Getting X1950Pro for old rig?! Need suggestions.

[Zenith]

Hello everyone.

I would like to give my old rig some breath of fresh air, so I am thinking of getting new graphic card Sapphire X1950Pro 512 AGP8x DDR3. Currently, I am using Point of view 7600GT 256Mb DD2 which is clocked unfortunatelly at 560GPU and 400Mem. This sounds more like 7600GS with this clocks.

So will I get some improvement of my system or should I put this system somewhere in basement and buy second hand e6400/8800gts_oc/2g_ram_ddr2 rig?

I am playing mainly old titles from year 1999 like NFS4, Rayman2, using lot of voodoo emulator, also wanna try NFS:MW with 60fps and high settings.

Regards, Robert.

 

[PaulieG]

Obviously, You'll get way more performance out of a new C2D build. However, from what you are wanting to do with your machine, that card would be more than fine and give you a decent boost over your 7600GT. Whether it's worth it or not depends on how much you'd have to pay for the x1950pro.

 

[Zenith]

It would be around 100€ for X1950pro vs. 400€ for c2d second hand system.

 

[insider]

A second hand ATI 3850 AGP card would make more sense.

 

[HolyCow02]

I liked my Diamond x1950Pro 512MB before I got my 4870. Hell I ran crysis with medium settings on it. It will be more than enough for your old games.

 

[zithe]

If you can grab an x1800xt, they are about the same as an x1950pro at stock but overclock more.

Either one will give you a decent bump in fps.

 

[Zenith]

I owned Sapphire 3850 AGP and expirienced lot of problems with it. In NFS:MW I was getting only 20FPS on minimum settings and lot of lag, while I was getting almost 60FPS on minimum settings with 6800GT (unfortunately it was defective second hand, so I returned it to previous owner).

Hoping that 1950 will not be so problematic like 3850 because it is older card (like geforce 7 series, which haven't been problematic for me yet). I guess lot of problems can be solved with drivers, but as we know, Sapphire doesn't have great support for AGP user. And Ati/Amd also.

 

[suraswami]

Where are you? If you are in the US check out FS thread

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=72619

Hey 1950pro AGP is awesome card. I can get around 95FPS @ 1280*1024 med settings in BF2. So you should get more than that 7600gt.

 

[Zenith]

I am from Slovenia, EU. Maybe I will give x1950pro a go and try it out. But I am going to be very unhappy person if it acts the same way as 3850 did

 

[mullered07]

ok for a start you are cpu limited, that single core old p4 is going to be the limiting factor and going from a 7600gt to a x1950pro is not going to give a big boost (if any, noticeable anyways) in games,

my advice is to save until you can build a budget c2d system, say a e1200, 2gb ram, motherboard that will get you 2.6-2.8ghz and a gpu, then you can keep ur old hdd, psu, case and dvd drive, heres what i did for 215 euros

100 euros for a x1950 pro is too expensive, if you are hell bent on just upgrading the gpu, you should look for some etailors in the eu outside of slavakia that will ship there because you can get a lot better gpu for your money

 

[KainXS]

ok for a start you are cpu limited, that single core old p4 is going to be the limiting factor and going from a 7600gt to a x1950pro is not going to give a big boost (if any, noticeable anyways) in games,

my advice is to save until you can build a budget c2d system, say a e1200, 2gb ram, motherboard that will get you 2.6-2.8ghz and a gpu, then you can keep ur old hdd, psu, case and dvd drive, heres what i did for 215 euros

100 euros for a x1950 pro is too expensive, if you are hell bent on just upgrading the gpu, you should look for some etailors in the eu outside of slavakia that will ship there because you can get a lot better gpu for your money

i agree with what he said

 

[suraswami]

ok for a start you are cpu limited, that single core old p4 is going to be the limiting factor and going from a 7600gt to a x1950pro is not going to give a big boost (if any, noticeable anyways) in games,

my advice is to save until you can build a budget c2d system, say a e1200, 2gb ram, motherboard that will get you 2.6-2.8ghz and a gpu, then you can keep ur old hdd, psu, case and dvd drive, heres what i did for 215 euros

100 euros for a x1950 pro is too expensive, if you are hell bent on just upgrading the gpu, you should look for some etailors in the eu outside of slavakia that will ship there because you can get a lot better gpu for your money

Actually that is the way to go, you might as well save up and buy a C2D system during christmas, the prices will be lower by then.

 

[BrooksyX]

Sometimes you just have to gut it out, I agree just wait and upgrade when prices drop.

 

[Zenith]

Since I don't have tight budget, I have decided to start with E8400 chip. It has best price/performance ratio?! Any opinion?

Next thing take into consideration would be which motherboard (chipset) should I buy? Well I am going to try maximum overclock that processor will be able to give on air cooling.

 

[eidairaman1]

If you can grab an x1800xt, they are about the same as an x1950pro at stock but overclock more.

Either one will give you a decent bump in fps.

he is on AGP dude

 

[eidairaman1]

I am from Slovenia, EU. Maybe I will give x1950pro a go and try it out. But I am going to be very unhappy person if it acts the same way as 3850 did

i dont know how your 3850 ran, but my system runs COD 4 smooth, im not sure what the frame rates are, but i guess the game does Auto Detect, i only pumped the Resolution to 1280x1024, and i notice no hickups, Project Torque i noticed a Hiccup here and there, but im not sure if its Teamspeak or what.

 

[Formula350]

I heard the AGP 1950s OCed way better than PCIe variants, why not sure. On that note, if you check my system specs you can see my cards OC. The only people I've seen with higher clocks are AGP, a FEW with the newer Pros on the GT PCB and liquid cooled. My RAM speeds though I think are still surpassing even lots of those =}

I'm upgrading to a 4670 here this month, and if you got a C2D system, that 4670 would be a cheaper and better buy than the 1950.

 

[eidairaman1]

I heard the AGP 1950s OCed way better than PCIe variants, why not sure. On that note, if you check my system specs you can see my cards OC. The only people I've seen with higher clocks are AGP, a FEW with the newer Pros on the GT PCB and liquid cooled. My RAM speeds though I think are still surpassing even lots of those =}

I'm upgrading to a 4670 here this month, and if you got a C2D system, that 4670 would be a cheaper and better buy than the 1950.

ive tried overclocking mine, it locks hard, dont know what SW to use or w/e, especially when the card runs cool anyway.
all depends on price too.

 

[Formula350]

Well, between a LONG LONG thread on OCing the 1950 Pros, my BIOS tinkering and (don't tell W1zz) ATi Tray Tools... That's all mine took. Mind you, I got a IceQ 3 Turbo setup for my Sapphire

 

[eidairaman1]

ya I had a HIS and then this Sapphire, both single slot coolers, also another point, this sapphire is already clocked beyond stock (Factory OC). Another point what was your powersupply? Where did you obtain the ICEQ cooler?

 

[Formula350]

ya I had a HIS and then this Sapphire, both single slot coolers, also another point, this sapphire is already clocked beyond stock (Factory OC). Another point what was your powersupply? Where did you obtain the ICEQ cooler?

My PSU is still my 5~ year old Antec TruePower 430w. I got the cooler by emailing HIS and saying I bought a card used w/o all the cooler stuff and gave them a part number off a card from NewEgg's picture I had to pay $40, but I did NOT want an Accellero setup, I wanted my exhaust vented outside the case. And considering I traded a friend my 1600xt and a 9700pro for this card, $40 was a decent deal.

 

[Zenith]

Can anyone who has this card post me their 3dmark03 results (default settings), please.

Thanx, R.

 

[Copenhagen]

Can someone post the clock speeds that they were able to get with this card. I have the HD 2600 XT card and the clock speeds on it are leaving a lot to be desired. Is it possible that I can get a 1950 XT to out perform my card?

Being as how I'm still on the AGP Bus for now. I may just wait and try one of the ASRock boards out. That way all I really have to do is buy a new Processer and Board. And upgrade peice by peice later.

However if I can find a cheap 1950 XT for now I'd like to play with it.

I can't seem to get the HD 2600 to Overclock. I am not that privy with OC'ing GPU's anyway. I keep hearing people talk about flashing the bios and making setting in PowerPlay...but no step by step instructions really.

If someone can direct me to some step-by-step instructions either on this forum board or another on that would be great. I've been googling for three days straight and all I can seem to find on the Visiontek HD 2600 XT DDR3 512MB AGP card is someone either wanting to sell one or complaining on how bad of an experiance they have had with it. But mine runs fine. Except I can't get it to Overclock. Do I need to uninstall the CCC maybe? Because I can't even get ATI Tool to load up...it just hangs up and does not respond...I end up haveing to go in Task manager and end it.

Any help would be really helpful,
Thanks
-Cope

 

[eidairaman1]

The 1950 Pro does outrun the 2600.

 

[Formula350]

The 1950 Pro does outrun the 2600.

PCIe as well, hence me still using a 1950 Pro!