[BGA]

My favorite game Civ IV is crashing periodically and I think that my Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB is overheating.

So my question is should I get a new card or should I get an additional fan for the 9800?

Its not in my budget to spend a lot of money. I have a $100 gift card to microcenter(.com). Right off the bat I was looking at getting a new card with shaders 3.0 so that I can play the new CoD that I bought but can't play because the 9800 only supports shaders 2.1, but then I read that memory bus width is very important and the new budget cards, even the 512MB ones, typically only have a 64-bit bus width whereas my 5 year old 9800 has a 256-bit bus width, so I'm worried that a new budget card won't deliver the same performance as my old, overheating card.

So I have roughly $100 to spend, I could go a little over, need to buy from microcenter, could take either PCI or AGP, and I have a 380W Antec power source.

Would you buy a new, budget, card or would you buy a cooling fan for the old 9800?

All input is appreciated!

[redk]

This would be an improvement.
http://microcenter.com/single_produc...uct_id=0282426

[BGA]

Originally Posted by redk

This would be an improvement.
http://microcenter.com/single_produc...uct_id=0282426

Thank you for your reply. Indeed I did spot that card but I notice that it is only a 64-bit whereas my old 9800 is a 256-bit. Do you think that isn't an important difference? I heard that it is but I don't know...

Is there any comparison of the 2400 and the 9800?

[Carbon]

Bus width doesn't matter because the memory speed on newer cards is so much higher. But it's not worth putting $100 into any non PCI-E card, honestly.

[BGA]

Originally Posted by Carbon

Bus width doesn't matter because the memory speed on newer cards is so much higher. But it's not worth putting $100 into any non PCI-E card, honestly.

Thank you for your reply.

My motherboard will only support PCI or AGP, and I simply can't afford to upgrade my entire system at the moment.

The Radeon HD2400 that redk listed has an effective 800MHz memory speed. My old 9800 is 700MHz.

[redk]

Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB GDDR2, DirectX 9, 380 MHz Core, 350 MHz (x2) Memory,

Radeon HD2400 512 MB DDR2 , DirectX 10, 525 MHz Core, 400 MHz (x2) Memory

So yeah, Not only is the HD2400 updated, its got better specs too.

You could always chip in a bit of $ and get the HD3650
http://microcenter.com/single_produc...uct_id=0298243

Radeon HD3650 512 MB DDR2, DirectX 10.1, 725 MHz Core, 400 MHz (x2) Memory

[BGA]

redk, my power source is an Antec True Power 380S (380W), and that 3650 that you mention requires 400W. Do you think that my 380 would run it okay?

[redk]

It'll run fine on your PSU, especially an Antec.
I'm running a 400W card on a 350W generic PSU, so yours should hold up fine.

[Carbon]

Originally Posted by BGA

Thank you for your reply.

My motherboard will only support PCI or AGP, and I simply can't afford to upgrade my entire system at the moment.

Well yeah, I assumed. It's just that there's no sense throwing good money after bad in this case, but it's your call (especially if you have $100 to blow at Microcenter). With prices for hardware in the toilet now you can pick up a complete system without a graphics card for $350 then throw $100 at a 4830 and absolutely massacre the HD2400, so spending $100 on a PCI card sounds kind of silly.

The Radeon HD2400 that redk listed has an effective 800MHz memory speed. My old 9800 is 700MHz.

You can't really compare graphics cards by pure numbers. The HD2400 uses GDDR3 which is much, much faster than DDR on the 9800 Pro.

[BGA]

Well I bought the 3650 last night and installed it. Right on the box it says that a 300W psu is required so all the net info is wrong. The 3650 is not nearly as good as my old, overheating 9800. While the 3650 has twice the ram, it also has only half the memory bus width and half the pixel pipes. Civ 4 was choppy and when I tried to play CoD modern warfare it crashed. I'll return it tomorrow.

Well yeah, I assumed. It's just that there's no sense throwing good money after bad in this case, but it's your call (especially if you have $100 to blow at Microcenter). With prices for hardware in the toilet now you can pick up a complete system without a graphics card for $350 then throw $100 at a 4830 and absolutely massacre the HD2400, so spending $100 on a PCI card sounds kind of silly.

Someone on another forum said something similar to this. What kind of system could I get for so little?