Ace_O_Spades

Well it's that time of the year again... I've got a few hundred bucks burning a hole in my pocket and I thought it might be an opportune time to throw some more money at my PC.

I've got an Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz, 1 Gig PC3200, ATI Radeon 9600 pro

Is it really worth it at this point in time to upgrade to something 256? Ive been told that my video card is the bottleneck of my system, but I'd like a few more opinions before I upgrade.

If it's worth it to upgrade, what would you say is the best value at the next level? My motherboard has a PCI-E slot.

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Feh.

MooseMan3000

Yes, you need to upgrade (when don't you?), but it doesn't need to be to "something 256." The RAM has only a small impact on the performance of the card. My Radeon 9500 pro could have 12 million gigs of ram and it wouldn't be any faster.

Right now the best options I see in the mid-range category are the Geforce 6800 and the Radeon X800. I would go 6800 (that's likely what I'll be upgrading mine to soon) because it tends to score better in benchmarks, and it's similarly priced. You should be able to find them both for 150-200.

And have you looked at Lasereth's thread? Lots of good info in there.

Martian

Why are you asking us if you need to upgrade? Does the video card you have do what you want it to? If you want to know if you have head room, then yeah, quite a bit actually. But you don't need a new one until the old one isn't performing how you want it to, at which point the inconvenience of not having a newer video card makes it worth it.

Now if you do want to upgrade, I'd look for a Radeon 9800 Pro, maybe even AIW. I shelled out just over $300 CDN for my All-In-Wonder and it was worth every maple leaf-embossed cent. I routinely play Half Life 2 and UT 2004 with the settings cranked right up; the graphics detail is amazing and the framerates always stay high. At this point it doesn't seem worth it to me to go to the X series or the new nVidia cards. If, however, you're hell-bent on using that PCI-E slot, then you'd probably do okay with an X700 or an nVidia 6600GT.

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I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

Lasereth

What is a few hundred bucks? The memory on the card doesn't give an accurate (hell, even legible) performance rating, but that's beside the point. Compared to the rest of your system, the videocard is subpar. I'm sure there will be someone asking you to upgrade your CPU, but don't -- there's no reason to. Your RAM is fine as well. The videocard would be the bottleneck of your system in gaming. Give me a price and I'll give you a suggestion!

-Lasereth

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"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Ace_O_Spades

No more than 350. I need to get a new HD as well, but I already have that one picked out.

In response to Martian... yes I am unhappy with my video card's performance, so yeah... I guess I do need to upgrade... I upgraded the core of my system a year ago (mobo, ram, cpu) so now I want to do HD and Video Card.

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Feh.

MooseMan3000

Well, if that's American, which I'm assuming, you can get a 6800 GT for well within that range. They go for between $270 and $400, depending on the options. The BFG version comes overclocked for $310... but it probably doesn't make that much difference. I'd definitely go with that card at that price range, though.