Buying a nw vid card: does my CPU have enough power to warrant high end.

[ShadowKntSDS]

Here is my current system:

P4 1.6Ghz @ 2.133GHz
1GB DDR @ 533MHz
GeForce3 Ti500

I am getting roughly 12/30/50 FPS min/avg/max. My other computer has a 1.6GHz and a 9700 (non-pro) and gets more like 30/70/100 FPS (my friend plays on it).

For Planetside, is my CPU fast enough to get anything out of a higher end card, like a 9800 PRO? I have no problems slapping down the cash for a 9800 PRO, as I know I will use it awhile.

But, I'd rather not fork out as much cash if it will show me no immediate gains in Planetside.

[Sentrosi]

$200 will get you a nice 9500pro video card. I keep recommending this card because it has 8 renering pipelines as opposed to the 9600's and 9200's that only have 4.

[ShadowKntSDS]

I certainly wouldn't get an ATI w/ 4 pipelines, but I am not goignt o be silly and get a 256MB card either.

I am looking to get the highest card I can so long as I am not CPU limited in planet side.

[Smaug]

I just upgraded to the radeon 9500 a few days ago and am very happy. I have 1.6 p4, 768 megs ddr, and had a geforce2. I was getting 4/12/40 for min/med/max fps. Now I am getting about 20/40/100 :P. It's made such a difference. The 9500 is a great card and it was only $140.

[Daleon]

You will defintely be a decent bit cpu limited if you go all out for a 9800 Pro or 5900. Will they still run a good bit faster, especially with higher end visual settings turned on, defintely. So much of the work load is off-loaded to the GPU now that I've seen ppl push good frames on 1ghz cpu's before.

Question is when do you plan to upgrade again. If your gonna get a new cpu/mb/ram setup in the next 6 months, then I'd go for a 9800 Pro now. If your not, get either a 9500 Pro or 9700 NP as by the time you do start to get ready for a new system there will be much better cards out.