Upgrading from Radeon 8500 to Radeon X300

[George W. Bush]

I am upgrading from Radeon 8500 64 MB (AGP) to Radeon X300 128MB (PCI Express) for no cost at all. Should I do it, or is the X300 less capable in gaming?

I also have this question about the AGP vs. PCI express thing going on between the cards...

[Amourek]

It will cost you the price of a motherboard unless yours has both AGP and PCI Express support.

Also a X300 isn't really an upgrade... it's a slower card but with more features/newer architecture.

[PennyArcade]

well, you'll need to replace your motherboard... unless you have a fancy pcie and agp board (Do those exist?)

It looks like the x300 is about on par with a 9600, it would give you more power than your 8500. If it is for free, then I would get this and use it as a stand in card while the other higher end cards are going down in price. Again, you'll probably need a new motherboard and make sure your cpu and ram can be supported.

[George W. Bush]

The motherboard supports DDR RAM - but need to double check the AGP / PCI capabilities.

[Amourek]

well, you'll need to replace your motherboard... unless you have a fancy pcie and agp board (Do those exist?)

It looks like the x300 is about on par with a 9600, it would give you more power than your 8500. If it is for free, then I would get this and use it as a stand in card while the other higher end cards are going down in price. Again, you'll probably need a new motherboard and make sure your cpu and ram can be supported.

They exist, but are rare. And their AGP performance is really horrible because they basically bastardize it so it runs off the regular PCI bus.

If it's a X300SE it's basically the PCI Express version of the 9200 (which is slower than a 8500). If it's a regular X300, it's closer to a 9600.

[bmaz]

I am upgrading from Radeon 8500 64 MB (AGP) to Radeon X300 128MB (PCI Express) for no cost at all. Should I do it, or is the X300 less capable in gaming?

I also have this question about the AGP vs. PCI express thing going on between the cards...
I am 99% sure you don't know what you are talking about.
Post the model of your motherboard so I can officially say that what you propose is impossible.

You need a motherboard with a PCI express slot to run a PCI express video card.
Don't confuse PCI express slots with PCI slots these are completely different.

[George W. Bush]

bmaz, you are right - I have no idea what I am talking about until I find out the details of my motherboard - I am pretty sure it is not able to support PCI express cards as it only has an AGP one - I know that I am using an ABit mobo that was purchased 3 years ago.

[crimsona]

Cutting holes in your card to make it fit will NOT work.
PCI express boards have only come out in the last year. Therefore I'm 100% sure you will not be able to make this pointless upgrade.

[George W. Bush]

The model is a Radeon x300, but the chipset is a x300 se.

Now, I have the Radeon 8500, and I think - from what I hear that the se versoin of the card is slower than the Radeon 8500, and it is not worth upgrading?

What other $200 or so CDN videocards should I then get instead?

[Riflem@n]

The 9800Pro will be a nice upgrade for you, coming from a 8500.

[George W. Bush]

I would like to get something in the middle of the road video card. Nothing too expensive, nor something that would not be usable for the next 2 years.

The slot for the x300 is a PCI slot on the MOBO - an Asus P5AD2-E-Deluxe

The 9800Pro is an AGP card? No?

[cjpark]

a 9800pro would probably be good enough for you, and it is agp. check the BST forum and you can pick one up for around $175 or so.

[Hurk]

Yes, the 9800 Pro is a great upgrade. You can find them on the boards for $170-$220 (Usually closer to $170)

Even a 9500 Pro, 9700 non-pro, 9700 Pro, 9800 non-pro would be awesome for you. Do not get an SE, EZ or 9600 cards unless it's the 9600 XT.

[Amourek]

I would like to get something in the middle of the road video card. Nothing too expensive, nor something that would not be usable for the next 2 years.

The slot for the x300 is a PCI slot on the MOBO - an Asus P5AD2-E-Deluxe

The 9800Pro is an AGP card? No?

Confused. Are you ditching your Abit mobo and upgrading to the Asus P5AD2-E?

[akwok]

The 9800pro would be a significant upgrade if and only if the CPU does not bottleneck it. Since the motherboard is 3 years old, the CPU is most likely a first generation P4, and which greatly hinder the full potential of the 9800pro. I'm talking about the 1.4,1.6,1.8A P4's.


Confused. Are you ditching your Abit mobo and upgrading to the Asus P5AD2-E?
Yeah... what? :confused:

Cheers,
-akwok

[George W. Bush]

Well, yes, I am thinking of upgrading the MOBO + chip as well - to a P4 3.0 GHz, Asus P5AD2-E-Deluxe MOBO with a good ATI card (or nVidia perhaps)?

[PennyArcade]

If you are upgrading your mobo and CPU, you're thread title should be changed to something like:

"upgrading, need vid card recommendations"

because if you get an x300 with a p4 3ghz, the balance would be way off.

For vid cards, I would recommend a 6600gt. Best bang for the buck these days. They are a little pricier at $240 though.

On a note about your mobo and cpu, I would recommend amd64 and a nforce4 mobo. Better bang for your buck.

[akwok]

Make sure the mobo has SLI capabilities too; future friendly if you need a quick GFX boost.

[Cafe_333]

It all comes down to what your budget is. You're already upgrading the mobo and cpu. Everyone agrees you should get a better video card than the X300, but if it's over your budget, you're gonna have to go with this anyways since your new mobo will not support AGP cards. And it's for free too as you've said.

You can feel better about the X300 having more bandwidth and an earlier post mentioned that it's on par with a 9600, so anyway you look at it, it will be better than what you have now, especially if your budget doesn't accomodate for a better video card. Plus your 8500 doesn't have DX9 support, so now you will be able to play the better games :D

[Amourek]

Go for a 6600GT PCI-E at least. Might also want to consider A64 instead of Intel depending on your needs.

[fitbrit]

Now I'm convinced that this is the REAL G.W. Bush. :)