP 4X, and that won't play very many recent gamess.

Also, PC133 is incredibly slow, won't really matter if you get him 1GB, it's still not going to play today's games.

The 1GHz CPU...well same as the others.

What games does your nephew want to play? If it's recent stuff, i dont think ANY amount of ugrading on that machine will do the trick.

You might benefit from at least finding an Athlon XP system, 1.8GHz, 512MB PC2100, Radeon 9200. Very cheap.

 

[Dark_Sniper*]

if you cant build all i can say is, get like a 256mb of ram and a new vga card like a 5500 of Geforce, or a ATi 9200.

 

[Trotter]

Look at the system in my sig. I can play Half-Life 2 on it, and play it pretty dog-gone well, too.

You don't need a powerhouse, but you need a little more than you've got.

 

[FghtinIrshNvrDi]

I agree. The market on Athlon XP's are awesomely affordable. They're good, solid machines and will get the job done. A nice AGP video card will do the trick too. You can get by for around 500 dollars I bet if you reuse some optical devices and hard drives. Heck, you can even get an 80 gig HD for around 50-60 bucks.

Ryan

 

[4W4K3]

I agree. The market on Athlon XP's are awesomely affordable. They're good, solid machines and will get the job done. A nice AGP video card will do the trick too. You can get by for around 500 dollars I bet if you reuse some optical devices and hard drives. Heck, you can even get an 80 gig HD for around 50-60 bucks.

Ryan

I built an entire Athlong XP machine and purchased Windows XP Home for under $400. XP2400+ mobile, 512MB PC3200, 128MB AGP integrated, 80GB WD HDD, Abit NF7-M motherboard. works great. Can easily stick in a 9600PRO or sumthin.

 

[Mr. Switch]

yeah, no matter what, that processor won't meet the reqirements of most games released this past year. far cry requires a 1.3GHz, and i've seen it on that processor and a 9600 pro, and it wasn't pretty, it had to be run on the lowest. F.E.A.R needs almost double the speed of that P3. Even if you can get a 6800GT in that system, framerates will still be crap because the processor, and RAM will be holding it down.

 

[Trotter]

AN x4 mobo can run an x8 card, but only at x4. It can't use it to its full advantage, but it can run it. It would just be a waste of money...

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

AN x4 mobo can run an x8 card, but only at x4. It can't use it to its full advantage, but it can run it. It would just be a waste of money...

If you search for AGP 4x vs AGP 8x, you find my benchmark thread comparing AGP 4x and 8x with a 6600GT.

End result is, no difference.

 

[Trotter]

Cool.