What Graphics and memory to upgrade?

redman

My set up:

Intel Duo Dual Core 6300
Asrock 775DualVSTA motherboard
This board will support AGPx8 and PCI-E (only x4 PCIE apparently)
1Gb DDR Ram
Gainward Nvidia 6800 card 256Mb
19" LCD running at 1280x1024

Wondering what to change next?
I use it mostly for Video Editing and Gaming.

1) What graphics card to upgrade to?
Want of course to spend as little for a noticeable difference for somthing that will last another year before I move to a DX10 card(once they are cheaper).
What to go to to see a difference - a 7900GT or a x1950XT ?
or stick with going to a 7600GT for the moment from a value.
Found it difficult to make comparisons with my base 6800 on sites.

2) Thinking it would be wise to go to 2Gb Ram?
Can change the 1Gb DDR for 2Gb DDR or 2GB DDRII
The board supports both, up to 667 apparently.

I've had a look at Tom's hardware and aandtech but would appreciate some local input.
All advice welcome!

8T8

Is it a stock 6800 no GT/Ultra if so a 7600GT easily out paces it as for the PCI-E 4x that would put a dampener on things at the high end but seeing as 1280x1024 is your top resolution something along the lines of a 7600GT or perhaps even a 7900GS should do nicely.

Slightly better than a 7900GS is the ATI X1950 Pro it also has HDCP support which may come in useful at some point.

As for RAM it doesn't really matter which type get 2GB of whichever is cheapest though DDR2 would be reusable in a newer system.

redman

8T8 wrote:

Is it a stock 6800 no GT/Ultra if so a 7600GT easily out paces it as for the PCI-E 4x that would put a dampener on things at the high end but seeing as 1280x1024 is your top resolution something along the lines of a 7600GT or perhaps even a 7900GS should do nicely.

Slightly better than a 7900GS is the ATI X1950 Pro it also has HDCP support which may come in useful at some point.
QUOTE]

Thanks for the reply, yes its a basic sotck 6900 with no GT/Ultra. I presume I should go the PCI-E instead of sticking with AGP even with the 4x dampener?

8T8

Well I read that Anandtech review of that board that compared the AGP & PCI-e performance and the AGP was a smidgen better but I don't think it is worth getting an AGP card just for that since your choice is more limited and you cannot re-use the card in a more recent system.

The 7600GT should do the job though the 7900GS or X1950Pro may be a better choice if this is to last another year given there are only €40 more & the number of badly coded poor performing games that are prevalent these days so the more power the better.

The 4x PCI-e link would become a hinderince at the high end like 1600x1200+ but seeing as your nowhere near that it should not be a problem.

redman

8T8 wrote:

Well I read that Anandtech review of that board that compared the AGP & PCI-e performance and the AGP was a smidgen better but I don't think it is worth getting an AGP card just for that since your choice is more limited and you cannot re-use the card in a more recent system.

The 7600GT should do the job though the 7900GS or X1950Pro may be a better choice if this is to last another year given there are only €40 more & the number of badly coded poor performing games that are prevalent these days so the more power the better.

The 4x PCI-e link would become a hinderince at the high end like 1600x1200+ but seeing as your nowhere near that it should not be a problem.

Many thanks for the advice!

Redman

redman

PC format rave about a Powercolor 1950Pro in this months issue.
Can't find anyone that sells it - do any of you know?

8T8

OcUK has them but the only distinguishing thing I can see about them is that they come with one of Arctic Cooling's Accelero X2 units instead of the stock cooler which is decent enough to begin with anyway.

redman

Many Thanks!

redman

Many thanks 8T8!

secret_squirrel

I've just upgraded to the same mobo (see my other thread).

Im waiting on the passive Gigabyte 7600Gs with hdmi to be released, if that helps? This will replace my current 6600 GT.

Its for a htpc so huge performance isnt required.

redman

I await the Powercolor 1950Pro (my first venture away from nvidia) with 2Gb DDRII ram and wil share stats with you....