right now, i have a ati radeon 9800pro 256mb in my pc, i would like to upgrade this card.i think i have to look for the following:AGP is the only i can use.PSU?I use 2 monitors.My question: what is the best agp videocard for me, which i can use with my psu,and will it be benificial. I would like to stick to this system until next winter before i upgrade to Vista/fsx/etc.system specs.Asus p4c800 deluxe 875P Pentium 4Intel Pentium 4 s478 3.06-512 Box 800FSB2*512 DDR PC400 3200Ati radeon 9800 pro agp8x 256mb ddr2maxtor 120Gb 7200 rpm u 133 8mb 6y120poSoundblaster 4/ creative inspire 4.1 4400case A-open HQ48 Pro midi tower 300 wattMonitor 1 iiyame 21"hm903 dt aMonitor 2 relisys 19" regars,rick

Looks like maybe a better power supply to start with :-)I have the same MB with a P4 3.0 running at 3.15 and pulled the 9800 out in favor of a BFG Geforce 7600 GS OC 512 and things are much better. Also, moving up to 2mb ram helped things along...I didn't want to sink too much money into this system since I was saving for a full new build within a couple of years.

going from 1mb to 2mbram is (just sticking in) am i right? Is this difficult?bfg geforce 7600 is possible on 300Watt?I wan't to do the same, update this rig a little so i can run fs9 ok and wait for a new rig next year. RickPent 4 3.0 1024 ht/offasus p4c800hd 200gb 4 partitionsmaxtor 7200 rpmati 9800pro 256 cat 5.1221"IIyama crt19" relisys crtwin xp sp2 CH yoke + pedals+ 1dell 1hp laptop for asv ivae etc

found on the internet that this card uses 350 watt. Changing psu is that difficult, because they are not so expensive.what i want to do is change my psu,videocard agp and extra memory.Sells for about 140 Euro's here in Holland (Geforce 7600)RickPent 4 3.0 1024 ht/offasus p4c800hd 200gb 4 partitionsmaxtor 7200 rpmati 9800pro 256 cat 5.1221"IIyama crt19" relisys crtwin xp sp2 CH yoke + pedals+ 1dell 1hp laptop for asv ivae etc

Yes, going from 1gb to 2gb sure helped. I had two 512 3200 like you and added another two of the same brand. I didn't want to add just a single 1gb as then you'd have to run in single channel mode rather than the faster dual.No, not hard to do, you just need to be careful with the ram and follow all the precautions. The power supply is not difficult either as it just bolts into the case from the back (could have bottom brace) and all wires have standard plugs. It's the heaviest part of the system so you must be careful not to bump into the more delicate items in the case etc.With that video card comes another power cord adapter that you need to run from the power wires to the card.Go with as much power as you can afford.. your PC will only draw what it needs. I run 450 W and next system will start with at least 650 I'm sure.Also, if you can afford to jump up one more notch on the video card, look at the 7800 series. I didn't want to spend that much but really wanted that one.Be ready to clean out the inside of the PC if it's been a long time, it will be dusty.Only problem I had changing from ATI 9800 AIW to the GeForce 7600 was that I didn't get all the ATI drivers out before I changed hardware and now giving me problems doing it. (some of my trouble is SP2 upgrade before)Just be sure and clean out all old video drivers first...

ok i made up my mind in the following weeks i go for this;- Extra memory 2 x 512 DDR pc400 3200 (so i can keep running dual mode as you adviced) and have a total of 2048 mb- New Psu minimum 500 watt- New Agp videocard still looking, i think yours is nice (7800), but i always used a ati, and now they have this xt1950 coming for AGP. Can't really find a benchmark between these cards.I don't expect a real fps increase, but maybe the scenery etc will load better. Two questions i still have:You are using a 512mb card, is this better than 256mb? In my bios agp size range from 4 to 256 mb, so if i buy a 512mb is it possible with my motherboard?I really need to hold of buying a complete rig, i know pci and a better cpu is what i need, but i decided to wait and look how fsx is developing, i cannot see how it's possible to tun pmdg md11 and fsx in all it's glory.

>- New Agp videocard still looking, i think yours is nice>7800 but i always used a ati, and now they have this xt1950>coming for AGP. Can't really find a benchmark between these>cards.Sure, many use ATI with great results.. This is the first I have not used ATI in a system. Just reporting that I saw happy improvements for lowest investment with what I bought.If you have not visited, perhaps this can be of some helphttp://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php>Two questions i still have:>>You are using a 512mb card, is this better than 256mb? In my>bios agp size range from 4 to 256 mb, so if i buy a 512mb is>it possible with my motherboard?Remember, I have the same Asus motherboard :-)You know, some say they don't see improvement above 256mb on video but as long as it's available with all the other specs you want... why not ? But for example, check the performance of the 256 GT versions over 512 GS versions. The Aperture size in the bios ONLY tells the PC how much of your RAM to reserve for video use (AGP shares system RAM) so once you have at least 256mb on the video card, there's not much use in reserving RAM that can be used for better purposes. It does not tell the system how much is on the Video card.>I really need to hold of buying a complete rig, i know pci and>a better cpu is what i need, but i decided to wait and look>how fsx is developing, i cannot see how it's possible to tun>pmdg md11 and fsx in all it's glory.Well, I've done none of these improvements with FSX in mind. I don't have FSX yet and am not worried about getting it anytime soon.

thanks for your replys, no i know were to go.Still there is one thing bothering me. My videocard is 256mb, so some suggest to put agp size to 128mb or even 64. But when i have it 256 my texture loading is much more faster.anyhow this one is going out, and i am problaby going for the club 3d x1950 pro 256mb, cost 200Euro and think it is the fastest agp card these days, although i have not yet seen benchmarktest for this one. Looked also for 512mb but this not for the x1950 agp.RickPent 4 3.0 1024 ht/offasus p4c800hd 200gb 4 partitionsmaxtor 7200 rpmati 9800pro 256 cat 5.1221"IIyama crt19" relisys crtwin xp sp2 CH yoke + pedals+ 1dell 1hp laptop for asv ivae etc

>thanks for your replys, no i know were to go.>>Still there is one thing bothering me. My videocard is 256mb,>so some suggest to put agp size to 128mb or even 64. But when>i have it 256 my texture loading is much more faster.>>anyhow this one is going out, and i am problaby going for the>club 3d x1950 pro 256mb, cost 200Euro and think it is the>fastest agp card these days, although i have not yet seen>benchmarktest for this one. Looked also for 512mb but this not>for the x1950 agp.You are welcome I'm sure.. but, I just happened to be here and just happened to have gone through the same thing with the same MB etc. there are many other members that know much more about these things in the forum. You'll see them jump in to help in the future.I tend to not be totally up on things unless I need to upgrade or solve a problem of my own and then I "cram" to get needed info. I have enough hobbies and interest to keep me busy so don't use PC itself as a fun hobby :-)As far as your Bios setting for agp memory use... go with what you see is working for you no matter what others are doing :-lol If it works it works. Seems too many variables these days even when someone has exactly the same hardware.Good luck with your choices on hardware and be sure to follow directions to keep static electricity from doing you in when you upgrade. Don't forget to be ready to clean the dust out of everything inside.

Hi,well, I recently replaced the ati 9800xt in my Dell 3.0Ghz system with 1Gb ram with a x1950 pro AGP. A little help for FSX, but FS9 sees a great increase in performance. I'm running everything maxed now in FS9, and wish I could increase autogen more so more houses and trees appear. I also have another 1G of ram in the mail so enthusiastically hope that will make FSX and FS9 better yet. I'm holding out for a new system for a while also. Does anyone know how the AMD 5000-5600's run FSX?; wondering if this may be a cheap way to upgrade for FSX, but really think systems available in a year or so may produce good FSX experience.Matt

Out of curiousity, what was the exact increase with the 1950 AGP for FSX.... you say a little help... alot for for FS9. I am running an old 9800Pro 128MB card, and not looking to upgrade my entire system right now, a new vid card and another 1GB of Ram (giving me 2 GB) this is as far as I am going for another year... I can't get the 1950 AGP in Winnipeg , but they have them across the border in North Dakota (2 hour drive away) or I can go with a Nvida 7800 OC model locally... can anyone comment on that card and FSX/FS9 (I will be using BOTH sims on my system)Thanks, and Happy holidays!Chris>Hi,>well, I recently replaced the ati 9800xt in my Dell 3.0Ghz>system with 1Gb ram with a x1950 pro AGP. A little help for>FSX, but FS9 sees a great increase in performance. I'm running>everything maxed now in FS9, and wish I could increase autogen>more so more houses and trees appear. I also have another 1G>of ram in the mail so enthusiastically hope that will make FSX>and FS9 better yet. I'm holding out for a new system for a>while also. Does anyone know how the AMD 5000-5600's run FSX?;>wondering if this may be a cheap way to upgrade for FSX, but>really think systems available in a year or so may produce>good FSX experience.>Matt

until now i only upgraded the memory to 2046 mb, and i am waiting for the saphire 1950 pro agp 512mb. I think it will be the latest agp available from ati but it's cheaper than the 7800 gs, it will be here in holland ...... maybe januari, hope to see a little improvement, i hate the shimmering.marry christmas and happy new year

Staggerwing, I just bought the same 7600 GS card. Im now working on which drivers to use. I have an older machine, that I want to use for a bit longer. What did you go with on drivers and were there any specific changes you made the fs9.cfg files?Eric