Hey guys. The other night my video card gave out on me so I'm back in the market and am trying to determine how high to shoot with it's replacement. My old card was a 256 MB GeForce 6800GT which was doing the job, but since I have to purchase a new card anyway, I'd like to get as much of a card as I can benefit from. The catch is my motherboard requires an AGP 4x/8x card so the glut of PCIe cards out there are out of the running for me. Here is what I'm running currently:
Motherboard: DFI Lanparty UT 250GB
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3400+
Memory: 1024 MB of Corsair Value Select
PSU: Seasonic SuperSilent 400W active PFC PSU
2 IDE hard drives
2 DVD drives (1 RW, 1 ROM)
PCI sound card
PCI TV Tuner
Samsung SyncMaster 204B LCD monitor (Native resolution is 1600x1200)
Given my current processor, RAM, and the PSU powering them and all the other components how much of a card can I (a)safely power and (2)make good use of without other components like my CPU bottlenecking the system long before the video card tops out?
As a start I was considering these 512 MB cards on NewEgg:
XFX PVT71AYDF3 GeForce 7950GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail
BFG Tech BFGR76512GSOC GeForce 7600GS 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail
I'm a little concerned about what appears to be a high failure rate on the XFX card, but I really need to know more what family of cards to look at first before I worry about the specific brand. Any and all input would be much appreciated as I've gotten a bit out of touch with these products again.
Thanks in advance
Motherboard: DFI Lanparty UT 250GB
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3400+
Memory: 1024 MB of Corsair Value Select
PSU: Seasonic SuperSilent 400W active PFC PSU
2 IDE hard drives
2 DVD drives (1 RW, 1 ROM)
PCI sound card
PCI TV Tuner
Samsung SyncMaster 204B LCD monitor (Native resolution is 1600x1200)
Given my current processor, RAM, and the PSU powering them and all the other components how much of a card can I (a)safely power and (2)make good use of without other components like my CPU bottlenecking the system long before the video card tops out?
As a start I was considering these 512 MB cards on NewEgg:
XFX PVT71AYDF3 GeForce 7950GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail
BFG Tech BFGR76512GSOC GeForce 7600GS 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail
I'm a little concerned about what appears to be a high failure rate on the XFX card, but I really need to know more what family of cards to look at first before I worry about the specific brand. Any and all input would be much appreciated as I've gotten a bit out of touch with these products again.
Thanks in advance