Video Card Help

[H2O Omen]

Ok recently the video card on my computer went out entirely, basically I can't play any games on it all and I've been known to frequent Guild Wars a fair bit. Anyways, I'm looking into getting a new video card for my computer, but don't really want to have to rebuild the entire thing, but would rather get one that fits what I have already. Here are the specs for my computer.

Soyo Dragon KT880 Motherboard
AMD Anthlon XP 300+
2.10 GHz, 1.25 GB of RAM
Windows XP Pro

If someone could help me find a decent vid card for a decent price for my comp that would be awesome and greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[PHiNiX]

is guild wars the only thing that you play. those specs are pretty good. you could prob get a decent card

since this is the pms/h2o forums i would go with the

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 3850 100228L

thats more then enough power to run guildwars..and i think you would enjoy it

just remember when looking for a new card make sure its agp

[H2O Omen]

Yah Guild Wars is pretty much the only game I play that requires a strong vid card. I appreciate the help and I'll be sure to check that card out. Thanks.

[PHiNiX]

may i ask what kind of power supply you have

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102730

and here is a new egg link to the card. if you want to check out the specs

[H2O Omen]

Cooler Master 450W Power Supply.

[PHiNiX]

ouch, you might need an upgrade to use that card....if you have a walmart by you they have some pretty affordable cards. thay may not need a power supply upgrade...i may have to give you the advice to just look into investing in a new rig

guild wars isnt to resource demanding there are a lot of affordable options out there

[H2O sobe]

Actually Phinix since it is a Corsair 450, it should be enough to run a 8series nVidia card... Power supplies are not rated by how many watts you have, but by the quality of the unit. And Corsair is one of the top brands as their Seasonic OEMs. More than enough for that rig...

And though this may be PMS | H2O forums, you may want to stick with recommending the "best" for what the person will be getting performance wise. Personally, I detest ATi/AMD. AMD ruined its name a while back for a lot. However, if I were to purchase a new vid card, it would have to be the ATi Radeon HD4850, due to the price/performance ratio.

For AGP, I think the HD3850 is overkill since the slot only provides so much bandwidth. I'd say for AGP 4x/8x, go for an X1950 card, which you should be able to grab from somewhere for $60 or under even. OCForums.com classifieds section can be useful for this.

And as for the WalMart thing mentioned. I will highly recommend not going there, lol. Just order online, you will save yourself normally an excess of $40 or more.

[PHiNiX]

higher cards need more power to run. and that power supply is of low power.. and i can only supply help...from what i know. i dont know much about pc hardware...so i only have opinion

[H2O sobe]

My post wasn't directed towards not showing ATi cards btw. If you can get a performance increase from an ATi over nVidia card, then by all means go ATi. Just don't limit your suggestions.

And Phinix, it's fine, we all learn something new every day. And yes, higher cards do need more power, but not as much as "rated" or you would think at least. Take this as just a quick example, I can run my E6750 oc'd @ 3.2GHz, 4GB RAM, 2 SATA HDDs, DVD-ROM/RAM/RW drive, sound card, case fans, and LED fans, as well as an 8800GT by eVGA overclocked a bit, all on a Rosewill Stallion RD-500. A 500watt power supply, which I was able to use fine in overclocking my proc to 3.8GHz stable.

Judging from all the new advertising saying get more power, and yada yada, you would tend to think the newer/better hardware you get, the more watts you'd need. Sadly, not true, just a ploy to get people to buy more. To my knowledge an Antec EarthWatts 350watt can power an 8800GT, E8400, and 4 GB of RAM... The build quality on those are amazing. But of course, you will be paying for that quality in an extra sum. However, the power supply is the backbone of your system, so you don't want to skimp on a good one.

I highly recommend any Corsair TX or HX series, as they are Seasonic OEMs. Seasonic or FSP Group(Fortron Source) are also the other actual branded names you can look for. Build quality should be pretty much the best around. Aside from Antec EarthWatts. The other Antec series psus tend to fail and/or have fluctuations on the rails.



So for you Dark Omen, I'd have to say look into a X1950 Pro card, or you can look into the HD 3850 that Phinix mentioned. Either one will suit you well. X1950 I'd just recommend getting from eBay or somewhere where HeatWare.com profiles are adverted. They do have an Open box listed on NewEgg for about $80 or so. The HD 3850 AGP 8x card goes for $140 on NewEgg. This being the reason I suggest the X1950, for a dead socket like AGP, purchasing something of such a price when you can grab a HD 4850 or 8800GT for that price is ridiculous.

[H2O Omen]

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate all the help, and I'll definately look into all the suggestions and make a solid choice once I have the funds to make the purchase.

Btw I've also debated building an entirely new rig PHiNiX, and I even have a list of all the parts I want to get, but that is a little ways down the road once I have a steady income after I get my degree, that of course being a ways down the road. Plus overall the comp I have now suits me fine, and has been very reliable so I want to get as much as possible out of it now while I can, so I can save for the really nice one I want to build.

Thanks again guys, you've been a lot of help.

[H2O TankBusta]

Yeah I wouldn't worry about power with a ATI 3850 or even a NV 8800GT with 450.

I would NOT recommend the 3850 though if you still have a AGP bus. It's not 'officially' supported by ATI because they only referenced it with a PCIe Bus. It has a lot of issues due to lack of drivers from ATI. You have to get special drivers from the distributor and we all know those are bad and 5 revisions behind ;)

I have a quad-SLI and 6hd RAID array and I push 600W max on Crysis with everything turned up and I have a 1200W PSU... What a waste.

Sobe - I recommend you get rid of that Roswell power supply. I've had them literally blow up, catch on fire, and they wernt even close to under load. I got one to replace a bad PSU in one of my home servers and all of the sudden that box just catches on fire...

Another good thing you should get is a 'Kill-A-Watt' to see how much power your PC is actually using and how clean the electricity is going to it (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882715001)

[PHiNiX]

since you only play guild wars i would still say invest in a new computer it would be alot cheaper

[H2O TankBusta]

If he only plays guild wars why invest in a new 500+ dollar PC when all he needs is a new graphics card?

[H2O sobe]

Oh no TankBusta, I use a Corsair 650TX power supply. The Rosewill is a spare I have. Also, the RD-series from Rosewill is the dependable series :P At least from what I've seen around. The rest blow, yes.

And yea, I even had an Apevia or Antec, dunno which, start to smoke on me for a bench rig, lol. I was thinking about purchasing 12 power supplies that I know would blow up, then tie the wiring together to a single socket wire, and start em up and overload them XD

But yea, Rosewill is a decent brand, just not a highly recommended one on my own list. My highly recommended ones are Corsair, Seasonic, and FSP Group.

[Mightybigone]

I don't see that anyone has bothered to ask this question yet.

Dark,
How much you lookin to spend? This is probably the most important question.

[H2O Omen]

Well less than $150 if possible, I know my motherboard is pretty old considering, so thats why I want the best fit for everything I do have if possible.

[Zeppelin]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200022+4027&name=%2475+-+%24100

I hope that helps a little bit. Were you looking for just a motherboard, or a CPU/Motherboard combo?

[H2O Omen]

I wasn't looking for a motherboard, but a vid card that matches up with my motherboard, I know for the most part they go hand in hand.

[Gun Monkey]

That motherboard only supports AGP and PCI video cards. I would NOT buy a PCI card. This means that you do NOT have to upgrade your PSU (power supply). In fact, it would be a waste of money unless you're doing a full upgrade.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143102

Something like that is all you need to get back in the game.

Keep browsing under AGP 4x/8x until you see something you like (low price and good ratings)

[H2O Omen]

Thanks a lot guys, you have all been really helpful.