Is my Graphics Card really the bottleneck to my computer?

Gundamflare · Post by **Gundamflare** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:28 am

Specs:
Asus A7N8X2.0
AMD Athlon XP 2600+
512 DDR Ram - No idea what brand
GeForce 3 Ti 200 (laugh)

Anyway, when I play a game like WoW which would run perfectly on my inspiron 5150 - 3.6 intel/GeForceFX5200 Go/512MB the game would face severe video lag and just run generally not so well. I've been meaning to upgrade that video card (geforce 3) and throw in some ram but not sure if this upgrade is worth it cost wise. Should I just build a new system? I feel as if maybe a cpu upgrade will take me the while. Could use some input, cost effective if possible. Thanks in advance

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:01 am

look at getting a 6600GT card for about $150 - $200

or if you have a little more cash maybe a 6800GT
and i would get 1GB of ram if you can, use 2 sticks so you can run dual channel.

not sure of your budget or what games you play though.

drdoug99 · Post by **drdoug99** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 9:15 am

I would say the FX5200 is probably a little better too, you have to consider the Geforce 3 is 2 generations behind the FX5200, even though it was high end for the time...and WoW is a new game, having DX9 I assume, and other advanced features that the FX5200 supports, versus the GeForce 3, which wouldn't support some features, as it's a DX7 card I think...

I agree with Mark about a 6600GT or 6800....they will blow away what you have..

Futurama_fan · Post by **Futurama_fan** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 9:38 am

For certain you need a new videocard!
As for me, I think that it's better have a good VideoCard (probably GeForce, but I use Radeon 9800), as you can upgrade your PC any time and you won't need upgrade your Video.

WarriorII · Post by **WarriorII** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 3:38 pm

Vid card & think about adding more memory. (+512)

the newer games are starting to "hog" it up.

A_old · Post by **A_old** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 9:42 pm

yup vid card