Graphics Card recomendations

[JustinDixon]

you know, deks, that you could have an amazing gpu but you limit your card's speed by the comp's CPU as well. If the CPU cant handle what it needs to handle, it'll slow down your gpu - I dont know why. It's common knowledge in the gaming world.

[proteus33]

what good cards are there for regular pci slot. whet i got my hp computer in 2005 to get it witha agp slot i would have had to get and amd processor.
and i really wanted a pentium 4. i am currently using a 128 meg card by radeon from walmart. card cost 67 bucks. but its the only pci card i have seen in my area all the others are either agp or pci express.

[Jedilaw]

Be careful of your power supply, as well. Recent Nvidia GPUs have been real power hogs, and a lot of them require their own molex connector rather than drawing what they need from the AGP bus or the PCI-E bus. I believe the 6600+ series GPUs need their own power connections, but I may be wrong. I'd recommend at least a 400w PSU if you're going to power a higher-end GPU.

[Deks]

Originally Posted by D4327

you know, deks, that you could have an amazing gpu but you limit your card's speed by the comp's CPU as well. If the CPU cant handle what it needs to handle, it'll slow down your gpu - I dont know why. It's common knowledge in the gaming world.

Of course I know that, but for now I only have an option to upgrade my graphics card, and I`d rather have a newer card that would still be able to take more than x1650 Pro for example.
Games are not that important to me ... I only play on very rare occasions and mostly use the comp for Max work ... the card will be more than adequate to run numerous new stuff decently along with Max.

My CPU is AMD AX 2600 + (overclocked to 2.1 GhZ), and 1 GB of DDR RAM (400 MhZ).
It IS an old system, but a tad tweaked which should be just enough for what I need and to hold me on the green line for another 2 years in the graphics department when it comes to Max).
My power supply is 400 W one, which is I suppose adequate, but I could churn out some money possibly to upgrade that as well if required.

[startrekfan001]

the system as it sounds doesnt look too old. i think a new 6600 can keep you going. i wouldn't take the best, cause its more expensive and its of no use in your system. if you wanna take the card to your next computer, and it falls within your budget, take a 6800 GT or XT. those will provide you with the speed you need for the next 5 - 10 years. they are vista ready. also, as a small upgrade, you may want to upgrade your CPU first. your RAM seems fine for the moment. upgrade your CPU to at least 3200+ when you can. After that, think about adding 1 gig of RAM. your computer will last another 5 years.

[Samurai]

I think the FX5700 is one of the most widely used cards in amateur (no disrespect intended) 3D workstations- I know of at least four people here alone who have had one at some point, and indeed I'm still using mine- it's always interesting to see trends like this.

for 3D work, most of the advice above is fairly sound- I'd go for a 6600GT or 6800GT rather than a brand new "downgraded" card thats been chopped back for AGP 8X and put the money saved towards a new PC fund- that way you get a decent spell of longevity from your GPU, enabling you to begin saving for a new system.

Putting a latest greatest GPU into an older machine is false economy, as others have stated- you'll find that your GPU will process information wonderfully quick, only to bottleneck in other areas like RAM or FSB.

[Pic-A-Card]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I think the FX5700 is one of the most widely used cards in amateur (no disrespect intended) 3D workstations- I know of at least four people here alone who have had one at some point, and indeed I'm still using mine- it's always interesting to see trends like this.

In my old PC, I had a 5950, and I think I'm the only dude who ever bought one (because they immediately came out with the 6000 series).

[Pyrocitor]

Wow, I didn't think I'd get a response this fast, thanks guys

I'm running an AMD Athlon 2000 1.66Ghz 1Gig RAM, and I think its a PCI slot
I'm willing to pay up to about US$150

We're just upgrading what we can afford to at the moment, as so far we've upgraded the RAM and the monitor (which was fairly expensive, although we needed it, cos the old one was about to stop working), eventually I'll upgrade the motherboard and cpu aswell

[Viper]

I think you'll find hard to get anything decent for PCI. AFAIK, there's only Geforce FX for PCI and only the low ends. Anything up from that is non existent.

[Ares Blackmane]

Asrock motherboards are cheap and work just fine, so getting one and a Nvidia 6600 card should fit your budget. Unfortunately they don't have one with a PCI-E slot for the Socket-A processor you appear to have, only AGP.