Graphics worth updating?

tomasjoad

Geek Trainee
Hi,

My computer is:

athlon xp2400+ mounted on a via km266 (Shuttle sk41g barebone)
512+256 ddr 333mhz kingston value ram
3dclub ati radeon 9000
seagate pata 320 gb 16mb buffer
DVD Pioneer dvr111
samsung syncmaster 203b

I am thinking on upgrading the graphics card as I can't play some games in my radeon. I know the system is quite old but what do you think about an asus 7600 gs agp card?

I am afraid it is too much for my system, mainly because the CPU could act as a bottleneck, the system could get quite hot (as it is a barebone) and the PSU is only 200W so I don't know if it could deal with a 7600gs (even I've read that 7600 is not very power demanding).

It is not a very balanced system but I am not in the mood to buy a new conroe (even being a great CPU). Any idea or comment?

Thanks.
 
tomasjoad said:
PSU is only 200W
i'm surprised your system runs on a 200W PSU, for that spec i wouldn't recommend less than a 350W decent brand PSU like Antec or Enermax check out Big B's PSU Sticky for a full list of decent PSU brands theres also a list of not so good brands

Edit: you should upgrade your PSU first, then think about your grfx card
 
Ah, those Shuttle's. The PSU's they use are pretty good, so you might be able to run a 7600GS. If you run into stability issues relating to more juice being required, then you'll need to look to Shuttle for a beefier unit or modify the Shuttle case to accomodate a regular ATX power supply.
 
So appart from the PSU issue, do you think is a good upgrade? Or too much graphics for such a CPU? (bottlenecking)

Thanks, folks. : )
 
It's probably the best safe graphics card upgrade you can do. If there is a bottleneck, it wont' be that much, and will at least be a reversal of your current situation. If you went for a 7800GS, then you'd be in a CPU bottleneck for sure, not to mention a definite power concern.
 
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