Update needed

[Spino]

Thanks a lot Spino !

Neat little programm, it seems like I do own an AGP motherboard - not surprisingly since I bought the rig at least two years ago.

So where do I go videocard wise, other than the X1950 pro, I doubt I'd be able to go for the better Nvidia cards like the 7600 gt and the 7900 gt...

FYI, the 7600 GT is much slower than the x1950 Pro or 7900 GT. I don't advise spending too much (over $200) on a new AGP video card because regardless of whether you upgrade your motherboard & processor or purchase a new system either selection will force you to buy a PCI-ex video card. When that time comes I doubt you'll be happy about using an expensive AGP video card as a paperweight. What video card you should buy depends on the other components in system. What is your processor and how much RAM do you have?

ran M2TW maxxed out(normal unit size) and it had a bad framerate but you could play it. So, more RAM and some more video power can do the trick.
I'm willing to spend and hopefully I can get a nVidia 7950GX2 with 1024MB so I can finish the deal once and for all. 3x512MB DDR2 RAM coupled with these video beast should do the trick.

Thank you for the program. I found out some VERY interesting things which made me very happy.

PCI Express 16x
4 RAM slots... only 1 occupied!!!
DDR2 RAM
L2 cache 2048KB

And this didn't make me happy: L1 cache 16KB.

I have a ASUS P5GD2-X motherboard. How good is it?

Your current system is very nice with lots of room for expansion! Upgrading so you have 2gigs of RAM is wise but you might want to get one, possibly two 1gig sticks of RAM instead of three 512meg sticks. Why? Because if you decide to upgrade to a new processor and motherboard you need to keep in mind that most motherboards can only handle two or three sticks of RAM. Be sure to keep your upgrade options open and purchase quality DDR2 RAM that can also be used in an AMD 64 X2 or Intel Core 2 Duo capable system.

The 7950GX2 card is certainly top of the line but it is also ridiculously expensive and requires a ton of power. Other than that the only drawback to putting that card in your system is that it will be definitely be 'held back' by your P4 processor, meaning there's only so much data that the older P4 chip can send to the 7950GX2. Not that you won't see smoother framerates but only the high end AMD 64 X2 and Intel Core 2 Duo chips will help you make the most out of a 7950GX2.

One more drawback to the 7950GX2 is that the new 8800 cards are going to be released by mid November. This should drive down prices of the 7950GX2.

Don't worry about the 16KB L1 cache; that's the processor's primary internal cache which is typically small because it is made of very expensive RAM that can keep pace with the processor's internal clock speeds.

[edyzmedieval]

I found a very good thing on sale, don't know how good.

GeCube ATI Radeon X1900 XTX

PCI Express 16x
512MB memory
...and other stuff.

Aproximately 230 quid. Kinda expensive.

About the memory, I could only find these 2x512 MB packages. They didn't sell 1GB sticks.

[Dutch_guy]

FYI, the 7600 GT is much slower than the x1950 Pro or 7900 GT. I don't advise spending too much (over $200) on a new AGP video card because regardless of whether you upgrade your motherboard & processor or purchase a new system either selection will force you to buy a PCI-ex video card. When that time comes I doubt you'll be happy about using an expensive AGP video card as a paperweight. What video card you should buy depends on the other components in system. What is your processor and how much RAM do you have?

Well I have an Intel Pentium 4 2.66GHz processor and 512 Mb RAM.

Oh and in what way exactly do memory (RAM) and processor have anything to do with which videocard one choses ? I can understand why knowing your processor is needed, something I don't yet for memory.

Also, I thought relatively powerfull videocards like the 7600gt, or the more powerfull 7900 and x1950 pro, weren't able to function with an AGP Motherboard - don't know why I thought so, but judging from the quoted, this isn't necessarily so. Or am I wrong ?

[x-dANGEr]

@Dutch Guy: There is an AGP version of the 7600 GT, same goes for the x1950 pro (As Spino says).

[Dutch_guy]

@Dutch Guy: There is an AGP version of the 7600 GT, same goes for the x1950 pro (As Spino says).

Ah ok, thanks for mentioning that. The card seems to be just what I'm looking for, a reasonably priced card which can run most current and new games (think M2TW) on an acceptable level.

[Spino]

Well I have an Intel Pentium 4 2.66GHz processor and 512 Mb RAM.

Oh and in what way exactly do memory (RAM) and processor have anything to do with which videocard one choses ? I can understand why knowing your processor is needed, something I don't yet for memory.

Also, I thought relatively powerfull videocards like the 7600gt, or the more powerfull 7900 and x1950 pro, weren't able to function with an AGP Motherboard - don't know why I thought so, but judging from the quoted, this isn't necessarily so. Or am I wrong ?

I just wanted to get an idea of what your system could do. Based on your processor and RAM I really don't advise spending too much to upgrade your current system. If you intend on keeping that system for another year or so then consider upping the RAM to 1gig and getting the AGP version of the 7600 GT. Even if you upgrade your RAM and get that 7600 GT don't expect really smooth framerates when you try to run the latest games on that machine.

Basically I think you're much better off saving as much money as you can and then upgrading to a new system in the next six months.