Hi,At this stage I'm just curious as to whether it would be worthwhile upgrading my Saphire ATI 9800 Pro 128MB GPU to the AGP variant of the ATI X800 XT/PE 256MB card?There are, of course, a number of considerations, not least of which is whether my current CPU would hold it (the X800) back significantly. I am not able to install a CPU faster than 2.6GHz and I doubt whether this upgrade would result in a noticeable difference in system performance in any case.The other factor is the growing interest in PCI Express and the likelihood that AGP slots on new mainboards will be gradually phased out over the next year or so. I had not intended on uprading my Mainboard until it became imperative to keep pace with developments in the software market. Currently the Gigabyte 8IRXP continues to perform very well, handling demanding games like HL2 and Doom3 with general aplomb, and I have really no complaints with the performance of my highly customized FS9 but, like everyone else, it would be nice to have some additional performance headroom built in for the future ;)I would not wish to change out my motherboard at present as it would entail an enormous amount of work to get everything reinstalled and reconfigured and, perhaps more importantly, I would hate to risk losing my system's stablility.I think all I'm asking is whether shelling out on a new GPU like the X800 would be sensible in terms of any significant performance gain with my existing hardware platform? Or should I just hang on for a while until it becomes necessary to carry out a general upgrade?Thanks.MikeP4 2.4GHz (400FSB), 1Gig PC2100 DDR Crucial, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (Omega 2.5.97), SB Audigy (5.12.0001.0443), Hyundai ImageQuest Q17 17" TFT LCD 20ms Monitor (1280x1024x32), Gigabyte GA-8IRXP MoBo, Ultra-Quiet PSU 400W, WinXP Home (SP2), DirectX 9.0c, AGP Aperture = 128MB

I can't really tell because I upgraded from a 2400+ to a 3500+ Athlon64 at the same time as I upgraded from a 9700 Pro to the X800XT. However I'd guess that with the slower CPU, you'd be more CPU bound and only notice the difference when using high resolutions and lots of FSAA / AF.

Hi Mike,I posted this some months ago in another thread:"When I received my X800 Pro last summer I tried to be scientific about upgrading to it... received it as a gift from my wife and really wasn't sure if it was worth what she paid for it. I benched my 9800 Pro (softmodded to XT w/ 128MB) in this sim with all of my preferrred settings and then with the sim choosing the "default" settings for my hardware. I saw approximately 20% gain in FPS at my settings and 25% at the sim's defaults with the X800 Pro. After modding the X800 Pro (it is a VIVO w/ 1.6ns memory) to XT-PE specs I saw approximately 35% and 40% respectively.But that didn't mean much to me. With my 9800 XT I locked my frame rates at 24 and they're locked now at 27 (a 12.5% gain). What I really gained (and this was brought up by others in their replies) was flexibilty. I can do alot more with the X800 XT-PE than I could with the 9800 XT (and it was no slouch... I was quite happy with what that card did for me)."I know you lock your frames, so FPS isn't a major concern to you. But an X800 series card will give you more choices in how you configure your graphics. Having said that I'd recommend waiting a few months for the SLI based systems to mature and settle in price. Here's my reasoning:I recently got the upgrade bug and started purchasing parts. I started with some G.Skill LE memory (as hard to find here in the U.S. as Osama). And then my quandry... what to do with that killer AGP card my wife bought me last summer. Do I set it aside and go with an SLI system, or hang onto the AGP card a few more months? In the end I decided to build the system around the AGP card. Much of my study on SLI convinced me that I'd like to see a bit more time for it to mature and settle. The total price now for a new CPU, motherboard, and SLI X850 XT would be more than $900.00US, so I've ordered a 3500 Winchester and Neo2 Platinum for less than half that price. In a few months I'll revisit the SLI issue and make a major upgrade then.Hope this helps,Greg

My advice would be not to upgrade for future games now. Upgrade when you really need it :). Computer hardware will not always be cheaper but you will get more performance for the same amount of money :). So if your computer treats you well keep it until you have a game that really demands a faster computer and then upgrade :).

Thanks everyone for, as ever, your very helpful words of wisdom :)On reflection, I think I'll hold fire for a while and get some calamine for that upgrading itch meantime...LOLCheers!MikeHey Greg, I see we are both still using the 2.5.97s. Good drivers and very stable and RadLink works like a charm.

"Hey Greg, I see we are both still using the 2.5.97s. Good drivers and very stable and RadLink works like a charm."Actually I have upgraded to the 2.6.05A's, just haven't had time to change my sig (will probably leave it as is until I finish my hardware upgrade). The 05A's work just fine, just like the 97's. Omega still hasn't released anything for the Cat 5.2's which makes me wonder if he didn't see any need to do his magic to them (perhaps he didn't see enough reason since there isn't much difference between the 5.1's and 5.2's) or if he's become a complete prisoner of WoW.Greg