To upgrade video card ?
 

I have two quite growing old PCs. They still work fair enough for what I need to do, AKA graphic editing, listening to music and playing relatively old games.

Here are the current configs:

PC#1 (Main ~ Photoshop, UT2004)

vc: GeForce FX 5500
mb: Asus A7S333
pc: Athlon XP 2000
ram: 3x 500MB DDR

PC#2 (Second ~ Winamp, UT2004 occasionally)

vc: GeForce4 MX 4000
mb: Asrock K7VT4A+
pc: Athlon XP 1300
ram: 2x 500MB DDR

I have a few extra bucks though, and while it would be silly to spend it all on a mediocre modern config, I thought I'd spend some of it to upgrade my old PCs one last time before changing my systems entirely in a year or so.

There isn't much to be done. So far I'm getting some extra USB slots via a PCI card on PC#1 and an audio card to replace the legacy audio on PC#2. Nothing fancy ~

I thought about upgrading the video cards though. Ideally, I'd find something better for PC#1 and put it's GeForce FX 5500 in PC#2. This would mainly be to improve my bro and I's UT lan parties. =3

I've found some affordable GeForce 7300 GT and GeForce 7600 GS. I'm kinda worried about their compatibility with the Asus A7S333 of PC#1 though ... =/

Thoughts, opinions ? =3

I'm not going to lie to you. I noticed you said that they "work fair enough for what ... [you] ... need to do" and "changing my systems entirely in a year or so." Those two statements usually qualify as a "no-buy" almost immediately. Something tells me the amount of money going toward a new graphics would be better spent on getting something nicer for the new computer.

I don't know what prices you're getting for the 7xxx cards, but it's $45 for the 7300 and $85 for the 7600. I believe European prices are a bit higher, which makes it even less of a good buy. Buying a Dell or something would probably be the more economical purchase.

My opinion: Save your money for your new system.

I can get both for 54€ and 67€ respectively, which is pretty much the prices you're giving, yep.

Thanks for the thoughts. The thing is when I talk about a year, I do mean it, and maybe more actually. We've just moved in a new apartment and there'll be more important things to get for a while. Spending 50~70€ for something that will improve my gaming sessions for a year or more doesn't sound that silly.

Your opinion is interesting though, and I'll look out for interesting configs just in case.

Meanwhile though, could somebody still answer about the motherboard/video card question ?

I don't think your Asus A7S333 has a PCI-E slot, so you're going to have to use AGP variants. That pushes the cards to $90/$120. Get the 7600.

For extra USB ports, will the peripherals you be using drawing a ton of power? If they aren't a simple external hub will do the trick. If they are, something like this: Newegg.com - Koutech PCI to USB2.0 Card Model IO-PU520 - Retail will do the trick. I think it only requires a PCI card, which you have five of. Sorry, I don't know any European online computer shopping sites.

For the sound card, ask someone more knowledge.

The 67€ 7600 I was mentioning is a PNY GeForce 7600 GS 512 Mo AGP, so it's cool. =)

As for the USB, I didn't grab that one specifically but a similar one for approx the same price. I also grabbed a plain cheap Creative Audigy SE Bulk ... <_<

Thanks anyway. I searched on the web but couldnt find anything about a conflict with the 7600 and my Asus A7S333. Still a bit worried but heh, we'll see.