What is the best $200 or below video card for video games in AGP slot?

[stealthstud]

Hey guys, I currently own a Geforce 6600 GT. It's a good card but I recently bought Battlefield 2. This card absolutely blows in that game and I love the game. My video card also suffers horribly in CS: source and Half-Life 2. Because my favorite games cannnot perform well on this card, I am looking into a new video card. I still have an AGP slot and my budget at max is around $200 for the card. What is the best card available to me? Some people suggested a Radeon X1600, but I dont know the Geforce competition to that card. Fill me in . Thanks.

[kram 2.0]

The Radeon X1600 Pro isn't going to be enough of an upgrade over the GeForce 6600GT to warrant an upgrade. Battlefield 2 is known to consume a lot of RAM - the more the better. Ideally, 2GB of RAM is best, though 1GB is generally sufficient for medium settings across the board. The Source engine games (ie. HL2, CS:S) should fair pretty well with the GeForce 6600GT given sufficient amount of RAM and decent processor speed - a Radeon 9800 Pro can handle the game on high settings easily. Can you list your current full system specs?

kram

[jfk]

I don't think the video card is your problem for CSS or HL2. In fact, it shouldn't be that bad for BF2 either. What are your other specs (processor and ram). Having played it, I KNOW BF2 benefits greatly from 2 gigs of ram. Load times were halved when I went to 2 gigs. As kram 2.0 mentioned, please post your full specs.

[stealthstud]

Wait, Radeon 9800 pro is good for high settings!? When i had to choose Radeon 9800 Pro and Geforce 6600 GT, people told me Geforce 6600 GT was better... It was also more expensive.

Here's my specs:

3.06 GHZ Intel Pentium 4
1 gig RAM
250 GB hard drive
Geforce 6600 GT
integrated 5.1 audio
500 watt power supply

When I mean bad, i mean like the game is only playable on the lowest settings. I want to be able to play a higher setting and still have it smooth. Choppy graphics... bleh.

I'll consider getting more RAM.

But, is there a worthy upgrade over a Geforce 6600 GT that isnt much over $200? I'll probably add more RAM though since its cheaper.

Also, I'm getting 15 FPS on source on the lowest settings.

Thanks for input guys.

[blue60007]

What resolution? You should be able to get much much more performance than that. If HL2 is running that slow on lowest settings you've probably got a problem somewhere. My X800XL (similar to a 6800GT, the next step up) can handle HL2 at max settings (1280 res) with tons to spare. You should be able to crank up the settings pretty far. I would start with the temperatures...have you cleaned out your PC lately?

I don't think you'll get much more performance for $200...considering an AGP 6600GT is in the range of $130-$140. It'll be a performance boost, but not by leaps and bounds.

[kram 2.0]

Your current system is capable of handling Half Life 2/CS:S at high settings with a decent FPS. It is not your configuration - there clearly is a problem with how the system is running. I would assume a software problem first. Have you updated to the most recent Forceware drivers for the 6600GT? Is DX9 installed? Do you have anything substantial running on the background while you're gaming? As for hardware issues, have there been any head-related issues (crash, reboot, etc) as of the late?

kram

[glc]

Have you checked for malware? Excessive background processes?

[stealthstud]

No, I don't have a lot of processes in the background. DX9 is installed. Yes, all the drivers for the Geforce is installed. Most current ones, to be exact. My computer never crashes. I defragment my computer at a regular basis. I'll check my temperatures when I reboot my comp... but last time I checked my temperatures were fine. My CPU temperature was not even close to the danger zone.

Jesus, now knowing my comp was able to handle such high settings is kind of depressing.

Should I reinstall Windows and clean my computer completely?

I don't know if I have malware problems, if you mean viruses and such.

Thanks for feedback guys.

[kram 2.0]

It's a good idea to make sure it's not a hardware problem before you resort to reinstalling the OS. Make sure it's not a heat-related issue first.

kram

[stealthstud]

I checked the temperatures.

My system temperature is 82 degrees fahrenheit, and my CPU is 111 degrees fahrenheit.

This seems normal or better than usual. But I'm not sure. Do I need more fans?

[tomster2300]

My 6800 GT handles a lot - it's also still used in some benchmarking for professional review sites like toms hardware. You should definately be able to run CS:S maxed out with no problems with your 6600...it's not that old.


Run spybot and adaware and see if they can catch anything that might be on your computer.

Oh yeah, the 6600 is definately better than the 9800 pro, no question there. Don't worry about having the wrong card...something else is very wrong somewhere.

Right click on the desktop and go into your video card's options - I believe it's nview (pick display in the list and click your monitor) Click the temp. tab, then boot up your game. While playing alt - tab out and check the temp readings. If they're spiking while playing then you might have a faulty card or you might need to clean it. Getting the gook out from your fans and heat fins on your card does wonders in game play performance.

[blue60007]

Agreed about the video card temp and cleaning. My card had a year's worth of dust build up in it and it was bumping temps up by 10C or more. It wasn't quite to the point of hurting performance, but it was getting close.

[Anth83]

My system specs are

P4. 2.4 gig
1 gig ram
80 gig hard drive
6600 GT 256mb
Audigy 4

And counter-strike source and halflife 2 run fine.
Maybe try getting a sound card??
My FPS increased a fair bit when i brought my audigy 4.