graphic card or ram?

[omw]

hi
my system; 1.0 ghz p3, 256sdr(100), (msi) nv gf4 mx440
i know i have a poooor system and somewhat obsolete graphic card(but this card did all what i write below)

played hl2, far cry pretty nice on med settings. played doom3 on low settings everything off(obviously) with choppy performance. nfsu2 was smooth. however, riddick is completely frustrating, (choppy) x 3 and unplayable. now, the big question.

i have only two options with me; buy ati9600pro or increase ram to 512 or at best i can try both. nothing more than this. what should i do? will this proposed upgrade make a difference? should i stick to mx440 and add some more ram? pl focus on only these options; my budget doesnot allow x..series cards or latest amd processors. however, i was thinking to upgrading to p4 and 512ddr(266) but in autumn(may be).

suggestions wil be valued greatly.
thanks

p.s. hl2 was a better game than ridick and doom3 with equal or better graphics. then why...............?

[Thong_Ispector]

Is that an ON BOARD video?

I would drop in some ram as quick and easy and cheap to do, lots of it around for cheap else free...

For $50 Frys has AMD 2400 with motherboard.... That would do the most for the buck...

What part of the country / world ar you in...?

[omw]

thanks for ur time thong. i am in Pakistan.

[omw]

thanks for ur time thong. i am in Pakistan. the card in question is a graphic display/3d card aka vga card. used for graphic programming, architecture, has also tv out connectivity and mostly it is used to play games with 3d graphics. the better the card, the better it will display todays complex 3d textures including pixel shaders bla bla bla..............

thanks

[nanosani]

Hi omw! I am also from Pakistan. I think I'd prefer a better RAM over a vga. I think if you're only playing games then you'll certainly need to upgrade both ... and preferably whole of your system. But for now if you're using a mixture of games and applications then you should be upgrading your RAM.

[omw]

great.........which city r u from.im in multan. u a gamer?

[Catweazle]

Disagree nanosani. You get more performance improvement from a better video card than from a RAM increase for gaming.

That said, the combination of a 1GHz processor, a Gf4MX, and 256Mb of SD-RAM is beyond redemption when you are talking in terms of today's latest games. Whatever you upgrade is really only throwing good money after bad. That system is inadequate overall as a modern games system.

[seatsd]

I gotta agree with Catweazle. Upgrading the ram or the video card is not going to allow you to play the newest games at any sort of decent setting. The CPU is going to be a bottleneck too. I'd recommend that you save your money till you can upgrade the mobo/cpu, RAM, and video card at the same time. Upgrading the RAM will definitely be a waste as you'll probably need to get a different kind when you upgrade the mobo/cpu. And it's sort of the same deal with the video card, a 1GHz cpu can only drive the video card so fast, so wait to buy that later when it will be cheaper and you can actually get the benefit of the performance from it.

[nanosani]

Hey Catweazle... I did write that a whole system upgrade would be a good idea .... but he doesnt want to upgrade then I think RAM upgrade would be a good idea cuz vga is mainly used for gaming purposes but RAM can be used for overall performance upgrade.

great.........which city r u from.im in multan. u a gamer?

I am in Lahore.

[Catweazle]

The question addresses games performance nanosani. I think the answer needs to address that also.

A display card upgrade will bring FAR more benefit for games than a RAM increase, but as said earlier, that entire system is considerably less than adequate in terms of modern PC games such as Half Life 2, Doom 3 and future titles. Whatever is purchased as an upgrade for the system is not going to be fully utilised, as the central 'engine' in the system (processor and slow SD-RAM) is simply not up to the task.

Playing 3D games is about the most demanding task you can put a home PC to work at!

[omw]

I am in Lahore.

great......i am also from lahore.........job here at multan.bye

[omw]

hi,
thanks guys. pretty helpful i guess. all of u had useful points. i agree seatsd and did not go for more sd ram as ill have to upgrade to ddr ater mobo change. catweazle; i agree completely. however, the same system played the most valued games of 2004(as mentioned above). but i think ur right in terms of better settings and the games like riddick and sims2(choppy on my sys with irritating loading times).
nanosani; yes if i intend to make my sys overall fast then ram is the answer. but that would be a dead investment(sdr).

one thing more; if i get a ati 9600xt, will it do any good on my present system? ofcourse i intend to upgrade after few months time. but in the meantime.....would it help?

thanks guys, u all been great help!

[Catweazle]

I'd think that if you can get hold of a secondhand 9600 pro or 9600XT in good order, it'd be a worthwhile purchase. Although you'd not extract the full capability from it, you'd improve performance out of sight, and you could reuse it in an upgraded system (if you stick with AGP) for long enough to save for a better card. I'd be reluctant to pay new retail price for one though!

[omw]

hi,
why would u be hesitant in giving retail price? pcix has a couple of yrs to completey make the agp obsolete. how can one judge whether the used card is in good working condition from ebay? if buybest is selling at 129$ at retail(ati's ati radeon 9600xt) then what should be a reasonable pricr for a used(say 3-6 month old ) card? i saw bidding raching even in 80,s(still going) for a 9600pro.

thanks

[alc6379]

hi,
why would u be hesitant in giving retail price? pcix has a couple of yrs to completey make the agp obsolete. how can one judge whether the used card is in good working condition from ebay? if buybest is selling at 129$ at retail(ati's ati radeon 9600xt) then what should be a reasonable pricr for a used(say 3-6 month old ) card? i saw bidding raching even in 80,s(still going) for a 9600pro.

thanks

I would venture to guess he's suggesting that so you don't sink too much money into this current system. Then, if you buy a new card with a new system, you won't be out too much.

[Catweazle]

I'd be reluctant to pay full retail because friends who use 9600 Pro or XT cards are already finding them quite disappointing in the latest games. Although they will run those games adequately, the full details of graphics available cannot be used.

I'd advise you to be cautious when assessing prices, and verify the specifications of the cards offered. I just checked prices here in Australia. The cheapest I could fin a 9600XT in retail was $AU170, but it was an 'EZ' version, which is underclocked and not fully featured. The cheapest price I could find for a 'genuine' fully featured 9600XT was about $AU230. And last time I looked the exchange rate wasn't too shabby! ;)

Don't, for goodness sake, pay good money for a card which isn't what it appears to be. Avoid the 9600XT EZ for sure.

[omw]

and what about the rest of my question?

[omw]

thanks man!
great help. ill keep that in mind. would the title of the product mention whether its an ez? what is ez?

[Catweazle]

The product title may or may not mention if it it a reduced feature card. Do a bit of homework by Googling 9600XT specifications or 9600XT review and then make sure you find out the details of any card you plan to purchase before you hand your money over.

Display cards use sneaky tactics, and believe me it's the graphics chip manufacturers (ATi and NVidia) who allow the 'cut-down' cards to be produced! You NEVER get adequate details from an advertisement, and the worst place to look is often the manufacturer's website product page. Information provided there can be everything except the details you most want to see ;)

[omw]

The product title may or may not mention if it it a reduced feature card. Do a bit of homework by Googling 9600XT specifications or 9600XT review and then make sure you find out the details of any card you plan to purchase before you hand your money over.

Display cards use sneaky tactics, and believe me it's the graphics chip manufacturers (ATi and NVidia) who allow the 'cut-down' cards to be produced! You NEVER get adequate details from an advertisement, and the worst place to look is often the manufacturer's website product page. Information provided there can be everything except the details you most want to see

thanks,
i compared 9600xt and 9600pro model and was amazed. pro for 160usd and xt for 145-190usd. the pro model had more pipeline engines(8 as compared to 4 of xt) and had 0.5 billion pixels/sec advantage over the xt model. ramdac(whatever it is) was also identical. alas, if only they could make things less complicated for the customers! further highlights ur point; gotta look inside the flashy title.

[omw]

hi,
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?DEPA=0&description=14-102-331&ATT=Video+Cards&CMP=OTC-17exta6

they didnt mention pipeline engines(4 or 8?) or i just missed something?

[omw]

i compared 9600xt and 9600pro model and was amazed. pro for 160usd and xt for 145-190usd. the pro model had more pipeline engines(8 as compared to 4 of xt) and had 0.5 billion pixels/sec advantage over the xt model.

disregard, i read 9600 for a 9700. it was a 9700 instead.

[Coconut Monkey]

You're mixing up 9600 and 9800 Pros omw (EDIT: Oh, I see it's a 9700 you were looking at). The only differences on the 9600XT over the Pro are higher clockspeeds (usually - the standard XT has 100Mhz more on the GPU), thermal monitoring (alas, not all models have this) and a different manufacturing process.

[omw]

hi,
thanks for ur input. u mean to say that some 9600xt might have thermal monitoring and some manufactured by others may not. or none ofthe 9600xt has that monitoring?

a question.........nvidia5700le or 9600xt?

[Coconut Monkey]

The 9600XT should have thermal monitoring, but alas some models do not.

Given that choice, the 9600XT for sure (check the clockspeeds though - the 9600XT has a 500Mhz core and at least 600Mhz on the memory).