casual PC user, need a video card upgrade

SteveMcQ

SteveMcQ

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Does anyone know the site that has a list of all the different revisions of video cards and puts them in an easy to understand table so you can tell easily how much you're upgrading? IIRC, the table was set up where cards of similar range were grouped. They also suggested to upgrade at least two tiers up from whatever card you currently have to make the upgrade worthwhile.

I'm a very casual PC gamer. Just picked up Company of Heroes and since my card before was giving me problems outputting to my screen via DVI, I figure it's time to make the change now. Currently have a Radeon 9800 Pro and I really have no interest in getting anything fancy or terribly expensive. Last PC game I played extensively was Battlefield 2 and that seemed like ages ago.

MOBO is old as well, so I need something that's AGP, which is getting tougher and tougher to find. Thanks for the help.
 
If you tell us your budget we can tell you what AGP card you can get.

For a decent enough upgrade from your 9800 Pro, look to spend anywhere from $75 to $150, depending on the card.
 
Alright...thanks. That wasn't quite the chart I was looking for, but it's a start. Anyway, I guess $125 would be the limit since I don't anticipate to have this rig for a few more years since I'm switching. I just don't want something that will bottleneck with the rest of my system that's over 4 years old, if not more.

BTW, what sort of settings can I expect to play something like Company of Heroes if I get that $150 card compared to what I currently have? Like I said, I'm not a PC gamer so I don't expect to play the latest and greatest stuff.

System:
P4 3.0GHz
1.5GB RAM
Win XP

Most of these cards have DVI out right? I use a BenQ 24" display and I wanna use the DVI port on it instead of VGA.
 
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Thanks guys. I'll keep my eye on this Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 then. Is there a big difference performance-wise though from this and say a $79 level card, or is that kind of budget card akin to the performance I would get from my current 9800 Pro?

[quote name='Sporadic']Just save your money and wait until you can upgrade.[/quote]I'm not upgrading this system anymore. This is gonna be going in the guest or game room as an internet PC since I'm going with an iMac for my next desktop. I'm really not into PC gaming anyway, but I just wanted to try out Company of Heroes in the meanwhile.
 
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The 3850 is a budget card but it's performance isn't that of a low end card. I'd say it would perform 2x as well as a $80 card.

But I'm kinda worried that you're power supply might not be able to handle it. It's not very power hungry but it needs need it's own power connection (it has an adapter included, uses 2 4-pin molex connectors) but not sure if your PS can handle it...
 
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[quote name='Vinny']The 3850 is a budget card but it's performance isn't that of a low end card. I'd say it would perform 2x as well as a $80 card.

But I'm kinda worried that you're power supply might not be able to handle it. It's not very power hungry but it needs need it's own power connection (it has an adapter included, uses 2 4-pin molex connectors) but not sure if your PS can handle it...[/quote]
Yeah, I was thinking about that, but I checked on Sapphire's site and they recommend a 450W PS. I currently have an Antec Tru480. There's a whole bunch of other electrical gibberish they recommended as well outside of the wattage, but I didn't understand it so I'm guessing what I have will work right? I don't have anything crazy running on this rig. Just two internal HDDs and two optical drives, but that's it.
 
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