CSflim

I am currently using a PCI XFX NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 graphics card (64MB SRD).

I am not a big gamer, but it has been sufficient for what few games I do have (Half-Life, CS, etc).

I recently bought Max Payne 2, and find that even with the settings all at their lowest, the game still suffers from massive slow-down in places.

Some questions:
1. Does the problem lie with my graphics card? (I have 512 MB DDR ram, and an AMD Athlon XP 2000+). I'm thinking the main problem is with the fact that it is a PCI card, instead of an AGP card.

2. My graphics card also comes in AGP flavour. (I maganged to get this one on the cheap, which is why I didn't get the other one). Would it be possible to get an PCI-AGP adapter? I really doubt this very much, but no harm in asking!

3. If a new graphics card is in order, I would appreciate any advice on what sort of things to look out for when choosing one. Any reccomendations would also be appreciated.
Bear in mind that this is a strictly budget affair! I'm a broke college student who can barely afford to eat let alone buy computer upgrades! I would put an upper limit at €200 (~$200).

Cheers.

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Redjake

The problems is DEFINITELY not your CPU or ram. It's the video card.

The card you are running is ancient by today's newest games standards. Time for an upgrade. I'm not gonna start a flame war on which graphics card to purchase, but I would check out with a GeForce FX 5900 or an ATI Radeon 9600 XT or something.


Do you have an AGP port (I'm assuming you do since your processor is pretty good). If so, go with my suggestions.

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Silverbrain

If your looking budget cards, check out an FX5600 card, should be under 100 bucks by now and really help out your gaming.

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Wulf_Hunter

I'll give another vote for the FX5600 ultra. For the money it's a very good card. I'd stay away from the FX5200, to slow.

VF19

I would get a FX5600 or a Geforce4 Ti4200. Both cost about the same and are good cards.

And as for a PCI-AGP adapter, there would be no use if you were looking for speed, because the card would still be transferring data at PCI speeds.
And you might not get sufficient power from a PCI connexion.

Lasereth

It's DEFINITELY your videocard bottlenecking the rest of the system. Your processor and RAM are enough to play even the newest of today's games.

If your motherboard has an AGP slot, get a GeForce FX 5900. It's right at $200 and is the best bet for the price. If you want to spend a bit more, I'd try out NewEgg's Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro for $215. I can't stress how good of a deal this is -- best one I've seen in YEARS.

If you don't have an AGP slot, buy a new motherboard with one. You can get one that supports your processor and RAM for $30 brand new. Then buy the aformentioned videocards. For $150 or below, I suggest the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra or the Radeon 9600 XT.

For $100 or below, the GeForce 4 TI4200 is the obvious answer.

Hope this helps!

-Lasereth

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_the_wombat

For ~$200 I would get either a 9600XT or a 9800Pro. Depending on slush money and if you can snag a good deal.
That's going to be your best bet. Both are AGP cards.

If you do not have an AGP slot however your options are going to be severly limited.

sailor

What is your budget? That will help get the discussion oriented around cards you can afford. Things will be more relevant to you...

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ChrisJericho

The Geforce2 MX is a pretty poor performer... especially the PCI version. The Sapphire 9800 Pro from Newegg is a superb deal.

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KUGR

I vote for a 9600XT! If you dont mind getting a refurb card, you can get a pretty good deal on one at www.newegg.com . If it doesnt work, just return it!

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CSflim

Yeah, I have AGP 8X support. The only reason I have this PCI card is because I managed to get it very cheap. I had just upgraded my system (about a year ago), and disovered, to my horror, that my old AGP graphics card was incompatible with the new motherboard! I had already overspent on the upgrade, and so had to go cheap on the graphics card.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

(my budget btw is between €100 and €200)

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cheesemoney

Wouldn't a 5900 kill a 9600xt. Flash the bios and you have a 5950, and your core speed will be automatically boosted and your vcore will be automatically increased.

9800 pro is a great card--typically a frame or 2 faster than 5950 (?) , but not enough to make much of a diff, and I've heard that 5950 will probably be faster on some future direct x games, but also probably not much of a difference.

Anyway, get whatever is cheap, either 9800 or 5900, and flash the bios, and you've got yourself a great card for sub 200 bucks.

I don't have that kind of money and just ordered a Geforce Ti4200, which is gonna be better than a 5200 or 5600, since that is a joke on Directx 9 anyway, and sucks at directx 8.

My advice...
Sub 200--get 9800 or 5900--whatever's cheap. Flash bios. Your clock and mem speeds will now be running at the speed of almost 400 dollar cards.

Sub 100--get GeForce Ti4200--you can order from pccupplysource.com.

Hard card to find though. Its old, but kills its replacements. Though its replacements are directx 9 compatible, nvidia had to change the wording on its later cards since the low end dx9 card sucked so hard.


Do NOT get a 5600. It fucking blows.
5700 series is allright. Not worth it though, just get the 9800 if you're looking at going this high anyway, or 5900.

5800 fucking blows as well, by the way.
And sorry, I just can't imagine why you'd wanna get then 9600xt over the 9800 pro for the price that they are going for now.

Sunrise

I'd definitely say go the path of the radeons
their pixelshader 2.0 performance kills the gf fx

Redjake

It doesn't "kill" the GeForceFX. You're obviously a tad biased. I've seen both sides of the "equation," if you will, and the difference is marginal at best. Sure, it looks nice, but the Nvidia cards run games just as good if not better on some cases. They both have their advantages and disadvantages.

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