NWN2 My game won't update

I posted this list in another thread (the top 5 AGP models):

1) ATI X1950 Pro (excellent AGP card that is cheaper than a 7800GS and performs approximately like a 7900GT PCIe... so much for AGP being "dead" or too slow )
2) GeForce 7800GS+ (with the same G71 chip and specs as the 7900GT PCIe)
3) GeForce 7800GS+ "budget" (with 20 pixel shader units like a 7900GS PCIe instead of the 24 shaders of the card above)
4) GeForce 7800GS (the original, regular model that is not a direct PCIe derivative)
5) GeForce 7600GT

Click to expand...

Because of your CPU (which is decent but not really high end) and your RAM ("only" 1024MB), I'd say that the 7600GT is currently the most reasonable option.
The 7800s are overpriced and the ATI would only really take off if you had a faster CPU (say a 3200+/3500+ or faster) and 2048MB RAM. The ATI should be around $220 while the 7600GT is about $50 cheaper. ATI also has higher end models of the X1950 Pro with 512MB GDDR3 RAM.

It depends... if you are planning on upgrading or maxing out your current platform some more in the future then it might make sense to get the ATI, i.e. if you are also planning on getting a faster CPU and more RAM (another 1024MB) one of these days.
However, if you don't want to invest a lot more money into your "old" system and want to make the switch to an entirely new (Dual core-, PCIe- and DDR2-based) system in the not too distant future then you should probably just get the 7600GT.

As a final piece of advice in case you want to go for the ATI: Make sure to check your power supply. The ATI consumes quite a bit more power than the 7600GT. You should have a good brand p/s with at least 350W for the ATI. If the power supply was included with your case then I hope that the case manufacturer put in a decent model .

Sounds pretty reasonable. My guess is the mb is maxed out at 1gb of ram. So not too much point in spending a lot on this old box. You may just want to scrap the whole plan unless all you need is a gc. I still don't know what all you have. Some info like this would be nice:

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name Bob's your Uncle
System Manufacturer ABIT
System Model 6A69RA1K
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 6 GenuineIntel ~1.2 Ghz
BIOS Version/Date 7Award Software International, Inc. 6.00 PG, 2/6/2002
SMBIOS Version 2.2
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
User Name
Time Zone Central Standard Time
Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 115.23 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 922.79 MB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

Btw if you do go with the 7600gt agp then you won't be able to switch that to a newer mb unless it supports agp, which most newer mb do not they are all pci-x.

One of the exceptions, dual agp pci-x:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2814

Also there is this card, a candidate I suppose. The big thing here is it 256 pipe as opposed to the 128 for the 7600gt, and with the rebate, it's cheaper. There will probably be some pretty good deals on second tier agp cards as the 1950pro is really blowing them out. There are still quite a few peeps out their with old agp systems so there is a market. Agp lives. Tough old bird to kill.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143046

ffbj said:

One of the exceptions, dual agp pci-x:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2814

Click to expand...

True. That board is not a bad choice BUT you need to be aware that the PCIe slot on that hybrid board only has 4 PCIe lanes instead of the regular 16 lanes so it's more of an AGP board than a PCIe board. At least it's not suitable for highend PCIe cards so the usability of the PCIe slot is somewhat questionable. They might as well have made it a pure AGP board. Oh well...

I personally got a (sort of) hybrid system at the moment as well. I got an Asrock Conroe 865PE. It's got socket 775 for Core 2 Duo (I got an E6300) and an AGP slot and standard DDR (PC-3200) slots. The difference between this board and the one you linked to (Dual VSTA) is that mine has no PCIe slot and is based on the (IMHO better) Intel i865PE chipset. The board, CPU and cooler cost me about EUR 200.00. It was a good deal because now I can continue to use my "old" 2048MB RAM and GeForce 7800GS. I'm very happy with the upgrade so far and I'm hoping that I won't have to get an all new system before late summer or maybe even later (mostly depends on how fast DirectX 10 is going to become a "must").

Yep. I researched all the dual boards and came to the same conclusion you did. I was just tossing that one up as an example. I went with the asrock 775i65g coupled with a p4 3.06, not the greatest but at 140 for the combo not too bad. Plus the i65g will support core2duo. I decided on the middle course as i could have gone for a better board, but one that would not support core2duo.

There is also this article coupling newer gc with older processors:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/10/agp-platform-analysis/page12.html

That article is perfectly on topic for the discussion above. Very interesting stuff. Thanks for the link .