Video Card Question : Good Buy? - Discussion Forum - The Massassi Temple Forums Archive

This is the static archive of the Massassi Forums. The forums are closed indefinitely. Thanks for all the memories!

You can also download Super Old Archived Message Boards from when Massassi first started.

"View" counts are as of the day the forums were archived, and will no longer increase.

Video Card Question : Good Buy?

2009-07-07, 11:37 AM #1

Jep

Jep Bartholomew Francisqué de Minguo El Inigo Montoya Padré the Third

Posts: 10,237

Is this a good buy if I want to play Fallout 3 effectively and what not?

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150360

Quick edit :

These are my other specs, its not really up to date so some of you might be able to say whether the upgrade would be useless or not. I'm on windows XP and I do not currently have the moola to buy a whole new computer. A new graphics card would be all I can afford for the time being. My current video card is an ATI x1900xt

Asus A8N SLI Deluxe
CPU AMD Athlon 64 4600+ (dual-core)
2GB Ram
2x SATA SEAGATE 160 GB HDD (7200rpm) 8MB NCQ (In Raid)

Hell I've not kept up to date with these things. Would the vid card even be compatible with my computer?

Was cheated out of lions by happydud
Was cheated out of marriage by sugarless

2009-07-07, 11:41 AM #2

Pommy

Lommy Dommy

Posts: 5,773

You could probably get by with a 4870 for ~$100 less

Or a 4850 X2 (which is way stronger but some people don't like it cuz the CrossFire thing) for ~40 less

一个大西瓜

2009-07-07, 12:12 PM #3

Jep

Jep Bartholomew Francisqué de Minguo El Inigo Montoya Padré the Third

Posts: 10,237

I don't think my motherboard supports crossfire.

One thing that made me give up on my pc a while back is because all games would have this god damned stuttering problem. And I can never find anything on the internet about it except others who have similar problems. There are never solutions, no explanations, hell not even confirmations that the problem is acknowledged.

All I ever find are worthless to-do lists about defraging, cleaning registry, reformating and it never solved it.

Its the one reason I gave up on pc gaming and moved to my xbox

Was cheated out of lions by happydud
Was cheated out of marriage by sugarless

2009-07-07, 12:16 PM #4

DrkJedi82

0x666

Posts: 12,303

Originally posted by Pommy:

You could probably get by with a 4870 for ~$100 less

Or a 4850 X2 (which is way stronger but some people don't like it cuz the CrossFire thing) for ~40 less

what he said

the 4850x2 is a single card crossfire solution... they also make a 4870X2

eat right, exercise, die anyway

2009-07-07, 12:17 PM #5

Pommy

Lommy Dommy

Posts: 5,773

4850 X2 is actually "crossfire on a single card" (it's two GPUs on one card), so it should work. It just puts out a lot of heat and because it's "technically" running Crossfire there are some issues in games that are iffy w/ Crossfire where it only performs as well as a single 4850.

Edit: doh jim beat me to it

一个大西瓜

2009-07-07, 12:19 PM #6

DrkJedi82

0x666

Posts: 12,303

it's also worth mentioning that the X2 cards are longer so they may be a tight fit depending on your case

eat right, exercise, die anyway

2009-07-07, 12:31 PM #7

Tibby

Ribberium Mempyre!

Posts: 12,497

Just so you know, F3 runs fine all max on an 8800GT.

2009-07-07, 12:40 PM #8

DrkJedi82

0x666

Posts: 12,303

maybe he wants all maxed+max AA/AF at insane framerate

eat right, exercise, die anyway

2009-07-07, 12:43 PM #9

Tibby

Ribberium Mempyre!

Posts: 12,497

I'm sure he does, but it's good to know what it needs.

2009-07-07, 12:45 PM #10

Jep

Jep Bartholomew Francisqué de Minguo El Inigo Montoya Padré the Third

Posts: 10,237

I do >.> heheh

Antialiasing is a must for me. Jagged edges makes me want to stab my eyes.

Was cheated out of lions by happydud
Was cheated out of marriage by sugarless

2009-07-07, 12:59 PM #11

Tibby

Ribberium Mempyre!

Posts: 12,497

I can run it at 4x, with AF at 16.

2009-07-07, 1:00 PM #12

Temperamental

Sarcastic, too.

Posts: 3,246

It's not good enough until it's good enough for Jepman.

2009-07-07, 1:03 PM #13

DrkJedi82

0x666

Posts: 12,303

Originally posted by Tiberium_Empire:

I can run it at 4x, with AF at 16.

but with a better card he could easily take it to 8xAA

eat right, exercise, die anyway

2009-07-07, 1:06 PM #14

Tibby

Ribberium Mempyre!

Posts: 12,497

Yes I know, I'm not trying to sell 8800s. I'm offering a comparision.

2009-07-08, 4:29 AM #15

Jep

Jep Bartholomew Francisqué de Minguo El Inigo Montoya Padré the Third

Posts: 10,237

Would a new video card really be worthwhile, or would it just bottleneck with the rest of my older pc parts (listed above)

Was cheated out of lions by happydud
Was cheated out of marriage by sugarless

2009-07-08, 6:12 AM #16

Pommy

Lommy Dommy

Posts: 5,773

You could just drop in a Phenom II (might need a BIOS update prior) if your PSU can handle it

一个大西瓜

2009-07-10, 10:43 AM #17

Jep

Jep Bartholomew Francisqué de Minguo El Inigo Montoya Padré the Third

Posts: 10,237

Sorry to bump again, but I'd welcome opinions. While this is definately not as powerful its probably more in my price range.

Would a XFX Radeon HD 4650 DDR2 1 Go offer a good upgrade over an x1900xt for 99$. How would it handle Fallout 3 / Crysis?

Was cheated out of lions by happydud
Was cheated out of marriage by sugarless

2009-07-10, 10:48 AM #18

Pommy

Lommy Dommy

Posts: 5,773

For ~100 go for a 4850 or a 4770 (latter SHOULD be cheaper but it is not for some reason)

As much as I hate to reference newegg given the crap they're putting me through at the moment,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102824

If you're playing at higher resolutions (1920x1080+) then you may want to shell out $10-20 more for the 1GB version.

Just FYI 4870s (512 MB version) can be had for ~120ish as well.

Edit: I JUST noticed that you're using Canadian dollars and not US dollars. Argh. Nvm.

But I would still go for a 4770 or a 4830 or a 4850.

一个大西瓜

2009-07-10, 10:49 AM #19

Jep

Jep Bartholomew Francisqué de Minguo El Inigo Montoya Padré the Third

Posts: 10,237

My screen's native resolution ix 1600x1200

What are the gains from a 1GB card over an 512mb one?

Was cheated out of lions by happydud
Was cheated out of marriage by sugarless

2009-07-10, 10:54 AM #20

Pommy

Lommy Dommy

Posts: 5,773

It won't really matter at that resolution imo

Here's a chart for a general idea of how far up you're jumping

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-price,2323-6.html

It is very approximate so take it with a grain of salt, but the general rule they suggest is to go up at least 3 "tiers"

一个大西瓜

2009-07-10, 11:06 AM #21

Jep

Jep Bartholomew Francisqué de Minguo El Inigo Montoya Padré the Third

Posts: 10,237

How does Newegg's return for refund policy work? Can you return it if you're unhappy, or only if its not unpacked at all?

If I install it and my system continues to stutter I'm gonna kill someone, haha

Was cheated out of lions by happydud
Was cheated out of marriage by sugarless

2009-07-10, 12:47 PM #22

Jep

Jep Bartholomew Francisqué de Minguo El Inigo Montoya Padré the Third

Posts: 10,237

Blarg. My motherboard only supports PCI-Express x16 cards, not PCI-Express 2.0 x16

****

Was cheated out of lions by happydud
Was cheated out of marriage by sugarless

2009-07-10, 12:49 PM #23

Tibby

Ribberium Mempyre!

Posts: 12,497

Most cards seem to have backwards compatability, although then you obviously won't get the full power.

2009-07-10, 12:53 PM #24

Jep

Jep Bartholomew Francisqué de Minguo El Inigo Montoya Padré the Third

Posts: 10,237

I guess I'll just drop the idea of modding fallout 3 and stick to gaming on the xbox 360. I'll save money to buy a new computer before the next Elderscrolls installment instead

Was cheated out of lions by happydud
Was cheated out of marriage by sugarless

2009-07-10, 1:27 PM #25

poley

That's Dr. Poley to you!

Posts: 1,848

Originally posted by Jep:

Blarg. My motherboard only supports PCI-Express x16 cards, not PCI-Express 2.0 x16

****

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#PCI_Express_2.0

I highly doubt you'd have trouble running any of the cards listed unless you went for a high end XF or SLI board.

Whether the bandwidth provided by the 1.0/1.1 spec is enough I don't know, but they often release the next spec a couple of years before it's needed.

Personally if I was doing it, I wouldn't be worried.

People of our generation should not be subjected to mornings.

Rbots

2009-07-10, 5:32 PM #26

Jep

Jep Bartholomew Francisqué de Minguo El Inigo Montoya Padré the Third

Posts: 10,237

So if I understand correctly, if my Motherboard only supports PCI-E x16, and the card is PCI-E 2.0 x16, it will still work, and simply not make use of PCI-E 2.0 features?

Was cheated out of lions by happydud
Was cheated out of marriage by sugarless

2009-07-10, 5:37 PM #27

The MAZZTer

⌐_⌐

¬_¬

Posts: 6,095

Originally posted by Jep:

If it's that bad reinstall Windows and be done with it.

2009-07-10, 6:32 PM #28

Tibby

Ribberium Mempyre!

Posts: 12,497

Originally posted by Jep:

So if I understand correctly, if my Motherboard only supports PCI-E x16, and the card is PCI-E 2.0 x16, it will still work, and simply not make use of PCI-E 2.0 features?

Yes.