upgrating video card, 1.7 celeron, 512 DDR... what to buy

[herbeapuce]

HI.

My friend got an entry level pc; he would like to be able to play decent games on it, like far cry, or maybe even newer games. Right now he has an integrated card...

What video card would you recommend? Budget is limited and don't forget, he has a 1.7 Celeron with 512 ram.

What do you think?

Thanks
stef, Montreal

 

[satrow]

Minimum specification needs to be a DirectX 9 compatible graphics card, ie. nVidia FX5200 or better, from £30/$45 or so. What's the budget?

 

[herbeapuce]

thanks

about $150 USD on ebay....


stef.

 

[paparazi]

I found this incredible offer!
X800XT All in Wonder!

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=321314

8X AGP with full 256 interface, 16 pipelines and 256mb of fast DDRIII

Without doubt the fastest AGP card you will see at that price

With the added bonus of being an ALL IN WONDER version (TV tuner etc)


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[herbeapuce]

thanks for the suggestion. I sent them an email, not sure they will ship to Canada....

keep your suggestions comming


stef.

 

[paparazi]

Well in general terms then:

Depending on, if second user or new:
6800GT, plain 6800 (not LE or N) or maybe if you are lucky a second user 6800ultra
perhaps a 6600GT (not plain 6600 which is alot slower even with double the memory)
An ATI X800/X850 in either XT, XTPE or XL guise
ATI X700 in Pro or XT version (not as fast as the above though)
If new then 7800GS is supposed to be a very fine AGP card but probably way too expensive for you.

And of course the OLDER but still capable 9800PRO , which would fall into the entry level now.

Obviously ALL 8X AGP versions.

It also has to be pointed out that the basic motherboard/ CPU combination you have wouldn't allow full frame rates on many of these cards (simply too much of a bottle neck)

Martin

Martin


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