Video card advice

MaxNorris · Jun 4, 2009, 10:54 PM

Looking for a bit of advice on a rather tight budget video card replacement.

The system is an Intel Core2Duo Wolfdale running at 3GHz, 2GB memory, windows XP SP3. The motherboard is an ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2, which as I understand can be rather picky about video cards. It has both an AGP 8X and a PCI-E 4X slot.

I was originally running an older nVidia 7800GS OC AGP, which did its job fairly well, but starting to run into memory issues.. lots of artifacts/stray pixels, even in text mode, and this is from a cold start. (Not overclocked or overheating, literally cold.) I yanked it and put my really old ATI X850 in just to be able to do my work; it's not a bad card by any stretch but lacks Shader Model 3 support. Fairly sure it's the board anyway as the X850 is not showing any artifacts whatsoever.

I've zero experience with PCI-E; from various Google searches I'm under the understanding that AGP 8X and PCI-E 4X is more or less the same speed, with PCI-E having the edge of being bi-directional.

The system is mostly for work (hence XP instead of Vista) but I do game on it occasionally.. I don't need bleeding edge high resolution, and DirectX10/SM4 is totally a non-issue. The 7800GS did rather well with Crysis, Mass Effect, TR:Underworld and the like at full blast at a lower wide-screen resolution which I could live with.

I'm looking at three options. First, BFG says I can RMA my card, which costs me nothing, I know the card and I'm ok with it's performance.

The other two options are both ~$100.

The first is a Sapphire Radeon HD 4830 PCI-E, the other is a Gigabyte HD 4650 AGP.

Given the constraints, which option would give me the best performance? The links above go to NewEgg's product pages for the cards in question.

Thanks

Judas · Jun 4, 2009, 11:09 PM

if you can find a HD4770.... grab that sucker... i'm fairly confident that it'll work on the PCI-EX 4 slot just fine...

I had a HD3870 working on a PCI-EX 4 slot some time ago, and while yet it did show a minor hit compared to pci-ex 16.. the pci-ex 2.0 4x slot more then did the job... i don't know but if your machine is using a agp slot.... it probably uses a 1.0 4x slot so you'd likely suffer a slightly larger hit compared to my configuration.... however it's definitely better then agp

~~RE III - Frankie~~ · Jun 5, 2009, 01:06 AM

Yes. PCI-EX definitely. If you upgrade, chances are you won't be able to find an AGP board now. SO if you go PCI-EX you can put that card in a new system.

**kris23** · Jun 5, 2009, 01:09 AM

4770 overall 4830 if you cant find it....

remember, they need a 6-pin adapter

MaxNorris · Jun 5, 2009, 10:22 AM

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Yea, a motherboard upgrade is going to happen... eventually. (My system is very low priority on the money food chain, mostly just used for work anyway.) The 4CoreDual-SATA2 was an in-between upgrade; had the funds for a big processor upgrade (from an Athlon XP to a Core2Duo 3.0GHz) but couldn't get a video card too. The board has both types of slots, granted the PCI-E is a little gimped at 4X. Power supply does have a 6 pin for PCI-E, altho I think the card I'm looking at has an adapter too for the old style, so I should be covered either way.

Looks like I'll be shooting for the Sapphire Radeon HD 4830. Not state of the art but still looks like a hefty upgrade from the 7800GS.. and to be honest between driver issues in both Windows and Linux, I'm kind of fed up with nVidia for the time being too. Card won't be running as fast as it can, but if I read things right, it should at least run as fast as the 7800GS, which was good enough for my needs anyway.. anything faster is just icing on the cake.

Judas · Jun 5, 2009, 11:28 AM

I seriously suggest that if you can track down a 4770.... GET IT over the 4830..

but either of the cards should perform on average roughly 3 times as fast in modern games even at the 4x cruch speeds

MaxNorris · Jun 5, 2009, 11:50 AM

Yea I was looking at that 4770 series ATI, and it does look rather tasty, but I'm kind of limited in my options. The 4CoreDual-SATA2 is notoriously picky about what video cards it will work with.. ASRock has a list of cards known to work. There's another group that updates the BIOS non-officially, adding some more support, fixing a few glitches, etc.

The 4770 isn't on either list unfortunately, and from the unhappy messages I've read from other owners about getting burned on incompatible cards, I'd rather not chance it. The 4830 (granted a different manufacturer, but same chipset) is officially supported though.

And this is why you shouldn't skimp on a motherboard ;D

Jun 4, 2009, 10:54 PM	#1
MaxNorris DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	Video card advice Looking for a bit of advice on a rather tight budget video card replacement. The system is an Intel Core2Duo Wolfdale running at 3GHz, 2GB memory, windows XP SP3. The motherboard is an ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2, which as I understand can be rather picky about video cards. It has both an AGP 8X and a PCI-E 4X slot. I was originally running an older nVidia 7800GS OC AGP, which did its job fairly well, but starting to run into memory issues.. lots of artifacts/stray pixels, even in text mode, and this is from a cold start. (Not overclocked or overheating, literally cold.) I yanked it and put my really old ATI X850 in just to be able to do my work; it's not a bad card by any stretch but lacks Shader Model 3 support. Fairly sure it's the board anyway as the X850 is not showing any artifacts whatsoever. I've zero experience with PCI-E; from various Google searches I'm under the understanding that AGP 8X and PCI-E 4X is more or less the same speed, with PCI-E having the edge of being bi-directional. The system is mostly for work (hence XP instead of Vista) but I do game on it occasionally.. I don't need bleeding edge high resolution, and DirectX10/SM4 is totally a non-issue. The 7800GS did rather well with Crysis, Mass Effect, TR:Underworld and the like at full blast at a lower wide-screen resolution which I could live with. I'm looking at three options. First, BFG says I can RMA my card, which costs me nothing, I know the card and I'm ok with it's performance. The other two options are both ~$100. The first is a Sapphire Radeon HD 4830 PCI-E, the other is a Gigabyte HD 4650 AGP. Given the constraints, which option would give me the best performance? The links above go to NewEgg's product pages for the cards in question. Thanks

Jun 5, 2009, 01:06 AM	#3
~~RE III - Frankie~~ BANNED Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Castle Mansion Paradise 113 Posts: 1,200 Rep Power: 0	Re: Video card advice Yes. PCI-EX definitely. If you upgrade, chances are you won't be able to find an AGP board now. SO if you go PCI-EX you can put that card in a new system.

Jun 5, 2009, 01:09 AM	#4
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 5,229 Rep Power: 64 System Specs	Re: Video card advice 4770 overall 4830 if you cant find it.... remember, they need a 6-pin adapter __________________ Driverheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (9/4/09) New i5 systems with more to come! Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Jun 5, 2009, 10:22 AM	#5
MaxNorris DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	Re: Video card advice Thanks for the suggestions guys. Yea, a motherboard upgrade is going to happen... eventually. (My system is very low priority on the money food chain, mostly just used for work anyway.) The 4CoreDual-SATA2 was an in-between upgrade; had the funds for a big processor upgrade (from an Athlon XP to a Core2Duo 3.0GHz) but couldn't get a video card too. The board has both types of slots, granted the PCI-E is a little gimped at 4X. Power supply does have a 6 pin for PCI-E, altho I think the card I'm looking at has an adapter too for the old style, so I should be covered either way. Looks like I'll be shooting for the Sapphire Radeon HD 4830. Not state of the art but still looks like a hefty upgrade from the 7800GS.. and to be honest between driver issues in both Windows and Linux, I'm kind of fed up with nVidia for the time being too. Card won't be running as fast as it can, but if I read things right, it should at least run as fast as the 7800GS, which was good enough for my needs anyway.. anything faster is just icing on the cake.

Jun 5, 2009, 11:50 AM	#7
MaxNorris DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	Re: Video card advice Yea I was looking at that 4770 series ATI, and it does look rather tasty, but I'm kind of limited in my options. The 4CoreDual-SATA2 is notoriously picky about what video cards it will work with.. ASRock has a list of cards known to work. There's another group that updates the BIOS non-officially, adding some more support, fixing a few glitches, etc. The 4770 isn't on either list unfortunately, and from the unhappy messages I've read from other owners about getting burned on incompatible cards, I'd rather not chance it. The 4830 (granted a different manufacturer, but same chipset) is officially supported though. And this is why you shouldn't skimp on a motherboard ;D