X1950 ATI Radeon question

[ABABAB]

Hi all

I am trying to get the last upgrade on my 3.04 Pentium 4 2GB RAM with X 850 XT AGP.
I am buying a ATI Radeon X1950 512MB AGP to replace this before I have to buy a new computer to go to PCI express.
Could somebody please tell me 1) will there be much improvement in graphic power? 2) is a 450 watt PSU ok to run this? I dont use multiple applications, only run MSTS on this. and 3) what decent drivers to use re the graphics card?

Many thanks for any replies.

Cheers

ABABAB

[Lad491]

Upgrading the graphics card is unlikely to make any improvement in msts at all. Remember the msts game engine is 8 years old now. Most graphics improvements are achieved by increasing your system ram and buying hard disks with a faster response time, not changing the graphics card.

[dkightley]

As Laurie has suggested, upgrading or adding a newer hard drive is more likely to improve MSTS performance.

If your motherboard will support SATA 300, then one of these will do the trick:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=862658

[jbilton]

Hi
I think you will see an improvement as the 850 is now quite old.
However you might have wanted to go for a Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3650 512MB AGP , or if you could afford a little more a Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3850 512MB AGP .
As the 1950 is also getting a little old too.
Power supply wise you have to be carefull, 450w reads to be the mnimum, and a lot of these ATI cards require a special connection.
Upgrading the HD is a good idea.
Cheers
Jon

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Componen ... 000+Series

Use this link for PSU info http://ati.amd.com/CertifiedPSU

[ABABAB]

Thanks for the replies all. I think what I'll do is update to ATI Radeon 3850 512MB (thanks jbilton) and get a 600 watt PSU. I appreciate I really need a sata hard drive but will put this off for now. As mentioned I keep forgetting MSTSis 8 years old now, however, judging by feather river and some of the latest pro train titles i.e. pro train 25, the graphics seem to keep getting that bit better all the time, lets hope it stays that way.

Cheers

ABABAB

[tomtoon]

have you got RS yet though, the graphics upgrade would also be good for that aswell.

[ABABAB]

Hi All

Its me again. Just found out I am running my X850XT on PCI Express X4 not X16. Its a P4V800D-X motherboard.
What I would like to know is, has this X850XT not been running its full potential i.e. X4 mode instead of X16? The motherboard does not support X16. The motherboard also has an AGP 8X slot. So if I buy a Radeon HD 3650 AGP 8X, would I notice an improvement in graphics?
I will be getting the 512 MB version. Also, I think I can keep my 450 PSU (i.e. keeping down the cost of the last replacement for my AGP system).

Many thanks for any replies

Cheers

ABABAB

[dkightley]

As far as MSTS is concerned, probably not.

[jbilton]

Hi
I think PCI-E is meant to be faster than AGP....what I don't know is whether PCI-E 4x is faster than AGP 8x.
Your going to have to do some research on a gaming benchmark website.
Cheers
Jon

[tomtoon]

AGP 8x is faster than PCI-E 4x