New mobo or get the agp card?

Bald Eagle 86

I posted this in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern but I though I'd try here as well.

So today I bought this

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInf...eries%20Family

Only to find my current motherboard, the Sis-962L, doesn't have a PCI-e slot.
Friend said to just pick up a cheap new motherboard, probably this cuz its a cheap fix
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...17943(ME).aspx

Other friend said to not get new motherboard, just return other card and get a agp card, this one
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product....aspx?curtab=2

What is the smartest move for me? don't really care about spending the extra money for motherboard,
its for the family pc and I'm planning to build my own pc in about 6 months time

Seattle Thread

None of your links work, by the way, and "Sis-962L" is a type of south bridge, not the model number of a motherboard.

So let's hypothersize: if you currently have a motherboard with an AGP slot, you likely have a Socket 939 or 478 processor. Given that finding a motherboard compatible with either of those socket types is difficult, you'll likely have to replace your processor as well. I'd budget at least $150 for that, maybe $200.

I'd day it's be worth more to just get a cheap AGP card for now.

Scrublet

The cheapest Core 2 Duo is $90. You could also go even cheaper by going AMD. Point being, if replacing the mobo winds up requiring a CPU replacement, with a cheap bundle the whole thing could be done pretty easily. But that's my opinion based on my own experiences...it would help to know what the video card is going to be expected to do. As a family PC, does that mean it won't game at all? It will game but not be expected to do a crazy good job at it? It will game hardcore because that really smart 12 year old knows enough to appreciate Crysis for what it is?

Bald Eagle 86

Thanks for the help so far, I think I am leaning towards the recommended agp card (I'll just put name instead of link)

SAPPHIRE Radeon X1650 Pro 512MB AGP w/ DVI, TV-Out

Not too high end games just like guild wars, spore and maybe half life 2 if it can get away with it

Ruckus

Bald Eagle 86 wrote: »

Thanks for the help so far, I think I am leaning towards the recommended agp card (I'll just put name instead of link)

SAPPHIRE Radeon X1650 Pro 512MB AGP w/ DVI, TV-Out

Not too high end games just like guild wars, spore and maybe half life 2 if it can get away with it

I have the X1950 AGP8X version, just for reference I run the following stats on CS:Source:

Base System: 3Ghz P4, 2.5GB DDR400, Windows XP SP3, Latest ATI Drivers (got them Saturday)

Res: 1680x1050@60hz
Model Detail: Medium
Texture Detail: High
Shader Detail: Low
Water Detail: Simple Reflections
Shadow Detail: Low
Color Correction: Disabled
AntiAliasing Mode: 4x MSAA
Filtering Mode: Bilinear

These settings keep my frames at a minimum of 30fps (average around 50-60fps).

Be aware that these same settings when I was running Windows Vista resulted in 30fps average, dropping down to 20fps during gameplay.

codetrap

I just went through this debate as well, and I decided to go for the core upgrade instead of the graphics card. I ordered all the gear from NCIX and spent just a hair over $200 including shipping.

Core2Duo
1Gig Memory
e-7150/630i GPU Motherboard

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=112-CK-NF77-A1&family=Motherboard%20Family

LaPuzza

FWIW, I got the top of the line AGP card from EVGA like 2 years ago, and the thing still holds up on my intel 3.0 Ghz unit.

Dman

Personally, you can probably get a factory refurbished computer with a better videocard, mobo, and CPU for very little.
or else just try the agp card but don't expect high FPS on half life 2, I expect spore and guild wars should be OK.

Edit: one of my machines is the same as LaPuzza and it does run portal/half life 2, but when I put the game on a new machine the difference was night and day, so much more enjoyable.

Scrublet

OP, you might want to put your computer specs up here. I can't remember for sure, but I seem to recall HL2 being somewhat CPU heavy. If that's the case, then the AGP/PCI-e question may not be the one that defines whether or not you can run it.

Bald Eagle 86

ok, this is just what im getting from device manager...
ACPI uniprocessor pc
nvidia geforce fx 5200
intel pentium 4 cpu 2.40 ghz
512 mb ram according to system properties.

This all started because I wanted to update my 5200 for spore :P
Also, I played half life 2 before on the 5200 just with everything low
so I'm not trying to get a major gaming pc going just trying to make a minor upgrade

Scrublet

Given what you've put up, definitely just get the AGP card and then if your computer uses DDR2 RAM, get some ram because it's insanely cheap and that 512MB is going to hold you up more than anything else in your system. Possibly even more than the video card.

Seattle Thread

There's no way that his compy uses DDR2. DDR is even cheaper, too.

Ruckus

Most likely DDR400 (PC3200), same as mine. You can buy 2GB for about $30.