Upgrade question.

I am currently running an AMD XP 2100 with a Gforce 4 Ti4200 and 512 mb ram. I have a chance to get a 7800GS agp video card. Will it work okay with my computer? I play Nascar 2003, GP legends, F1 challenge and now GT legends. Will my cpu be a big hang up? I plan on doing a big upgrade after the first of the year. I figured you folks could give me the best answers. Thanks!

On 31 Jul 2006 18:42:27 -0700, "Brian" <[email hidden]> wrote: >I am currently running an AMD XP 2100 with a Gforce 4 Ti4200 and 512 mb >ram. I have a chance to get a 7800GS agp video card. Will it work okay >with my computer? I play Nascar 2003, GP legends, F1 challenge and now >GT legends. Will my cpu be a big hang up? I plan on doing a big upgrade >after the first of the year. I figured you folks could give me the best >answers. Thanks! One of my concerns would be that by investing in an AGP card you're going to limit yourself to an AGP motherboard when you do your upgrade vs a PCI express slot. You should see a small increase with the 7800, but not a lot. Unless you're getting a great deal on the card I would consider doing the video when you do the major upgrade.

TW is right about the buy AGP now or get PCIe ONLY is a delemma for many reasons, unless money is a factor... But there is a lot more money to spend than they think, to get into a PCIe board and vid card maybe not for you Brian? My 1st thougth was, How high can you take that motherboard Processor wise? (what socket is the AMD?) modest investment in that chip along with the vid card, you could get by a while (much like I hope to with my Wintel machine) But the wintell I have is crap, 2.4 ghz 533fsb, socket 478, only better processor I can find for mine right now is a 2.7 or so. for about 150... Secondly, to say you wont see much with the 7800gs (256 meg) is somewhat misguided IMHO. TW is right that the similiarly priced PCIe versions are better and faster by oh about at most 10% I think it was . But do you buy a 300 dollar card, for a dead end system? On ebay though, the 7800gs's (agp) are fetching just over 200 bucks on average where reatails is nearer to 300. so dollar wise or pound foolish? My trap is, that if I bought a new motherboard, Im gonna get a faster cpu, & ram (plus more of it) or I aint moving anywhere... I figured my motherboard & chip (4400+ which may or may not go down in price soon with AMD's announcement soon) setup I picked out was going to run me a minimum of $515 us, plus I need a gfx card, and ram for it, becuase it was not agp and only think I can xfer to it would be a HD and DVD burners. But Asrock (http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/09/16/asrock_939dual/page2.html) has a decent board board that has BOTH agp & pci-e for the 939 AMD chips. I was up to 320 with decent chip and $74 shipped (neweg {showing outof stock btw as I post this}) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081&ATT=13-157-081&CMP=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r) But maybe your processor and ram will fit into this board? It might be a decent upgrade path for you... upgrade a little bit as you feel you have the cash? My reasoning: I can get the AGP not so expensinve now, as everyone is abandoning it. get the Asrock a little later, with better CPU and use my AGP card in it for a while, then move up to like the 7950 (pcie) or something as the 8800 come out? hell I dont know, lots of speculation I admit, I guess... TW enlightened us with:

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> On 31 Jul 2006 18:42:27 -0700, "Brian" <[email hidden]> wrote: > >> I am currently running an AMD XP 2100 with a Gforce 4 Ti4200 and 512 >> mb ram. I have a chance to get a 7800GS agp video card. Will it work >> okay with my computer? I play Nascar 2003, GP legends, F1 challenge >> and now GT legends. Will my cpu be a big hang up? I plan on doing a >> big upgrade after the first of the year. I figured you folks could >> give me the best answers. Thanks! > > One of my concerns would be that by investing in an AGP card you're > going to limit yourself to an AGP motherboard when you do your upgrade > vs a PCI express slot. You should see a small increase with the 7800, > but not a lot. Unless you're getting a great deal on the card I would > consider doing the video when you do the major upgrade.

PlowBoy wrote:

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> TW is right about the buy AGP now or get PCIe ONLY is a delemma for many > reasons, unless money is a factor... But there is a lot more money to spend > than they think, to get into a PCIe board and vid card maybe not for you > Brian? > > My 1st thougth was, How high can you take that motherboard Processor wise? > (what socket is the AMD?) modest investment in that chip along with the > vid card, you could get by a while (much like I hope to with my Wintel > machine) But the wintell I have is crap, 2.4 ghz 533fsb, socket 478, only > better processor I can find for mine right now is a 2.7 or so. for about > 150... > > Secondly, to say you wont see much with the 7800gs (256 meg) is somewhat > misguided IMHO. TW is right that the similiarly priced PCIe versions are > better and faster by oh about at most 10% I think it was . But do you buy a > 300 dollar card, for a dead end system? On ebay though, the 7800gs's (agp) > are fetching just over 200 bucks on average where reatails is nearer to 300. > so dollar wise or pound foolish? > > My trap is, that if I bought a new motherboard, Im gonna get a faster cpu, & > ram (plus more of it) or I aint moving anywhere... I figured my motherboard > & chip (4400+ which may or may not go down in price soon with AMD's > announcement soon) setup I picked out was going to run me a minimum of $515 > us, plus I need a gfx card, and ram for it, becuase it was not agp and only > think I can xfer to it would be a HD and DVD burners. > > But Asrock > (http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/09/16/asrock_939dual/page2.html) > has a decent board board that has BOTH agp & pci-e for the 939 AMD chips. I > was up to 320 with decent chip and $74 shipped (neweg {showing outof stock > btw as I post this}) > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081&ATT=13-157-081&CMP=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r) > > But maybe your processor and ram will fit into this board? It might be a > decent upgrade path for you... upgrade a little bit as you feel you have > the cash? > > My reasoning: I can get the AGP not so expensinve now, as everyone is > abandoning it. get the Asrock a little later, with better CPU and use my > AGP card in it for a while, then move up to like the 7950 (pcie) or > something as the 8800 come out? hell I dont know, lots of speculation I > admit, I guess... > > > TW enlightened us with: > > On 31 Jul 2006 18:42:27 -0700, "Brian" <[email hidden]> wrote: > > > >> I am currently running an AMD XP 2100 with a Gforce 4 Ti4200 and 512 > >> mb ram. I have a chance to get a 7800GS agp video card. Will it work > >> okay with my computer? I play Nascar 2003, GP legends, F1 challenge > >> and now GT legends. Will my cpu be a big hang up? I plan on doing a > >> big upgrade after the first of the year. I figured you folks could > >> give me the best answers. Thanks! > > > > One of my concerns would be that by investing in an AGP card you're > > going to limit yourself to an AGP motherboard when you do your upgrade > > vs a PCI express slot. You should see a small increase with the 7800, > > but not a lot. Unless you're getting a great deal on the card I would > > consider doing the video when you do the major upgrade.

Actually I will only be paying about $125 for the vid card, afreind has up graded to an Intel 805 with DDR2 and PCIE. I was hoping to limp by for another 6 months or so before figuring out if I should continue with AMD and get an AMD2 mobo with DDR2 or go to Intel. Their new cpus are pretty impressive. My current mobo is a MSI K7N2. I have had my set up for 3 1/2 years. If i have to spend any more to make the 7800gs work I probably wont do it.

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> Actually I will only be paying about $125 for the vid card, afreind > has up graded to an Intel 805 with DDR2 and PCIE. I was hoping to > limp by for another 6 months or so before figuring out if I should > continue with AMD and get an AMD2 mobo with DDR2 or go to Intel. > Their new cpus are pretty impressive. My current mobo is a MSI K7N2. > I have had my set up for 3 1/2 years. If i have to spend any more to > make the 7800gs work I probably wont do it.

Well, you are getting off even cheaper than me and others... I wouldnt bat an eye at trying it. I bet you you will see a Decent amount of improvements. If not, Ill buy it from ya!!! But in my original reply, I was pointing out, that 2 other small incremental (money wise) improvements, CPU & definitelymore memory for existing system, could gain you even more (satisfaction/time?) Again, I am just discussing because you were talking about something I been trying to work out myself now for a month... Im a cheap & old bastard nowdays... And it is all in perception and how much money you are willing to spend to achieve a performance level. you see, I hate like hell to spend hard to find $$ to not improve my situation, let alone have to spend it again (when I want to upgrade) but mostly I dont want to spend more than I have to RIGHT now as I been saving up... fair enough? So to improve My situation a lot, would seemingly cost me about 5-800 bucks with 250 or more pci vid card, 150 or so motherboard, 260 or more processor & minimum of 100 in memory (and then I still need a powersupply, I will reuse my case). But for 200 bucks that the gs is costing me, I think I can still call it a step in the right direction, later buy the motherboard that takes my AGP card & the newer processor... all wont be all bad, just not as good as some would suggest, which entails spending the biger bucks?

"Brian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> > PlowBoy wrote: >> TW is right about the buy AGP now or get PCIe ONLY is a delemma for many >> reasons, unless money is a factor... But there is a lot more money to >> spend >> than they think, to get into a PCIe board and vid card maybe not for you >> Brian? >> >> My 1st thougth was, How high can you take that motherboard Processor >> wise? >> (what socket is the AMD?) modest investment in that chip along with the >> vid card, you could get by a while (much like I hope to with my Wintel >> machine) But the wintell I have is crap, 2.4 ghz 533fsb, socket 478, >> only >> better processor I can find for mine right now is a 2.7 or so. for about >> 150... >> >> Secondly, to say you wont see much with the 7800gs (256 meg) is somewhat >> misguided IMHO. TW is right that the similiarly priced PCIe versions >> are >> better and faster by oh about at most 10% I think it was . But do you >> buy a >> 300 dollar card, for a dead end system? On ebay though, the 7800gs's >> (agp) >> are fetching just over 200 bucks on average where reatails is nearer to >> 300. >> so dollar wise or pound foolish? >> >> My trap is, that if I bought a new motherboard, Im gonna get a faster >> cpu, & >> ram (plus more of it) or I aint moving anywhere... I figured my >> motherboard >> & chip (4400+ which may or may not go down in price soon with AMD's >> announcement soon) setup I picked out was going to run me a minimum of >> $515 >> us, plus I need a gfx card, and ram for it, becuase it was not agp and >> only >> think I can xfer to it would be a HD and DVD burners. >> >> But Asrock >> (http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/09/16/asrock_939dual/page2.html) >> has a decent board board that has BOTH agp & pci-e for the 939 AMD chips. >> I >> was up to 320 with decent chip and $74 shipped (neweg {showing outof >> stock >> btw as I post this}) >> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081&ATT=13-157-081&CMP=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r) >> >> But maybe your processor and ram will fit into this board? It might be a >> decent upgrade path for you... upgrade a little bit as you feel you have >> the cash? >> >> My reasoning: I can get the AGP not so expensinve now, as everyone is >> abandoning it. get the Asrock a little later, with better CPU and use my >> AGP card in it for a while, then move up to like the 7950 (pcie) or >> something as the 8800 come out? hell I dont know, lots of speculation I >> admit, I guess... >> >> >> TW enlightened us with: >> > On 31 Jul 2006 18:42:27 -0700, "Brian" <[email hidden]> wrote: >> > >> >> I am currently running an AMD XP 2100 with a Gforce 4 Ti4200 and 512 >> >> mb ram. I have a chance to get a 7800GS agp video card. Will it work >> >> okay with my computer? I play Nascar 2003, GP legends, F1 challenge >> >> and now GT legends. Will my cpu be a big hang up? I plan on doing a >> >> big upgrade after the first of the year. I figured you folks could >> >> give me the best answers. Thanks! >> > >> > One of my concerns would be that by investing in an AGP card you're >> > going to limit yourself to an AGP motherboard when you do your upgrade >> > vs a PCI express slot. You should see a small increase with the 7800, >> > but not a lot. Unless you're getting a great deal on the card I would >> > consider doing the video when you do the major upgrade. > > > Actually I will only be paying about $125 for the vid card, afreind has > up graded to an Intel 805 with DDR2 and PCIE. I was hoping to limp by > for another 6 months or so before figuring out if I should continue > with AMD and get an AMD2 mobo with DDR2 or go to Intel. Their new cpus > are pretty impressive. My current mobo is a MSI K7N2. I have had my set > up for 3 1/2 years. If i have to spend any more to make the 7800gs work > I probably wont do it. >

Buy the card, it's an absolute steal at that price. I bought one (7800 GS AGP) this week and saw my benchmarks more than quadruple from my previous 6200 (which had been a cheap and modest upgrade from a 4600). One thing though, it is pretty power hungry, my 400 watt PSU with 15 amp on the 12V rail was being tripped on a heavy load and was shutting down the system instantaneously, a few others are getting a similar problem. An inexpensive 550W, 30 amp PSU has fixed the problem. DavidD.

Thanks for that info about PSU, I think mine is a 450, maybe it will keep up? but at least I wont suspect something else if this happens either... DD wrote:

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> "Brian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... >> >> PlowBoy wrote: >>> TW is right about the buy AGP now or get PCIe ONLY is a delemma for >>> many reasons, unless money is a factor... But there is a lot more >>> money to spend >>> than they think, to get into a PCIe board and vid card maybe not >>> for you Brian? >>> >>> My 1st thougth was, How high can you take that motherboard Processor >>> wise? >>> (what socket is the AMD?) modest investment in that chip along >>> with the vid card, you could get by a while (much like I hope to >>> with my Wintel machine) But the wintell I have is crap, 2.4 ghz >>> 533fsb, socket 478, only >>> better processor I can find for mine right now is a 2.7 or so. for >>> about 150... >>> >>> Secondly, to say you wont see much with the 7800gs (256 meg) is >>> somewhat misguided IMHO. TW is right that the similiarly priced >>> PCIe versions are >>> better and faster by oh about at most 10% I think it was . But do >>> you buy a >>> 300 dollar card, for a dead end system? On ebay though, the 7800gs's >>> (agp) >>> are fetching just over 200 bucks on average where reatails is >>> nearer to 300. >>> so dollar wise or pound foolish? >>> >>> My trap is, that if I bought a new motherboard, Im gonna get a >>> faster cpu, & >>> ram (plus more of it) or I aint moving anywhere... I figured my >>> motherboard >>> & chip (4400+ which may or may not go down in price soon with AMD's >>> announcement soon) setup I picked out was going to run me a minimum >>> of $515 >>> us, plus I need a gfx card, and ram for it, becuase it was not agp >>> and only >>> think I can xfer to it would be a HD and DVD burners. >>> >>> But Asrock >>> (http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/09/16/asrock_939dual/page2.html) >>> has a decent board board that has BOTH agp & pci-e for the 939 AMD >>> chips. I >>> was up to 320 with decent chip and $74 shipped (neweg {showing outof >>> stock >>> btw as I post this}) >>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081&ATT=13-157-081&CMP=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r) >>> >>> But maybe your processor and ram will fit into this board? It >>> might be a decent upgrade path for you... upgrade a little bit as >>> you feel you have the cash? >>> >>> My reasoning: I can get the AGP not so expensinve now, as everyone >>> is abandoning it. get the Asrock a little later, with better CPU >>> and use my AGP card in it for a while, then move up to like the >>> 7950 (pcie) or something as the 8800 come out? hell I dont know, >>> lots of speculation I admit, I guess... >>> >>> >>> TW enlightened us with: >>>> On 31 Jul 2006 18:42:27 -0700, "Brian" <[email hidden]> >>>> wrote: >>>>> I am currently running an AMD XP 2100 with a Gforce 4 Ti4200 and >>>>> 512 mb ram. I have a chance to get a 7800GS agp video card. Will >>>>> it work okay with my computer? I play Nascar 2003, GP legends, F1 >>>>> challenge and now GT legends. Will my cpu be a big hang up? I >>>>> plan on doing a big upgrade after the first of the year. I >>>>> figured you folks could give me the best answers. Thanks! >>>> >>>> One of my concerns would be that by investing in an AGP card you're >>>> going to limit yourself to an AGP motherboard when you do your >>>> upgrade vs a PCI express slot. You should see a small increase >>>> with the 7800, but not a lot. Unless you're getting a great deal >>>> on the card I would consider doing the video when you do the major >>>> upgrade. >> >> >> Actually I will only be paying about $125 for the vid card, afreind >> has up graded to an Intel 805 with DDR2 and PCIE. I was hoping to >> limp by for another 6 months or so before figuring out if I should >> continue with AMD and get an AMD2 mobo with DDR2 or go to Intel. >> Their new cpus are pretty impressive. My current mobo is a MSI K7N2. >> I have had my set up for 3 1/2 years. If i have to spend any more to >> make the 7800gs work I probably wont do it. >> > > Buy the card, it's an absolute steal at that price. I bought one > (7800 GS AGP) this week and saw my benchmarks more than quadruple > from my previous 6200 (which had been a cheap and modest upgrade from > a 4600). One thing though, it is pretty power hungry, my 400 watt PSU > with 15 amp on the 12V rail was being tripped on a heavy load and was > shutting down the system instantaneously, a few others are getting a > similar problem. An inexpensive 550W, 30 amp PSU has fixed the > problem. > DavidD.

Brian wrote:

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> PlowBoy wrote: > >>TW is right about the buy AGP now or get PCIe ONLY is a delemma for many >>reasons, unless money is a factor... But there is a lot more money to spend >>than they think, to get into a PCIe board and vid card maybe not for you >>Brian? >> >>My 1st thougth was, How high can you take that motherboard Processor wise? >>(what socket is the AMD?) modest investment in that chip along with the >>vid card, you could get by a while (much like I hope to with my Wintel >>machine) > Actually I will only be paying about $125 for the vid card, afreind has > up graded to an Intel 805 with DDR2 and PCIE. I was hoping to limp by > for another 6 months or so before figuring out if I should continue > with AMD and get an AMD2 mobo with DDR2 or go to Intel. Their new cpus > are pretty impressive. My current mobo is a MSI K7N2. I have had my set > up for 3 1/2 years. If i have to spend any more to make the 7800gs work > I probably wont do it.

For another $60 or so, you could grab a used (they're almost impossible to fine new) mobile barton on *bay or elsewhere. Most will hit ~2.3GHz on air with a mild voltage boost to 1.6 or so. This, along with your new vidcard, would give your system a good kick in the pants. Be sure you get a 1.35~1.45v (depending on which model you find, there is a 2400+, 2500+, 2600+ and maybe another even higher) chip. There are some significantly older mobile chips that run at higher voltages; they will not OC nearly as well. Typical results here: http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=722&page=1 http://www.pantherproducts.co.uk/Articles/CPU/AMD%20CPU%20indentification.shtml -Greg