Topic: Suggestions needed: New Video Card for older system (Read 2450 times)

Kid Carrson · « **on:** May 11, 2007, 04:47:40 am »

To the Group:

I need to get a new video card for an older system that runs Windows 98se. It's a work computer, but it does have SFC OP on it (the only computer game). The computer has a nice older processor Pentium 4 Northwood 2.4 Gig, with 512 megs of ram, and a 120 gig hard drive. No PCIe video card slot (just a AGP slot and numerous PCI slots).

I want to make sure the comp can play SFC OP on it without any problems. Otherwise, it's just boring work stuff.

Thanks for any thoughts.

KC

Javora · « **Reply #1 on:** May 11, 2007, 03:15:23 pm »

I would think that any video card from ATI/AMD or nVidia would do the trick. Even the extreme low end AGP card that is still on the shelf would play SFC OP at that games highest graphics. Remember that SFC OP came out when ATI Radion 8800 and nVidia GeForce 4 cards were top of the line. So anything you buy now will blow the doors off that game. Hope this helps.

Don Karnage · « **Reply #2 on:** May 11, 2007, 04:56:45 pm »

www2.bfgtech.com

www.evga.com

www.msi.com

www.sapphiretech.com

www.giga-byte.com

www.xfxgraphics.com

www.ati.com

www.leadtek.com

www.xfxforce.com

with that you can see what you can buy for your pc.

Kid Carrson · « **Reply #3 on:** May 12, 2007, 10:20:12 am »

Thanks guys. I've got a couple of nice, cheap choices that I think will now do the trick.

BTW, if you had to choose between a low end AGP card (32 Meg Nividia TNT card) or a slightly higher end PCI card (64 meg Nividia GeForce MX 4000), which would you use for this system? Thanks.

KC

Javora · « **Reply #4 on:** May 12, 2007, 05:12:15 pm »

IMHO I wouldn't use either, I'd go buy a cheap AGP card that you know will run things at good settings. Neither of those card will run SFC OP on it's highest settings. I can understand not wanting to spend money on a old machine like that but if you play SFC OP on it then you will want a newer card than those.

Kid Carrson · « **Reply #5 on:** May 12, 2007, 08:06:08 pm »

Javora:

How much (if at all) does the fact that it's using windows 98se with 512 megs of ram limit the video card options?

Thanks.

KC

Javora · « **Reply #6 on:** May 12, 2007, 09:10:47 pm »

It shouldn't really matter that much, Win98 has problems with Ram amounts large than 1Gb IIRC. Now its been so long since I delt with Win98 that I can't remember if that is system Ram and video Ram combined. So I would just go with something in the 128~256Mb Video card range just to be on the safe side. Other than that anything you pick up should be ok.

Kid Carrson · « **Reply #7 on:** May 13, 2007, 06:00:07 am »

Many thanks.

KC

Electric Eye · « **Reply #8 on:** May 20, 2007, 12:22:32 pm »

Just curious KC, is it at work or do you use it for work at home? I did not think anyone used older machines for work or gaming anymore.

IMHO, buy the best graphics card for that era, it is a work P/C as you stated but since such a long time has elapsed since that P/C was top of the line, those cards should be dirt cheap nowadays.

I do things sensibly, if a car is more than 5 years old, I usually put aftermarket parts on it, but if it's less than 5 years old I use factory made parts only. Don't be spending a wad of cash just on an old system, especially if it's just for a game.

I wish my P/C had a video card installed when I went out and upgraded it recently, I'd give you the old one, but AMD is smart, they build M/boards with the graphics chip installed, I guess so you go out and buy another card later on, but I do not think it is a money scam, more like AMD knew graphics were going to be outpacing P/Cs, hence no need spending 400 bucks extra on a card that came with the P/C and one year later games and other apps come out that require more crunching power.

Lloyd007 · « **Reply #9 on:** May 20, 2007, 04:19:43 pm »

Anything AGP that is $50 or more should work like a charm. SFC:OP is an old game. I wouldn't spend anything more than $70 really. Old computers aren't worth the time and hassle upgrading especially since all the interfaces have move on. Intel Socket 478 became LGA 775. AMD dumped all their old sockets for AM2. And the industry in general went from PCI/AGP to PCI-Express. IDE became SATA and so forth...

Electric Eye · « **Reply #10 on:** May 21, 2007, 07:19:30 am »

I got a question for you, Lloyd, and Nem and other P/C gurus. We all know electronics are becoming one of the worst garbage fillers not only in our nations landfills but worldwide. To help curb that (And also to make things more functional) the companies were supposed to make M/boards that when you upgraded all you needed to do was switch memory and the CPU chip. Whatever happened to that? Why do we have to have so many different M/boards?

Also, I keep reading how graphics card are just about maxxed out in what they can do. Is that true? If so I will be jumping for joy, cause as of lately unit seems like every year and a half or two years we need a new frigging video card and they are not cheap. My P/C is only 2 years old, and still has plenty of crunch power, but my integrated video card just could not load Legacy or Pacific Storm or Battlestations Midway, so of course I had to go buy a new card.

Javora · « **Reply #11 on:** May 21, 2007, 07:58:01 am »

Quote from: Electric Eye on May 21, 2007, 07:19:30 am

I got a question for you, Lloyd, and Nem and other P/C gurus. We all know electronics are becoming one of the worst garbage fillers not only in our nations landfills but worldwide. To help curb that (And also to make things more functional) the companies were supposed to make M/boards that when you upgraded all you needed to do was switch memory and the CPU chip. Whatever happened to that? Why do we have to have so many different M/boards?

I'll take a stab at this, although I might not be right depending on whom you talk to. I think what that really boils down to is competition between the different CPU/Motherboard/component makers that causes a lot of this garbage. It's a double edge sword, the same drive create faster technology, a better product and increase a companies profit margins is what really fills our landfills. Now that is not to say that CPU makers don't try to a little bit to make a CPU use the same motherboard socket. But those socket sets only last on average about 3~5 years. Well people buy new PC's in that time frame and usually the old ones get dumped in the trash.

The only way I see this turning around is for these technology companies make the components in such a way that most if not all the elements can be recycled after the parts are thrown out. That way we are using fewer resources and reducing the stress on landfills. The other thing that can be done is that government can get involved and give people a tax break for donating their old computers to the local public school in their area. Schools don't need fast computers the way we gamers do, so the two-year-old high-end computer would last a lot longer in a school.

Quote from: Electric Eye on May 21, 2007, 07:19:30 am

Also, I keep reading how graphics card are just about maxxed out in what they can do. Is that true? If so I will be jumping for joy, cause as of lately unit seems like every year and a half or two years we need a new frigging video card and they are not cheap. My P/C is only 2 years old, and still has plenty of crunch power, but my integrated video card just could not load Legacy or Pacific Storm or Battlestations Midway, so of course I had to go buy a new card.

I think the graphics industry is going to change but it will still be there. AMD is putting some effort into combining their CPU and graphics power onto the CPU. With multi-core CPU's, graphics will be off loaded on to one of the CPU's. This won't IMHO bring an end to the graphic cards. Their focus will just change from 2D/3D to physics and such.

ShadowLord · « **Reply #12 on:** May 21, 2007, 09:55:08 am »

If you haven't already upgraded you may want to visit Tomshardware site where this topic is frequently under review and video cards are rated. Attached is a link for you to read re best vid cards for the money..the first part deals with PCI then around page 4 AGP cards come into play. Bottom line is they also suggest you consider the cost of upgradeing the motherboard to support PCI e instead of spending large bucks for your new AGP card.

I run a rad X1950 Pro PCI e on my system and am very happy with it -- cost was appox 250 cdn
I just upgraded the wifes older system to a Rad x1600 pro AGP card for 150 Cdn.. hoping to buy her one -two more years of game play without a system upgrade where as I figure my video card will go into whatever new system I need or get in the next 3 years.

Bottom line is you get less bang for the buck with an AGP card so be wary of how much your willing to spend.

Also in the Tomshardware site there are many other articles on this topic if you choose to spend some time looking up older charts.

Hope that helps

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/10/31/the_best_video_cards_for_your_money/

Heck the wifes old system used a Rad9600 Pro which would be an excellent vid card for sfc type games -- I needed to upgrade hers due to game lag on some MMOG (DAOC )

Electric Eye · « **Reply #13 on:** May 21, 2007, 12:26:58 pm »

Yo Shadow, what did you do with the old card? There is a dyna members in need P/C parts topic, but I'm sure you knew that.

Lloyd007 · « **Reply #14 on:** May 22, 2007, 03:32:29 am »

Quote

I got a question for you, Lloyd, and Nem and other P/C gurus. We all know electronics are becoming one of the worst garbage fillers not only in our nations landfills but worldwide. To help curb that (And also to make things more functional) the companies were supposed to make M/boards that when you upgraded all you needed to do was switch memory and the CPU chip. Whatever happened to that? Why do we have to have so many different M/boards?

Also, I keep reading how graphics card are just about maxxed out in what they can do. Is that true? If so I will be jumping for joy, cause as of lately unit seems like every year and a half or two years we need a new frigging video card and they are not cheap. My P/C is only 2 years old, and still has plenty of crunch power, but my integrated video card just could not load Legacy or Pacific Storm or Battlestations Midway, so of course I had to go buy a new card.

My County usually holds an old electronics disposal drive 2x a year. I always dispose of my old crap like that there and feel all civic minded

. Whatever they do with it I don't know. Most electronics makers were forced to cut down on heavy metals and such in manufacturing a few years ago by European regulations. As for garbage and landfill what's gotta happen is a big nationwide recycling drive since most of the parts are simply obsolete and could either be refurbished or otherwise reused. The pace of technological advancement though is stunning. 8 years ago we were at 500MHz P3's and Voodoo graphics cards with 4 megs of ram being cutting edge. Nowadays we have Core2 with 4 processors on a single chip running at 3GHz and GEForce 8800's with 768Gb of ram.

Mobos change because in the last couple of years we have gone from ISA to PCI to PCI+AGP to 'PCI-express' which is a misleading tech since it is a fractured and constantly evolving thing unlike previous standards where there were only incremental improvements.

Secondly is RAM. In the last 10 years alone we have gone through a dozen iterations each being backwards incompatible ie DDR-2 which is currently the main standard will soonishly be replaced by DDR-3 which will need new everything.

Thirdly is the processor itself. Right now it's somewhat stable with Intel sticking to its LGA 775 and AMD using socket AM2 but who knows when they will abandon those standards for something else? Again each change requires an almost total upgrade.

Thankfully IDE and SATA can live together

Fourthly we come to graphics cards. These are only 'maxxed out' cause one of the two major players (Ati) got bought by AMD and has been idle for 8 months while Nvidia, the other player, has jumped a generation ahead and right now their cards can handle any games that come out. But as soon as a game is released that makes the current gen cards chug like a 2 cylinder engine pulling an 18 wheel trailer up Mt. Everest beleive me they will come up with something new. Eventually someone will come out with holo technology...

Finally we come to wear and tear. As parts have gotten faster and 'better' more quickly they also have been getting progressively and necessarily more complex and thus easier to break and simply wear out. When something becomes hopelessly obsolete in 10 years why build it to last 20? Heck the cost of making parts to a 20 year standard would probably be exorbitant and pointless. A Pentium 133 will not be able to run even the most basic internet or office programs nowadays without chugging or simply crashing and no amount of modernizing is going to allow the mobo of that chip to take a new Core2 or DDR2 and there is never going to be a way to make a chip and ram that would be up to todays standards that would fit such a board so why make it able to last 20 years?

Electric Eye · « **Reply #15 on:** May 22, 2007, 07:12:49 am »

I too found the auctions on the State of Texas website, electronics galore, and cars, and properties, etc...

In Mexico most of the internet cafes run from home based businesses and use older machines, I have a family member that runs one from her house, too bad I did not know about this deal b4, I could have loaded up and sold to her dirt cheap and still made a handsome profit, good for her and good for me and nobody is bufueing anyone.

Tus-XC · « **Reply #16 on:** May 26, 2007, 12:56:57 am »

i wouldn't suggest go much beyond a geforce 6800 gt (or the ATI equivalent) as you processor will most likely bottleneck your peformance. If you can't get a card like the before mentioned, then avoid the geforce FX series, ATI's cards are much better in this regard.

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