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Need a Budget AGP Card For CS Source etc..

Soldato
Joined
7 Oct 2003
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5,686
Location
Nottingham
A friend as asked me to upgrade is machine so he can play CS Source, DOD Source and HL2 Deathmatch and thats about all he will be doing with it. Problem is he as only got £80 to spend and is system is a Athlon 1800XP, 512mb Ram and a GF4 MX.

I'm guessing the best place to spend his money will be on a new graphics card but to be honest i don't know much about this end of the market! So what i'm basicly asking is, what is the best AGP video card he can get for is budget that will allow him to play Source games?

Also he only as a Athlon 1800xp so will this be a bottleneck for some of the better cards like the X1600 Pro?

Thanks
 
Soldato
Joined
24 Dec 2004
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11,353
Location
Knowle, Solihull, UK
The CPU will be a bottneck for most of the cards out at the moment really. CS:S favours ATI cards so I'd go for one of those

The X1600Pro is a good card for the price. For £80 ish he should be able to find an X700Pro too which is a little slower but still plenty for what he needs
 
Soldato
OP
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5,686
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Nottingham
Would this - HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon 9550 256MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (AGP) be good enough for his needs?

The resolution he runs games at is 1024x768 btw
 
Associate
Joined
17 Aug 2004
Posts
1,777
Tell him that the 1st mistake he made was his purchase of a GF4 MX and that the 2nd was installing it, IMO a 9600pro/xt would be his minimum choice (if he can find one).

His eyes will begin to open once he rids his machine of that paperweight!!

nVidia robbed sooo many people with that trash :(

Sometimes its cruel to be kind...................
 
Soldato
OP
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5,686
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But would a 9550 be good enough fro what he wants and how much better would it be than his GF4? I ask because they seem a bit of a bargain with 256mb of ram for about £40

Also i think the Athlon 1800xp will be too much of a bottleneck for a card like a X800 pro am i right?
 
Soldato
Joined
24 Dec 2004
Posts
11,353
Location
Knowle, Solihull, UK
Yep - the Athlon XP will be a huge bottleneck for the X800Pro

The 9550 is a good card, and for the money one of the best options if he wants a new card. Second hand he could get a 9700Pro for the same price and a 9800Pro for a little more

It would be a lot better than the GF4 MX - this was never a good card really and it only has DX7 hardware against DX9 for the 9550.

Just make sure you don't get the 9550SE as the 64-bit memory interface cripples the performance of the card :)
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Aug 2005
Posts
4,297
ajgoodfellow said:
The 9550 is a good card, and for the money one of the best options if he wants a new card.

Considering the system, would agree with this statement.

Soemthing like ...

HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon 9550 256MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - Retail (R9550-TDW256-C) (GX-010-HT) £45.77 Including VAT

HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon 9550 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - Retail (R9550-TDW128-C) (GX-009-HT) £39.89 Including VAT
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
7 Oct 2003
Posts
5,686
Location
Nottingham
Thanks for all your help guys

I've decided to get him a PowerColor Radeon 9550 256MB for £44 (local shop) and i'll install it on monday along with a full system re-install.

I opted for this card over a 9800pro etc quite simply to save him money and as long as he can play his games at 1024x768 with medium settings for the next 10 months he will be happy.

Fingers crossed it will lol
 
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