A veteran needs help choosing an AGP card.X1950 the way to go?

[Brwmogazos]

Hello guys..been ages since i stopped overclocking etc eheh found new hobbyes now ehhe.

Ok my rig is a few years old now.

Prescott 3.4 D0 (was clocked at 5202mhz on a mach 2 GT) watercooled running at stock.(might install the mach 2 gt again sometime)

1gb ocz 3700eb memory

Abit IC7 MAX3

OCZ powerstream 520W

15k scsi etc etc

AND....a sapphire 9800pro flashed to XT.

I recently started playing some games and i can see my rig cant keep up .

for example i just installed silent hunter 4 today and man...my rig cannot play that game. i get very little fps and lowered my resolution but still...

test drive un limited works fine @ 1024 768 even though my tft should operate at 1280x1024

Therefore tha time has come to get a new graphics i guess as its the slowest part in my rig which i wanna keep for another say 2 years without upgrading.

Please reccomend me a new graphics card... AGP though

since 2004 things have changed a lot and i didnt keep up with all the new gear.

so i really havent got a clue which gfx card would be a good one to buy...

i dont live in the uk any more so i havent got too many choises...

I am thinking of getting an X1950....and spending arround 240 euros

the new nvidias are more expensive and i think they aint worth the extra cost?

X1950 PRO or X1950 XT?

256mb or 512mb?

few weeks ago i found the GE CUBE X1950XT (TEC version cooled) 256 for 240 euros but it has been removed from that website.

I suppose the best option is the x1950 xt?

does the ram memory make any difference in todays games?

Please reccomend me a new graphics card.

Some of the available cards i can buy are:

GECUBE RADEON X1950PRO 256MB AGP RETAIL 182.61 €

XPERTVISION RADEON RX1950GT SUPER 512MB AGP RETAIL 188.75 €

POWERCOLOR RADEON RX1950PRO AC 256MB AGP RETAIL 220.86 €

SAPPHIRE ATI X1950PRO 512MB AGP RETAIL 223.40 €

MSI RX1950PRO-T2D256 256MB AGP RETAIL 229.86 €

GECUBE X1950XT 256 (TEC Cooled) out of stock (used to be 240 euros)

(most of the are the PRO versions...the XTs are freaking expensive )

then its all nvidia with higher prices...

Sorry for the long post...been a while

 

[K404]

I`d go with a 512MB card...helps with higher res and takes some strain off the system RAM I *think* though..it depends on the game. I`m not well up on ATI cards so I dont know the differences between GT and Pro, sorry.

XPERTVISION RADEON RX1950GT SUPER 512MB AGP RETAIL 188.75 €

SAPPHIRE ATI X1950PRO 512MB AGP RETAIL 223.40 €

Just my thoughts though! Not gospel

 

[Brwmogazos]

well the resolutions i am using are 1280 x 1024

thats the max of my 19" samsung tft. and i turn all the eye candy off(9800 )

will the extra ram make the difference? @ 1280 x 1024?

 

[K404]

Maybe better image quality options? E.G. Doom3 "ultra high quality" used uncompressed textures which gave the GDDR a fair kicking

 

[maverik-sg1]

Just so you know there will be some DirectX 10 AGP cards coming out soon - some of which are quite the performer (keep looking at the AMD/ati solutions though).

Mav

PS: Really good to see one of the founder members return here.

 

[Psykotik]

Hey Dimi, nice to see you about again I'm in the same boat, although I managed to kil my Mach II rig and haven't bothered upgrading since then. I'm using an old NF7 and Mobile Athlon 2500 now!

 

[Brwmogazos]

Hehe thanx guys...

am about to start working in my profesion here...so along with some proper income, a new pc may come who knows...

Maverik mate...yeah i read something about it yesterday and i decided to wait a bit...silent hunter 4 can wait for a few months hehe...

Psykotik mate...my mach 2 gt broke down a few months ago...i made a few posts about it and as i powered it up again after many moths it started working without probs...still i couldnt be bothered installing it in my rig which i is watercooled with waterchill now...but i am really tempted to get back in action...but i will have to volt mod my IC7 MAX 3 and find the limits of that very good chip i bought a few years ago

hehe...time will tell...only prob is that my mach 2 gt cannot be used with new sockets...i got the 478 socket kit and a brand new 939 which i never used...

so no more phase change fun days for me when i uprgade...+ i thought of selling the unit in 2004 when i came back to greece+ i had someone interested but i just couldnt give my unit away so easy...so i am stuck with it now

I cant say my rig is slow...i dont have such a problem...its just my graphics which is really a bottleneck for my pc i suppose..and i think upgrading the card will keep me happy for another 2 years for example...

thanks for the feedback