Graphics Card

Team XLink Administrator Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 4061

Im looking at getting a new graphics card for my pc. At the moment i have a Geforce 6200 TC 256mb card. Now this dont cut the mustard with games like Armed Assault etc. So does anyone have any good ideas on what to upgrade my card to?

Please do not start a ATI vs NVIDIA war! i would be interested to see what you guys recommend.

cheers

Kai Spammer Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 8681

I prefer Nvidia over ati. Due to past expirences. Anyways Get a good 512 card or overclock your current card with powerstrip.

Kai Admirer Joined: 09 Jul 2007 Posts: 478

i dont know what fucking graphics card i use but i use it for my mediaportal aswell Smile

Kai Enthusiast Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 268

dx10 card midrange: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3258844&CatId=2669

dx9 card: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3241598&CatId=1826

crazy card: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3266047&CatId=2306

budget card: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=2918356&sku=B52-7870

Kai Spammer Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 1065

I'll agree with Snafu's choices. Except for the budget card. A 7600 gt is cheaper, and gives more bang for the buck. However when it comes to video cards, we should all be getting the new dx10 cards anyways, or its just a waste of money. I don't want to upgrade to something already obsolete.

Kai Enthusiast Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 268

yeah i guess i could of put evga 7600gt 256 down as well since its like $80 now and its what i have, and i run fear at full specs at minimal 38fps average 50fps max 61 fps

Team XLink Administrator Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 4061

(-nFx-)kickerbat wrote:

i dont know what fucking graphics card i use but i use it for my mediaportal aswell Smile

hey numbnuts, im not asking what card you have, if you cant post something constructive, then dont post at all.

Back on point, jiffy, thats my thoughts, with regards to DX10. might as well bite the bullet and get a DX10 capable card. been looking at the nvidia 8800 GTX range.

PSP Guru Joined: 07 Apr 2007 Posts: 2405

duke_uk wrote:

(-nFx-)kickerbat wrote:

i dont know what fucking graphics card i use but i use it for my mediaportal aswell Smile

hey numbnuts, im not asking what card you have, if you cant post something constructive, then dont post at all.

haha thats funny,

but back on topic, i do recommend nivida, i currently have an ati and it was pricey at its time 512mg redion 9550, and the moment i bought it a new one came out, ati has too many pre releases for the the next
release of card

Kai Spammer Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 1065

If you're going DX10, then aim for the 8800. I'm not sure if price is an issue, if it is then get the 320 meg version, if not, aim for the 768 meg version. However since ya said the GTX, then i'm assuming ya mean the 768 meg monster. Here's a few recommendations are far as manufacturers go. Personally i'm going with the lower end GTS, because I can't justify 500 dollars for a video card, and its not that more expensive then a 7600.

high end
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143093

lower end
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130071

Kai Regular Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 88

It depends on what you prefer, if you want to run every thing high with ultra textures, 6 aa and 16 af buy i high ranged card or better 2 for crossfire or sli (2900xt or 8800 gtx).

An important factor is your cpu, to run thos cards to it's full potention u need a good cpu (dual or quad core). 2 - 4 gb ram is nice to.

Imo it's better to wait for the next generation dx 10 cards, Company of heroes is dx10 and i hear peeps with high end pc's running at crap framerate.

Dx 10 has some bugs (as vista) wich will be resolved but i think it takes a year or more for that to get fixed .

Most games run fine with a dx10 card, however i believe when crysis comes things will change. From what i've heard (not reliable) no hardware setup now is able to run that game at high settings in vista (dx10).

So when u don't care much bout dx 10 i would go for an x1900 xtx (ya soz i'm an ati fanboy Smile

)

Kai Spammer Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 1065

Luxzenburcht wrote:

An important factor is your cpu, to run thos cards to it's full potention u need a good cpu (dual or quad core). 2 - 4 gb ram is nice to.

This is a common misconception i'd like to atleast attempt at nippin in the ass.

Dual cores and quad cores have more cpu capabilities, however don't always prove to be the faster processors. Especially on the quad core end of the spectrum. In order to utilize all those cores, the program needs be to written to take advantage of all that cpu power.

Not to mention in order to use all that processing power, you need to be multi-tasking. A single core processor can keep up with a dual core, or quad core, on playing a game. However its when you get into ripping a dvd, running bit torrents and then playing the game all at the same time, the multi-cored processors shine.

Its the same deal with the cross-fire and SLI setups. You'd think since you've got two video cards, it'd be twice as fast, but its not. A dual video card setup will increase your performance around 5%. Which is not the best return on your investment, considering the extra cost of a SLI compatible motherboard, and the extra cost of the video card. If you've got 900 dollars to throw away, then sure its nice, but its not the greatest.

I will agree that ram does play a huge factor in PC performance, especially when it comes to games. If your video card only has 256 megs of video ram, then it needs that extra memory from something else. So it'll turn to your ram. A lot of the lower end cards do this automatically to boost their video ram.

Besides, if you've got the money for an 8800, you're not going to be throwing it in a box with a sempron or celeron processor... Atleast I hope not.

Buy a core 2 duo, grab 2 gigs of dual channel ddr2, the faster the better, unless your want to overclock, then i'd suggest reading up on the board and chip, because memory plays a huge factor in overclocking. Throw in your video card, and I guarantee that the DX10 games will run slick as a hillbilly in a mud slide.

Team XLink Administrator Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 4061

Im currently running a Athlon 64 3000, overclocked to 2ghz, with 1 gig ram, nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. i know as soon as i replace my current card, i will have to replace the cpu, add more ram, hell proberly end up replacing the mobo too.

All this will have to wait though, as its my sons birthday next week, and he is wanting a 360. Razz

Kai Lover Joined: 30 Mar 2007 Posts: 744

uhh why overclocked mines an athlon 64 3000+ and its native is 2GHz

heh im using an ATi Radeon9550 256MB it works fine for playing half life2 and battlefield2142 i couldnt complain.

Team XLink Administrator Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 4061

(-nFx-)-hodkins- wrote:

uhh why overclocked mines an athlon 64 3000+ and its native is 2GHz

heh im using an ATi Radeon9550 256MB it works fine for playing half life2 and battlefield2142 i couldnt complain.

Hmmm, mines 1.8ghz unclocked.

Kai Spammer Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 1065

Its probably your motherboard. When you mean overclocked, you probably mean just adjusting the front side bus. My buddy has an athlon that with the default bios settings runs at 1.3 ghz, when I adjusted the fsb to 166mhz, it jumped up to 1.5 like it should be.

As it is right now, you can probably go AMD and still only spend around 600 bucks for a decent system. AMD is taking such a shit kicking in the processor department that they're practically giving their chips away. Especially all the old 90nm chips.

Personally though i'd go Core 2 duo.

This is the chip i plan on getting.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115014

Its 100 dollars cheaper then the 6600, only 400 mhz slower, and can overclock to be faster then a stock 6600 with just air cooling. Might be worth looking into. Although if you're interested in overclocking, i'd visit some overclocking forums. The right motherboard and ram to fit your chip is key.