video card, with AGP slot, handle COD4?

joseph brand

looking for a good video card, AGP slot, to run COD4, or Bioshack?

Is it possible? Is AGP on way out, should I just bite the bullet and upgrade Mobo?

I don't have much money due to our wedding in 3 weeks, Eeeek!!!

Thanks in advance,

Kev.

shrapnel222

i would have thought the 3850 could handle it, but to be fair it won't handle any future (or other current games). i think it might be best to get a new mobo and a new GPU in one go which will last you a few years, rather than getting a new GPU (if they keep making them for AGP) every couple of years at least.

sink

The Radeon HD 3850 is a very decent card that will play all modern games and is availble in AGP. Expect to pay around 120 euro. However your CPU could be a bottleneck. What CPU do you have?

joseph brand

Thanks for replies.

My CPU is Intel P4 2.8 Ghz. 1 core.

Do I need dual core? Just yesterday i bought 1GB Ram, to upgrade from the current 512 (shame). Will have to buy another 1 GB when funds allow. If I can get the brother to give some cash to the project should have the money then.

My mobo is Biostar i848-P, 2004 Intel, AGP slot, 2 RAM slots up to 2GB. 5 PCI slots.

Would I get few more years outta this mobo, with more RAM and new AGP card??

sink

That CPU is going to cause a serious bottleneck. The i848p uses a socket 478 for which processors are no longer produced. Second hand are still avaible through some outlets but only single core processors were ever made for that socket. I wouldn't bother upgrading this machine and would instead save up for a new system.

You should check out the budget gaming pc thread.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055278463

gamer

BUT if you wanna play games like cod4,ut3 at res over 800x600 ,you wont be able to do this cos action games now are being designed for dual core 2gig cpus,it makes more since to build or buy pc,with dual core 2.0ghz 2gig ram,win xp os.Dont spend more than100 euro or just sell the pc on adverts.ie and get a dual core pc,in gaming terms that pc is almost obsolete ,in regard to action games,you might get a secondhand 8800 agp card,cheap that,ll run games for another 6 months.MOST fps games since 2007 are DESIGNED for dual core pcs.

TerrorFirmer

2.8Ghz is a serious bottleneck, even if you could get that up to 3 or 3.2Ghz it'd help - the 3850 will still be bottlenecked but it'll still perform better then your current card. What is your current card? I know in one review, they were able to get almost 5k on 3dmark06 out of a Pentium 4 with the 3850, which is pretty damn good considering the slow cpu.

joseph brand

Current card is G force Fx 5700, 256 MB, :eek:. Old as the hills I'm sure.

only thing worth keeping seems to be the Audigy sound card.

sink: That CPU is going to cause a serious bottleneck. The i848p uses a socket 478

Thanks for reply. How do you find out the socket number?

from gamer:

MOST fps games since 2007 are DESIGNED for dual core pcs

Looks like its a dual core processor for me then. Thanks.

TerrorFirmer

Christ.....an Fx5700

The good news that even a 60-70 euro AGP card will decimate that old 5700 in modern games. In fact, I doubt the 5700 can even run a lot of the latest games at a playable level save for at very low settings.

I'd advise that you either upgrade in a very limited fashion, or assemble funds for a new PC altogether.

Check out Adverts.ie, always a few AGP cards floating around there that offer good value for money.

sink

You can find all the info on the 848p chipset here.

http://support.intel.com/products/chipsets/848p/index.htm

Anti

I think the op shoudl be able to get some playable framrates with a new card liek the 3850, but its a waste of money as if and when he upgrades the card will be useless.

OP. Have a look at a dirst cheap dell pc and just add on a graphics card and some ram. That'll do you for a few more years.

Joeface

Nephew system runs COD 4

He has an ATi X850XT PE 256mb

AGP card and runs fine @ i think 1280x1024, He does have a 3.06ghz HT cpu which does help and a gig of ram

Card was 40 on ebay i think or cheaper

Anti

Yeah the x800 series are monsters. But wont play dx 9.0c or dx 10 games well. Also remember the card only supports SM 2.0b and PS2 and moderm games use sm3 or 4.

Im sure it will run the game, but it will look like your playing the first call of duty.