[SBruce]

I have a NVIDEA GeFORCE 6600LX 256mb card now. I am thinking of getting an ATI Radeon 9550 256mb graphics card. I use AGP connection. I increased from a 128mb card by NVIDEA . It had an AGP 2X/4X slot. The 6600 card has an AGP 4X/8X slot. The Radeon card has 4X/8x AGP slot. Can anyone tell me which is the better card/processor. I do a lot of Flight Simming which requires a good card. I am running Xp with Pent 4/ 2.4 ghz processor on an 80GB and 250GB H/Drive
Bruce.

 

[schusterjo]

You would not notice a difference in graphics between the 2 cards.

 

[Rich-M]

Stay where you are your card is better.

 

[SBruce]

I wanted to thank Schusterjo and Rich-m for their comments. I will consider this item closed.
Thanks again
Bruce

 

[Compiler]

If you want something better - none of the $50~80 cards are going to do anything more than what you have. Next worthwhile speed bump is the 7600GT (AGP version) which is about $200 or the half speed 7600gs at $125.

 

[SBruce]

Thanks Compiler, I will look into these cards further. Is the Nvidea card better than the radeon card?
Bruce

 

[Compiler]

Nvidia. And you should refer by their model names. 6600lx vs 9550, I'd say the 6600lx could be better. I honestly don't keep up with the lower end cards (sub $100) as I consider them nothing more than DVI out-put add-on cards for business PCs. There are very few reviews of such cards.

Look at this chart for most current products:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html

I never heard of a 6600lx, but I would guess it performs like a 7300GS (2nd green from the bottom) and that would be with a Core2 system... so take such scores and cut it by 50% will be a rough estimate of your performance.

So if you went to a 7800GS = then your frame rate would ber about 70fps rather than 16fps) But at that price range, ATI's 1950PRO AGP card is the very best - at $200 - which is the same or cheaper than 7600GT-AGP or 7800gs-AGP.

Read this: http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/10/agp-platform-analysis

Hey, I just found something. the 6600XL is an OEM card made for only a few manufactures. It sits between a 6600GT and 6600(plain). So that chart above would put you about 25~30fps and its EASILY better than the 9550.

Also, video RAM doesn't always mean better. 256mb on a slow card will not make it fast.
The 4200-64mb card will always murder a 256mb GF 5200 or 5500 card.

You may enter a cross road. $200 for an upgrade card will give you a better gaming experince... and is fine if you're not planning on upgrading for over a year. But if your PC is feeling slow - that $200 could go towards a new system in which $150 gaming card would do just as fast... No more AGP systems are built. But with flight-sims, I think your system can last you for quite a while.