New Graphics Card

[Lode]

Well, my venerable, old-as-hell-itself, ATI Radeon 9600 series is on it's last legs.  It has served me well over the years and has allowed me to enjoy my earliest PC gaming experinces with Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Half-Life, etc.  But it seems its time for it to throw in the towel and retire. 


My question is this,  What should I get to replace it?
Keep in mind, I am being frugal here.

[cbre88x]

the 9600 GT's and 8800 GT's are running around $150 now.

[ToiletDuck]

get your muscle up and buy a ATI 4870 8)

[A. Crow]

get your muscle up and buy a ATI 4870 8)

[Wedge]

If he has a 9600 doesn't that mean it's AGP and he's SOL unless he's going with a new system?  I didn't think we had PCI-E back then.

[copulatingduck]

the 9600 GT's and 8800 GT's are running around $150 now.

Actually, I just got my new card yesterday (8800GT), it's $120 after rebates, coupon codes, and shipping. 

[ToiletDuck]

If he has a 9600 doesn't that mean it's AGP and he's SOL unless he's going with a new system?  I didn't think we had PCI-E back then.

true. damn ancient technology

[cbre88x]

I didn't think about that Wedge. Damn.

[Budr]

If he has a 9600 doesn't that mean it's AGP and he's SOL unless he's going with a new system?  I didn't think we had PCI-E back then.

Didn't AMD release AGP variants of the 3xxx series? I'm not sure if I just made that up.

[Lode]

If he has a 9600 doesn't that mean it's AGP and he's SOL unless he's going with a new system?  I didn't think we had PCI-E back then.

Not Quite, the Rest of the system is still good.  Although the processor could use a beefy upgrade.  a

[Wedge]

[quote author=Wedge link=topic=1101.msg28684#msg28684 date=1218177728]
If he has a 9600 doesn't that mean it's AGP and he's SOL unless he's going with a new system?  I didn't think we had PCI-E back then.

Not Quite, the Rest of the system is still good.   Although the processor could use a beefy upgrade.   a
[/quote]

If it's an AGP board, I'm sure the processor can't be upgraded either...

[Lode]

[quote author=Lode link=topic=1101.msg28778#msg28778 date=1218208476]
[quote author=Wedge link=topic=1101.msg28684#msg28684 date=1218177728]
If he has a 9600 doesn't that mean it's AGP and he's SOL unless he's going with a new system?  I didn't think we had PCI-E back then.

Not Quite, the Rest of the system is still good.   Although the processor could use a beefy upgrade.   a
[/quote]

If it's an AGP board, I'm sure the processor can't be upgraded either...
[/quote]

What i meant Wedge is that the rest of the hardware, like the Hard Drive, Power Supply, optical drives, RAM(which can be taken out), etc are all good.

[Wedge]

[quote author=Wedge link=topic=1101.msg28862#msg28862 date=1218226338]
[quote author=Lode link=topic=1101.msg28778#msg28778 date=1218208476]
[quote author=Wedge link=topic=1101.msg28684#msg28684 date=1218177728]
If he has a 9600 doesn't that mean it's AGP and he's SOL unless he's going with a new system?  I didn't think we had PCI-E back then.

Not Quite, the Rest of the system is still good.   Although the processor could use a beefy upgrade.   a
[/quote]

If it's an AGP board, I'm sure the processor can't be upgraded either...
[/quote]

What i meant Wedge is that the rest of the hardware, like the Hard Drive, Power Supply, optical drives, RAM(which can be taken out), etc are all good.
[/quote]

You don't seem to understand, if it's an AGP board, it doesn't matter, because you can't your odds of finding a PCI-E motherboard that could use that stuff are likely slim to none.  If you're really sure your current system is fine aside from the video card, you CAN get a price marked up 38something Radeon for like $200, but that's about it.

[Lode]

[quote author=Lode link=topic=1101.msg28964#msg28964 date=1218251696]
[quote author=Wedge link=topic=1101.msg28862#msg28862 date=1218226338]
[quote author=Lode link=topic=1101.msg28778#msg28778 date=1218208476]
[quote author=Wedge link=topic=1101.msg28684#msg28684 date=1218177728]
If he has a 9600 doesn't that mean it's AGP and he's SOL unless he's going with a new system?  I didn't think we had PCI-E back then.

Not Quite, the Rest of the system is still good.   Although the processor could use a beefy upgrade.   a
[/quote]

If it's an AGP board, I'm sure the processor can't be upgraded either...
[/quote]

What i meant Wedge is that the rest of the hardware, like the Hard Drive, Power Supply, optical drives, RAM(which can be taken out), etc are all good.
[/quote]

You don't seem to understand, if it's an AGP board, it doesn't matter, because you can't your odds of finding a PCI-E motherboard that could use that stuff are likely slim to none.  If you're really sure your current system is fine aside from the video card, you CAN get a price marked up 38something Radeon for like $200, but that's about it.
[/quote]

Well, the Motherboard and CPU are a lost cause, since they are about as old as the graphics card.  but pretty much everything else can be saved.

So essentially i should have called this thread "In Need of a new Motherboard, Processor, and Graphics Card"

[Versus]

The RAM is also old and probably won't work on a new mobo...

[Ceceil Felias]

It will work if you get a motherboard that's a series behind, maybe...

But 2GBs of DDR2-800 is $40. Hardly breaking the bank if you're already getting new hardware. No sense trying to save it.

Also, not very many boards have two IDE ports, so you'll have to be careful in what you choose unless you want to upgrade to SATA while you're at it.

Also, moving to a PCI-Express motherboard will require a new power supply. 24-pin ATX connector and all, and since most decent video cards nowadays require an additional PCI-Express power connector, you'll need to upgrade no matter which way you slice it.

[Wedge]

It will work if you get a motherboard that's a series behind, maybe...

But 2GBs of DDR2-800 is $40. Hardly breaking the bank if you're already getting new hardware. No sense trying to save it.

Also, not very many boards have two IDE ports, so you'll have to be careful in what you choose unless you want to upgrade to SATA while you're at it.

Also, moving to a PCI-Express motherboard will require a new power supply. 24-pin ATX connector and all, and since most decent video cards nowadays require an additional PCI-Express power connector, you'll need to upgrade no matter which way you slice it.

That's not necessarily true, it might work with a 4-Pin Molex->PCI-E adapter, which some GPU's even come with.  However unless the PSU is around 500W or better, that's a moot point. 

[Ceceil Felias]

[quote author=Ceceil Felias link=topic=1101.msg29035#msg29035 date=1218271703]
It will work if you get a motherboard that's a series behind, maybe...

But 2GBs of DDR2-800 is $40. Hardly breaking the bank if you're already getting new hardware. No sense trying to save it.

Also, not very many boards have two IDE ports, so you'll have to be careful in what you choose unless you want to upgrade to SATA while you're at it.

Also, moving to a PCI-Express motherboard will require a new power supply. 24-pin ATX connector and all, and since most decent video cards nowadays require an additional PCI-Express power connector, you'll need to upgrade no matter which way you slice it.

That's not necessarily true, it might work with a 4-Pin Molex->PCI-E adapter, which some GPU's even come with.  However unless the PSU is around 500W or better, that's a moot point. 
[/quote]
And at the 500W mark you'd be hard-pressed to find a modern 20+4 or 24-pin PSU that didn't have a PCI-E power connector. Doubly moot.

[Lode]

The RAM is also old and probably won't work on a new mobo...

Well here's the thing, i recently added about a gig of RAM recently.

[Blues]

If you get a new video card and want to keep anything from your old comp besides the HDD, case, CD/DVD, and PSU, you have no logical/cost effective choices but to fully upgrade your motherboard, CPU, RAM, and probably PSU. New motherboards use DDR2 RAM, older AGP boards use DDR. If you were to search for a PCI-E mobo that uses DDR, you MIGHT find one, but it would be ridiculously expensive (200$ probable minimum) and for that you might as well just get a new mobo AND 4GB of RAM (You could get that for 160-180 if you wait for a RAM sale no problem).

Also, with your system as it is, if you used any of the old parts and got a new video card/other parts, you'd be bottlenecking your system anyways. Imagine a hose that has 2in openings on both ends, but is 1in in diameter in the middle. You're only going to get the water flow of the smallest point in that hose, regardless of how big you make the openings. Hardware works the same way, if you're using slower, older parts somewhere in your system, you're going to affect the performance of the rest of the PC.

I've got a build for a 500$ PC that would last you for years. If you're interested let me know, I'll find it and post it up with links to the stuff.