[Newbie] What's a good PCI-x upgrade from a 9700 card?

[Xophile]

Hi!

New member from Sweden here...

I'm currently running a P4C 2,4Ghz, 1Gb RAM and a 9700 non-pro and thinking about upgrading to a brand new 939 motherboard, an Athlon 64 3000+ (or maybe higher) and a decent PCI-x graphics card. I don't play as much as I used to but enjoy playing HL2, Call of Duty, Empire Earth II and would love to be able to play Age Of Empires III when it's out.

What do you guys recommend me buying? I thought about a 6600GT but that doesn't really seem like a "wow!" upgrade from my current 9700. I then thought about a X800XL card but that's just way too much money for me. I need something "in between". Maybe I should wait for the x800GT card to arrive?

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

/Matt

[herulach]

Arg!! Its PCI-E, PCI-X is for servers.

But anyway, pretty much anything (short of a 6200\x300) is gonna give you a bump in speed. It might be worth waiting till 7800GT is more widely available, which i would imagine will bring 6800 prices down some, same goes for ATi and r520

What kind of budget are you talking?

[Xophile]

Well, sorry if I didn't use the right terms... If you read my topic it said [Newbie] which might explain it...

My budget is about 200USD (sice cards tend to be priced higher here in Sweden, 200USD seems close enough)

[herulach]

Well, sorry if I didn't use the right terms... If you read my topic it said [Newbie] which might explain it...

My budget is about 200USD (sice cards tend to be priced higher here in Sweden, 200USD seems close enough)

I wasnt having a go, it just kind of annoys me cos so many people do it. For that price (assuming prices get converted properly going to euro zone, is sweden euro zone? im not big on geography) Then youre looking at a 6600GT new. Although you might find a bargain on a forum/ebay if you dont mind buying second hand.

[Xophile]

Sorry if I sounded harsh, wasn't my meaning

Sweden is not in the "euro zone" yet but a member of the EU. We have our own currency but that'll probably change in a few years...

Do you really think I'll be happy with such a "small" upgrade. if you look at toms hardware a 6600GT is faster than my 9700 but not that much faster. Maybe a 6800Le card or is the LE a really bad thing?

[herulach]

Sorry if I sounded harsh, wasn't my meaning

Sweden is not in the "euro zone" yet but a member of the EU. We have our own currency but that'll probably change in a few years...

Do you really think I'll be happy with such a "small" upgrade. if you look at toms hardware a 6600GT is faster than my 9700 but not that much faster. Maybe a 6800Le card or is the LE a really bad thing?

It depends what you mean by happy, if the money needs spending then go for it, if it was me id be happier saving up for another couple of months and getting something really kickass a bit further down the line.

[Scarlet Infidel]

Id think the 6600gt would be a quite a significant upgrade especially when combined with the new processor.

6800le is similar to the 6600gt in performance, the only advantage with the 6800le is that in some cases it can be unlocked and overclocked to run closer to the 6800gt.

In the uk you can sometimes find a plain 6800 in your price range so i dont know if you can find one of those for a good price.

[999tigger]

If you dont run in 1600*1200 then a 6600GT would be good or the x800GT.

[S1nnless]

if you don't run 1600*1200, u have also the possibility to run 1280*1024 4AA or AF. For this, X800GT is better than 6600GT. You also can wait for X800GTO, or buy one X800 vannila

[plesuvius]

I would skip the generation and go for a 7800 (!) or a next gen ATI chip. You can generally get away with this (you dont wanna know how long I had a GF2MX 32mb for....)

[herulach]

Holy revival. The X800GT wasnt out at the start of this thread, or id have suggested it, but it does seem to be the one to go for at the moment