Any Riva TNT2 M64 upgrades?

[Fox Blade]

Hello all. I have come to this forum for the reason that it has the legacy cards in it. So, I was just wondering, Which upgrade cards are the most powerful in the event of Not adding a stronger power supply?

My PC specs:

-HP Pavilion 7955 Desktop
-Intel 845 Pentium 4 1.5GHz
-768MB SDRAM
-nVIDIA RIVA TNT2 m64/m64 PRO 32MB AGP
-Windows XP Home w/ SP2
-standard 200W power supply
-ASUS P4B-LA Motherboard

I basically want the most powerful card, but without the need of a new power supply.

Thanks very much! :cool:

[CaptNKILL]

What are you trying to do with it?

If you're gaming, what games do you want to play?

[Fox Blade]

Thanks for your reply. I would like to use it for light gaming. I mostly use older games like: Descent 3, F1 Championship 99'-02' w/ SCC mod, NFS: HP2. Those games I can all run, but I'd like to maximize the graphics settings on all of them. I also want to run: GTR, GTR2, rFactor, and perhaps Halo. I'm not really a serious gamer, but just want to run some older games.

[CaptNKILL]

Well, I don't think GTR2 or rFactor will work very well on that system at all and Halo would most likely be extremely slow too.

I really wouldn't put a whole lot of money into that system at this point, especially if you're interested in gaming, but if you don't see yourself getting a new system any time soon then one of these would probably help you out a great deal without breaking the bank:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127268
If the link doesn't work, its a Geforce 6200 AGP (this particular one is a pretty good one).

Its far from top of the line or even mid range these days but it'll be a dozen times faster than a TNT2 M64.

If that power supply had a bit more juice I'd recommend a 7600GS or 7600GT, but I don't know how much more you'll be able to put on that PSU before it starts having problems. Plus, that Pentium 4 with SDRAM is going to be really killing performance for you in most cases, even with a 6200.

A 6200 should work alright, and it'll give you a pretty large performance boost in older games. If you want any more than that though, you'll need a new system. Its worth noting that a decent low-end gaming system (tower only) can be thrown together for under $400 these days. If you have any extra cash laying around, you may want to start putting it aside for a newer PC.

[CaptNKILL]

If you've got around $400 for a new system here is a pretty kick ass little gaming rig:
https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=8542607&WishListTitle=Dirt+cheap+low+end+gaming+system

Athlon 64 X2 4600+, 1Gb DDR2, Geforce 7600GT, 80Gb SATA hard drive, DVD burner and a decent case, PSU and motherboard.. comes to $385 shipped for me

Its not going to run the latest and greatest first person shooters at max settings, but it'll handle the games you're talking about with ease.

[duralisis]

Well I've got a box sitting in the corner with a 6600GT running on an old KT133A board with a 900mhz Duron, all powered by a 200w junk PSU and it plays old games just fine. I even hooked up the auxiliary 12v line. Completely stupid, but it works.

I doubt an Athlon XP in my system would pair up well with such the little PSU (it draws much more wattage), so there's probably a practical limit of how much room your CPU leaves for a video card. The older Athlons and P4's drew much more power.

If you want to be absolutely safe, anything without an auxillary 4-pin connector should work just fine. I've got an FX 5700 that was fanless and needed no extra connector. I've also seen the same in 7600GS AGP's.

[msxyz]

Be careful as some AGP4X motherboards don't handle 8x cards or, at least, those cards which cannot accept 1.5V signals.

The last native AGP card from NVidia was a GeForce 6200 variant called NV44A which is still a decent card for 2002-2003 games. If you don't care for resolution you can even play newer games like Half Life 2 or Doom II based games. I've installed it in an old Pentium III motherboard and it worked fine. A shame budget cards usually come with low quality RAM with subpar speed and performance.

In the second hand market you can find a good variety of better performing cards. Your power supply seems to me a potential cause of trouble as it cannot provide enough current for a decent high powered card.

All considered, a 6200 or maybe a basic 6600 card seems the best (and safest) choice

[Quick420]

Be careful as some AGP4X motherboards don't handle 8x cards or, at least, those cards which cannot accept 1.5V signals.

The last native AGP card from NVidia was a GeForce 6200 variant called NV44A which is still a decent card for 2002-2003 games. If you don't care for resolution you can even play newer games like Half Life 2 or Doom II based games. I've installed it in an old Pentium III motherboard and it worked fine. A shame budget cards usually come with low quality RAM with subpar speed and performance.

In the second hand market you can find a good variety of better performing cards. Your power supply seems to me a potential cause of trouble as it cannot provide enough current for a decent high powered card.

All considered, a 6200 or maybe a basic 6600 card seems the best (and safest) choice

I have a agp 6800 in my old rig,look on flea bay.;)