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☖ Forums → Discussion Forum → Looking at buying a new Video Card
12
Looking at buying a new Video Card
2005-09-11, 1:03 PM #1
So.. as the title says, Im looking at buying a new video card.

Since I got my new computer, I have sort of drifted away from the hardware scene, and was wondering what cards were good, and specifically, what companies are good.

Im looking for a mid-high range card, around the $150-250 price range, specifcally to play battlefield 2 with. The stock of the system is still good, (2.7 GHz P4, 1 Gig of Ram), but the GeForce FX 5200 just isnt cutting it anymore.

I looked around at New Egg, and just got confused, so if anyone could help me out as to where or what to look for, I would be quite greatful.
"If you watch television news, you will know less about the world than if you just drink gin straight out of the bottle."
--Garrison Keillor
2005-09-11, 1:05 PM #2
The Nvidia 6600GT is good mid-range card. Got mine for $150 on New Egg.
Pissed Off?
2005-09-11, 1:10 PM #3
I back up Avenger on that one. I've got a 6600GT and it works great. Should run BF2 without any problems.
Life is beautiful.
2005-09-11, 1:26 PM #4
But I wouldn't get it. With ~200 to spend, you could get a 6800GT (I kid you not) if you look in the right places. I take it you've got an AGP system?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125186 Basically an underclocked X800XT. ATi cards will give you better performance in HL2 and BF2.

I'm sure you could find a better deal on pricegrabber.com, but I tend to stick to newegg for the service. Up to you.
D E A T H
2005-09-11, 1:52 PM #5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102574

I saw this on Newegg, it looks pretty good, and pretty cheap. Any opinions?
"If you watch television news, you will know less about the world than if you just drink gin straight out of the bottle."
--Garrison Keillor
2005-09-11, 1:55 PM #6
PCI Express only. In other words, probably no good to you.
D E A T H
2005-09-11, 2:00 PM #7
Is there a way to find out if I have a PCI Express card without taking off the case?
"If you watch television news, you will know less about the world than if you just drink gin straight out of the bottle."
--Garrison Keillor
2005-09-11, 2:20 PM #8
I would go for the 6600GT if you're tight on budget. You can get the 6800 but it is more expensive (of course). But the 6600GT is worth it if you want to save a few bucks. I have it and I can run most stuff 1280x1024 4xAA and 8xAF. I can go 16xAF but some areas will lag.
Code to the left of him, code to the right of him, code in front of him compil'd and thundered. Programm'd at with shot and $SHELL. Boldly he typed and well. Into the jaws of C. Into the mouth of PERL. Debug'd the 0x258.
2005-09-11, 6:24 PM #9
What kind of motherboard do you have?

6600GT won't be able to play BF2 at 4xaa 8xaf I must tell you :p
D E A T H
2005-09-12, 12:50 PM #10
PCI Express is a rather new technology, and I'm unsure if any of the older 2,7 GHz boards support it. I know mine doesnt.
Was cheated out of lions by happydud
Was cheated out of marriage by sugarless
2005-09-12, 1:10 PM #11
[QUOTE=Dj Yoshi]What kind of motherboard do you have?

6600GT won't be able to play BF2 at 4xaa 8xaf I must tell you :p[/QUOTE]
Jesus McChrist. That card isn't terribly old and all ready obsolete?

Ridiculous.
Code to the left of him, code to the right of him, code in front of him compil'd and thundered. Programm'd at with shot and $SHELL. Boldly he typed and well. Into the jaws of C. Into the mouth of PERL. Debug'd the 0x258.
2005-09-12, 2:13 PM #12
My friend has an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB AGP card and can run BF2 with everything on full perfect.

He also only got the card for 40 bucks at a store in toronto. Hence, why I am looking there.
2005-09-12, 3:24 PM #13
Originally posted by Temperamental:
My friend has an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB AGP card and can run BF2 with everything on full perfect.

He also only got the card for 40 bucks at a store in toronto. Hence, why I am looking there.


Yeah, probably at 1280x1024 with everything on high at about 20 fps. No AA no AF. I dunno, I'd have to ask Jim.

You want an X800XL if you're going for cost-effective performance in BF2. 1600x1200 everything highest with at least 4xaa 16xaf is doable.

JG--BF2 is one of those games that shocked and awed people when the first saw it--right before Doom 3 came out. Not to mention even the *800s are getting quite old (minus the 7800 of course) and showing their age.
D E A T H
2005-09-12, 3:26 PM #14
Not to intrude, but I'm looking to buy as good a vid card I can for somewhere in the vicinity (aka probably at a max of) 250 bucks. Hailp?
2005-09-12, 3:29 PM #15
Quote:
Yeah, probably at 1280x1024 with everything on high at about 20 fps. No AA no AF. I dunno, I'd have to ask Jim.


I'm not getting into another war with you over something this trivial, but I will say I've seen it in action. performing quite well.

I'd like to get the best possible card I can for 300 max. 400 maybe.
2005-09-12, 3:32 PM #16
Originally posted by Temperamental:
I'm not getting into another war with you over something this trivial, but I will say I've seen it in action. performing quite well.

I'd like to get the best possible card I can for 300 max. 400 maybe.


Well that's a little worse than I would get and I've got a generation above his, so yeah. 1280x960 4xaa 8xaf everything highest I'd say...30-40 fps. He should get something comparable without AA and AF.

400 is 7800GT if you have PCI-E. 300 is 6800GT. 250 is X800XL or 6800GT.
D E A T H
2005-09-12, 3:33 PM #17
I only have AGP 8x. But that's good enough for me.
2005-09-12, 6:02 PM #18
128 MB (or 256 which costs more) 6600 GT. Just bought mine for $145 (and it came with free shipping and Lego Star Wars) from [url]www.monarchcomputers.com[/url]
A computer's worst nightmare:
0010111010011110210011010001

HazTeam Website-=HT=
2005-09-12, 6:20 PM #19
I'm sure you've got AGP, as I don't think there was a PCI-E version of the 5200.
gbk is 50 probably

MB IS FAT
2005-09-12, 6:57 PM #20
You have the same card as I do. It's AGP.
2005-09-12, 8:05 PM #21
I'll vouch for the x800 XL. It's a great card.

running HL2 at 1280x768, everything on high and 6x/16x.

I haven't test out BF2 that much, but it was running extremely smooth at high settings.

In my experience, this x800 XL has equaled the 6800GT in performance in all my games (except for Doom 3), and in some cases has surpassed in such games as HL2 and BF2.
"His Will Was Set, And Only Death Would Break It"

"None knows what the new day shall bring him"
2005-09-12, 9:11 PM #22
Right now I have my eye on this little gem here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150107

Sure it's not an x800, but at half the price I can't complain, and anything is a huge step up from my ATI 9200se [never again..]

Once I get my accounts finalized I'll decide whether to take my Labor-Day-overtime-noise-fund and apply it towards that.
Also, I can kill you with my brain.
2005-09-13, 5:19 AM #23
That card is horrible. Get a 9600XT for about the same price. Seriously, it's just bad.
D E A T H
2005-09-13, 6:48 AM #24
So.. I basically brought it down to this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143027

It's relatively cheap, it's got a very nice core speed/memory clock... so.. yeah...
So, unless anyone has any large objections (Knows where I can get a better card for a cheaper price, Im really only looking for Nvidia), Im gonna pick it up some time soon.
"If you watch television news, you will know less about the world than if you just drink gin straight out of the bottle."
--Garrison Keillor
2005-09-13, 3:48 PM #25
That's the worst deal I've ever seen on a 6600GT.

The mistakes people make are that they think high clock speeds and more memory are better...they're not. Every videocard core is completely independent from the next, and most videocards use different cores or different core configurations, nullifying things like clock speed and memory size (for the most part).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130202

Same price, will spank the pants off the 6600GT, unlock the pixel and vertex pipes and you have a (very) underclocked 6800 Ultra.
D E A T H
2005-09-13, 3:58 PM #26
And Jim has a VERY comparable system to yours, Temp. So yeah.
D E A T H
2005-09-13, 5:00 PM #27
Quote:
And Jim has a VERY comparable system to yours, Temp. So yeah.


1. It wasn't my computer.

2. Comparable computer wise, means a big difference. If it isn't exact, it can yield vastly different results. Especially if it's Pentium compared to AMD or something like that.
2005-09-13, 5:06 PM #28
[QUOTE=Dj Yoshi]Yeah, probably at 1280x1024 with everything on high at about 20 fps. No AA no AF. I dunno, I'd have to ask Jim.[/QUOTE]


1152x864 0xAA 0xAF (i think) most settings on medium textures (and texture filtering) set to highest ingame settings... ran great one moment then slideshow the next... game has been uninstalled
eat right, exercise, die anyway
2005-09-13, 5:33 PM #29
Originally posted by Temperamental:
1. It wasn't my computer.

2. Comparable computer wise, means a big difference. If it isn't exact, it can yield vastly different results. Especially if it's Pentium compared to AMD or something like that.


1) I didn't say it was?

2) You have an AMD 64 3000+, 1 gb of PC3200 system right? He has an AMD64 1gb PC3200 system as well. Not overclocked. Both same socket, probably same core on the CPUs. I don't care who you are, the most vast the differing results would get might be...oh...5-10 fps. Depending on when you last formatted.
D E A T H
2005-09-13, 5:57 PM #30
[QUOTE=Dj Yoshi]1) I didn't say it was?

2) You have an AMD 64 3000+, 1 gb of PC3200 system right? He has an AMD64 1gb PC3200 system as well. Not overclocked. Both same socket, probably same core on the CPUs. I don't care who you are, the most vast the differing results would get might be...oh...5-10 fps. Depending on when you last formatted.[/QUOTE]

athlon XP... PC2700
eat right, exercise, die anyway
2005-09-13, 6:04 PM #31
ok let me rephrase that... yes new compaq (it's a curse)... a little over a year ago (2 days before Doom 3 was released)...

Athlon XP 3000+
512MB PC2700 (upgraded to 1GB before i even turned it on)
crappy integrated graphics (upgraded to 9800Pro that day)
free copy of Doom 3
eat right, exercise, die anyway
2005-09-13, 7:10 PM #32
Originally posted by DrkJedi82:
athlon XP... PC2700


I thought you got a new Compaq a while back that was AMD64 or something? Either way, a 3000+ wouldn't net much gain over a 2700+.
D E A T H
2005-09-13, 7:22 PM #33
Quote:
1) I didn't say it was?


Quote:
And Jim has a VERY comparable system to yours, Temp. So yeah.


You at the very least, implied it.

I've also got an Athlon 64 3200+. 1 GIG of RAM whcih will very shortly be 2 GB, with a brand new graphics card.
2005-09-13, 7:51 PM #34
Originally posted by Temperamental:
You at the very least, implied it.

I've also got an Athlon 64 3200+. 1 GIG of RAM whcih will very shortly be 2 GB, with a brand new graphics card.


No, I didn't. I was just stating the facts. I can read.

And you DO NOT need 2gb (unless you do a lot of encoding/adobe work). That'd be a waste of cash. Put it towards the video card. Or hell, put it towards getting 939 if nothing else. Better processors, SLi, better motherboards, etc.
D E A T H
2005-09-13, 7:58 PM #35
I'll be getting 2 GIG of RAM. And a top of the line card. I've got the money to spend. And pretty soon, with games, 2 GIG is going to be a great help. No idea what 939 is.
2005-09-13, 8:04 PM #36
Haha, you do that, since you have it all figured out. You don't know what Socket 939 is, but you know that 2 gigs of RAM will help you in the new generation of games. You win at life.
D E A T H
2005-09-13, 8:07 PM #37
3.0 Ghz P4...
1.0 GB SSDDDR RAM
128 MB FX 5200

I'm looking to improve the vid card, and upgrade to 2.0 GB of RAM. The vid card seems to be the main hangup in my system, as far as gaming goes. It's worse than the 9600 pro we have on the other comp... The "extras" in Far Cry like Fish, wildlife, birds, etc... it won't do those.

So... Seeing as how I can split the cost with my brother, an upper limit around 300 dollars is acceptable. I trust you Yoshi... I know someone else may argue with you about card details, but either one of the cards being argued in favor of is probably comparable performance-wise and in cost-effectiveness for my limited knowledge.... so, you say a 6800 is a good choice?

Any and all pointers are greatly appreciated... I'll check up on prices later, but sources and card reccomendations would be fantastic!
2005-09-13, 8:10 PM #38
6800 Ultra for that price. Also, I'd suggest upgrading to a 3.6ghz P4 670j Prescott (that's probably gibberish to you, just remember 3.6GHz P4EE) if you can. The thing is a beautiful chip. Honestly, unless you do heavy video/audio/image editing, more than a gig of RAM is useless, especially in games. For instance, the first game to really NEED a gig of RAM was BF1942. Wanna know the next game? FarCry. It took years, YEARS for a gig of RAM to become the staple, and with good reason. Two gigs will take even longer, because with a gig less of the RAM is taken up by the operating system. Trust me guys, it's a waste of money. As long as you have a gig of PC3200 RAM, you're fine.
D E A T H
2005-09-13, 8:27 PM #39
Currently I run a rather dated system.

- Some form of AMD 1Ghz
- 1.5G of RAM [which is actually real nice when in doubleplusmultitasking mode]
- SBLive!
- ATI 9200 SE 128M


My gaming at this point in my life at leasts consists almost entirely of World of Warcraft [and currrently Warcraft3/FT], with occcasional forays into KOTOR or the like.

I don't really have the time to invest into a lot of diffferent games, especially more modern ones, so I don't particularly need Real Ultimate Power in a card.

However, as mentioned in several previous places, I don't like my current video card, it makes me want to burn things somedays when it acts up. As such, and given that I have some cash-flow again, I would like to upgrade, and would like to avoid subsequent ATI cards [having used a few before this one].

Sew. That's more or less where my quandary of decision is.
Also, I can kill you with my brain.
2005-09-13, 8:29 PM #40
Originally posted by Dormouse:
Currently I run a rather dated system.

- Some form of AMD 1Ghz
- 1.5G of RAM [which is actually real nice when in doubleplusmultitasking mode]
- SBLive!
- ATI 9200 SE 128M


My gaming at this point in my life at leasts consists almost entirely of World of Warcraft [and currrently Warcraft3/FT], with occcasional forays into KOTOR or the like.

I don't really have the time to invest into a lot of diffferent games, especially more modern ones, so I don't particularly need Real Ultimate Power in a card.

However, as mentioned in several previous places, I don't like my current video card, it makes me want to burn things somedays when it acts up. As such, and given that I have some cash-flow again, I would like to upgrade, and would like to avoid subsequent ATI cards [having used a few before this one].

Sew. That's more or less where my quandary of decision is.


I would say that not wanting an ATi card (which is BETTER than nVidia in the FX/9*00 bout) is pretty silly. BUT, you use linux, so nVidia would be ideal. 6600GT is a great budget gaming card, 6200 is a great budget card. Other than that...Ti4400. I just wouldn't be caught dead with a 5*00 series card.
D E A T H
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