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!

[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/Produc...82E16814127268
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...+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]

Originally Posted by 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

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