older motherboard vs. newer vid card

[hylentor]

Hi there.

I have an Asus A7V333 MB for which I've finally gotten enough money together to upgrade the vid card for (currently running a GeForce 2) I was initially leaning towards something like a GF5700 or Radeon 96/97/9800 card, but I was reading up on the GF6600 line and it looks like it would be cool, but I'm nowhere near sure it would even fit in the system, much less run.

iirc, the main stats for the system are an Athlon XP 2000+ (1.6 GHz), 512 MB RAM, and either a 300 or a 350 W power supply. Basically, I'm looking for opinions on if it should run or not, since I know what I can go to if I can't use it and then just devote excess money towards saving for the next RAM and/or Proc upgrade.

I don't quite have the budget for high-end gaming that I used to (otherwise I'd just upgrade the MB/Proc/RAM and the vid card all together), but I do want to get the best I can fit in for now, since I'm going to be with this board for the forseeable future.

Thanks.

 

[LloydSev]

My GeForce 6600 ran on my XP 2000+ underclocked to 1600+, if that makes you feel better.

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[cdogg]

I'm assuming that you have an AGP 4x slot. If so, the newer cards should run fine in your system.

However, keep in mind that the newest line of cards (Radeon 9700 on up, GeForce FX 5600 on up) will not run at their full potential in your system. Other bottlenecks like CPU, RAM, motherboard chipset, AGP 4x, etc, will all keep the performance down a bit. However, if you only could perform a single upgrade, the video card would give the greatest jump in performance, so don't let that discourage you. Besides, you could always pull the card and use it in a newer system sometime down the road.

Here's an article you might want to take a look at:

http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041110/index.html

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
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[hylentor]

I think so... I didn't think to bring my vid card manual to work with me, so I don't have access to it, but I'm pretty sure it's a 4x. I do know that I have an AGP Pro slot, which is among the things that were worrying me.

 

[felixc]

Your mobo chipset is a Via KT333, which has AGP4X. I wonder what Asus does to call it AGP Pro. Perhaps they mention something in the manual about it.

Changing the video card is the best thing to do to improve the 3D performance of your system.

Here, an Athlon 2000 or 2600 shows little difference with a Radeon9600XT. But going from a Radeon 9100 to a 9600XT made a world of difference.

 

[paparazi]

hylentor
I've a system with a KT400a, XP2.2+ (just slightly newer than yours) I have run both a straight inno3D 6600 and an older 9700pro, the best of the cards you mentioned.
I can tell you that in this era of system the 9700Pro out performs the newer 6600.

9700Pros have been around for a while but can still kick ass! and at under £70 $110? there isn't really anything else to touch one.

Faster than: 9600pro/9600XT/plain 9800/9800SE Radeons
" " : 5600/5700/5700LE/5700ultra/5800 just a tad less than an FX5900XT but still has better DX9.0 performance
And as I said a 9700Pro performs better than a straight 6600 in this era of machine.
Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[hylentor]

Well, a bit late, since I just put the 6600 in the other day, and I'm happy with it. It was the reviews I read that steered me towards it verses the 9700 anyway. *shrug* I could probably have a video card powered by a hamster that would outperform the Geforce 2 I had It gives me a step up anyway - if I want more performance in six months, I should still be able to pick up a better agp-based MB than what I have...

And actually, I just checked newegg and pricewatch, and the only 9700 I saw at around $110 was from a brand I had not heard of - the others were of an equivalent price to what I'll be paying (after a $30 rebate anyway), so I won't feel *too* bad

Thanks for your help.

 

[felixc]

Wow, the 6600 is a great card. Glad to read that it works in your system. Your system can now run most recent 3D games with a good resolution. The CPU and the memory subsystem have now become your bottleneck. If you see a bit of jerkyness in some games, it is now the CPU subsystem. You can possibly improve the CPU, up to 2600 or 2800, but wait until you find an incredible deal, otherwise as you say, a whole new motherboard may be the way to go in a year or two. The video card will be good for another couple of years. Have fun!