Old Rig... for Gaming?

[hurricane25]

Hi

I have a PC with this config:
Mobo: nVidia nForce 4 nf4xk8mc-rs
Proc: AMD Athlon XP 3500+ overclocked @ 2.4 GHz
GF Card: GeForce 6200 TC PCI-E
RAM: 1 GB DDR1
Using a Sony EX300 TV (22") @ 1366 X 768 res

Can I use this gig for some casual gaming, by upgrading the graphics card? Esp at 1366 X 768 res. Willing to shell around 3 to 4k max, more than tha wud rather buy a new rig...

[funkysourav]

you can go for msi or powercolor hd4670
great value card
but be sure to buy a good psu(if you dont have a good one)

[hurricane25]

@sourav

concerned abt spending 4.2k on this rig... is it worth it with 1gb ddr1 and PCI-E 1.0 ver, or wud it be a bottleneck (cpu + pcie + ram)?

was checking out XFX HD 4650 512mb @ 2.9k...

hd 4670 i hear is a gr8 card... will i see the perf in my old rig?

and my PSU is a basic one.. zebronics premium 400W

[Sam]

HD4650 512Mb is a better option i feel without changing the PSU. go for it than.

[Cool Buddy]

@hurricane25, does your motherboard have a PCIe slot? If HD4650 is available under 3k, that would be good solution for you. Don't spend too much on that rig. no matter what you think right now, you'll have to do a full upgrade within 2 years. So better start saving for that.

[hurricane25]

thnx for the gr8 advice guyz...

@Cool Buddy
ya... but its PCIe v1.0 (not 2.0).. so another bottleneck!!!

sorely tempted by the HD4670, but guessing PCIe v1.0, the CPU, RAM and mobo are too much of a bottleneck !

can anyone give me an idea of the perf boost i get migrating from XFX 6200 TC to HD4650 512MB ? GDDR2 only is available under 3k.. not the GDDR3 ver.

[funkysourav]

no,
pcie 1.0 slots can handle hd 4670 and hd4650 in their full glory
pcie 1.0 slot proves to be a marginal bottleneck for hd5870 and above
so don't worry
go for hd 4670 or 4650

[pimpom]

I agree with funkysaurav. In the pre-PCI-E days, people often thought they would see a serious drop in performance if they used an AGP 8X card in a 4X slot, but that was not the case. High-end AGP cards saw a slight drop, that's all. In most cases, the cards are not powerful enough to utilise the full potential of bus bandwidths. The situation is the same with PCI-E.

[hurricane25]

thanks all...

decided on Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 512 MB DDR3. Unfortunately, itz not available in any of the Chennai stores (however I easily get the 1 GB ver for Rs 4600/-... surprising!!!)

Any idea abt the lack of these cards guyz?? All the shops I visited (even reliable ones I trust like Challenger Comp, Delta ~ those who know the Chennai scene) are pushing the 1 GB ver. What should I do guys, and y the lack of this model? From what I understood, the diff of an extra 512 MB VRAM is hardly worth the extra card for a gfx card of this range...

Or should I buy it online @ theITWares for Rs 3950??? TheITWares -Sapphire Radeon HD4670 512MB PCI-E 2.0 Graphics Card - TheITWares

[Sam]

^^ 512Mb model sold out. as the card isn't very fast so 512Mb or 1Gb, performs same (valid to HD5670 also). so the 1Gb model is left behind. if you wish can get it from IT wares (Rahul, owner IT wares) is very helpful. talk to him once. also for 4600, you can sneak in a HD5570.

[Piyush]

^^whats the price of 5570 nowadays?