video card

  • Thread starter Thread starter SS69
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SS69
well here's my system

AMD 2800
2.1gig
120HD
512ram

i want to get a 1g stick of ram but theyre so expensive ill probably just get another 512. and ill give it a few months and ill probably upgrade my mother board and processor to something that will get me at least over 3.5g maybe more depending on the prices i find.
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Chances are that's a dual channel motherboard I would guess. So I would definately get another identical stick of ram to what you have so dual channel works or get a pair of dual channel sticks. If it isn't another stick of 512 will help a little with performance and alot with stability.
Are you running onboard sound? My ASUS motherboard has onboard and I bought a Creative Audigy 2 for around a $100 and picked up a little better video performance. It takes a little stress off of the processor.
You could pick up a XP3200 processor for around $130 on ""Pricewatch.com" itis around 2.2 but performs on the 3.0+ level.
Todays games aren't only video card reliant. They tax the whole system. With accelerated graphics, massive installation size, large load times, accelerated surround sound, etc. You really have to have a balanced system.
Your system is close to mine. I have a FX5900 and get good gaming performance. But the 5900's are hard to find, the 5950's are still near $300 but an ATI 9800 pro is around $180 or so and the 9800XT is around $300. All of these are 256mb cards. If you can swing the $300 mark I would definately suggest it. They are the best of those series. As for which brand ATI or Nvidia; I've always used Nvidia and the only problem I have is they release new cards every 6 months or so and since their drivers are universal the new drivers lessens the performance of their last generation of cards. I'm still getting good performance but not as good as when I first bought it, probably less that a 3-5% degradation. My only knowledge of ATI is somewhat dated, they used to have driver stabililty problems years ago, but I don't think that is the case any more. My brother-in-law has a 128mb 9800 pro and gets decent performance and nice graphics.
Let me know if aaalllll of this helps.

JParker
 
JParker
I would have to beg to differ. I have a Gainward 5900 Ultra and the thing rocks. Beautiful graphics, great performance, all you could ask out of a (at the time) $600. graphics card.
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Agreed- my 1yr. old evga 5900 ultra still rocks everything I throw at it. It was $580 and they are now on ebay for $50-80! Awesome deal if you can grab one. Though if ones mb doesn't support 8X AGP, it's kind of worthless IMO.
 
ampsarus
Agreed- my 1yr. old evga 5900 ultra still rocks everything I throw at it. It was $580 and they are now on ebay for $50-80! Awesome deal if you can grab one. Though if ones mb doesn't support 8X AGP, it's kind of worthless IMO.
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$50-$80, that makes me sick. LOL. Also I would recommend at least a P4 2400 or better or a AMD XP2400 to be able to get good performance out of the 5900. If you put in in a sub 2.0mhz system the sytem will bog the graphics.
 
LaBounti
I have no patients for shipping unless i have no choice. I passed on a 32in TV that was $20 dollars more just so i wouldnt have to wait for shipping. So i got the 27in version and it seems better for me anyway. And that barely fit in my car.

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That's pretty weak minded of you. And perhaps you should clean that area up - it's totally trashed.
 
JParker
$50-$80, that makes me sick. LOL. Also I would recommend at least a P4 2400 or better or a AMD XP2400 to be able to get good performance out of the 5900. If you put in in a sub 2.0mhz system the sytem will bog the graphics.
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What makes it worse is that the 5xxx cards totally suck at DirectX 9 applications, like Half Life 2. I'm glad I never bought one, I almost did. :sick:
 
I hope that there will be a nVidia card (in the near future), very powerfull (more powerfull than the 6800 ultra), SLI compatible and in SLI mode, capable of surround gaming. ===> triple head nVidia SLI card.
Matrox isn't good enough for surround gaming. :guilty:
 
I have 2 6800ultras running in sli at the moment with a 4000+ processor (san diego not venice)

If you choose to go for the 6600gt the processor is an important consideration, you dont want somthing that could bottleneck the GPU, with a 6600gt (possibly the best 128mb graphics card ) anything over Athlon 3000+ will be perfect.

You could also consider a 2400+ thornton. Its a decent processor with excellent reliability If you have an older motherboard its main advantage is that it is socket A. Its also SLI compatible so if you ever dedcide to upgrade in future you can allways add another card.

MY advice about the 5 series would be to avoid them like the plague, they have serious overheating problems and emit dangerous sounding noises. I dont think they are direct X 9 compatible either.
 
I'm totally envious of your system, flame-returns.

I want my San Diego core!
 
Flame-returns
.......MY advice about the 5 series would be to avoid them like the plague, they have serious overheating problems and emit dangerous sounding noises. I dont think they are direct X 9 compatible either.
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You mean the 5xxx series like the FX5900 ultra? Not top end AGP anymore of course, but stock the clock runs at 400 Mhz, dual ramdacs, it's 256 Mb DDR w/ 256 bit memory interface & it's DirectX 9 compatible...I think it even has 16 pipes....Not to shabby if you find a used one cheap! :)
 
No point going for one of them it be while till more games start using 512MB of memory from a card.
 
ampsarus
You mean the 5xxx series like the FX5900 ultra? Not top end AGP anymore of course, but stock the clock runs at 400 Mhz, dual ramdacs, it's 256 Mb DDR w/ 256 bit memory interface & it's DirectX 9 compatible...I think it even has 16 pipes....Not to shabby if you find a used one cheap! :)
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I havnt had any expierience with a fx5900 my comment of the 5xxx relates specificly to the 5200 and 5500, I had a 5200 it had an appaling pixel shading and heavy lag. It also had massive overheating problems. It put an end to my plan of flying around the world non-stop in FS2002.

I have since done it using my 2 256mb 6800ultras and can tell you that it was one of the most pointless 18 hour periods of my life.

superhodge
If your in england and wantto completly mad with a graphics card you cant go wrong with ths 512mb beast http://specialreserve.co.uk/XFX-Gef...Ult_2012_r.html
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the 6800 is not suited to that amount of ram and may cause lag, the 7800 ultras out in 10 days are perfect for that kind of ram.
 
Flame-returns
I have 2 6800ultras running in sli at the moment with a 4000+ processor (san diego not venice)

If you choose to go for the 6600gt the processor is an important consideration, you dont want somthing that could bottleneck the GPU, with a 6600gt (possibly the best 128mb graphics card ) anything over Athlon 3000+ will be perfect.

You could also consider a 2400+ thornton. Its a decent processor with excellent reliability If you have an older motherboard its main advantage is that it is socket A. Its also SLI compatible so if you ever dedcide to upgrade in future you can allways add another card.

MY advice about the 5 series would be to avoid them like the plague, they have serious overheating problems and emit dangerous sounding noises. I dont think they are direct X 9 compatible either.
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The Barton 2500XP's that come unlocked are ppretty good too. I had mine running at 2,2 ghz stability tested with stock cooling.
 
Gabkicks
The Barton 2500XP's that come unlocked are ppretty good too. I had mine running at 2,2 ghz stability tested with stock cooling.
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Alll of the basic AMDs are reliable and affordable, I use the Thornton as an example because I wrote that post on a thornton based pc and I find that it is stable, reliable but perfectly capable of supporting FS2004 when used with a ATI radeon 9800pro

BTW the 6600 GT is far superior to the 5950 ultra in terms of graphic in Direct x 9 games. Seeing as more and more games are becoming direct x 9 a 6600gt would seem to be a good choice if you want to still be gaming in years come. the 950 is slightly better in very high monitor resolutions due to its 256mb memory.

Its not what you have, its what you do with it.
 
Sorry to be 'hi-jacking' this thread but i'm also looking to upgrade my sytem for better gaming Currently it's got

AMD Barton 2500
2 x 512mb DDR
FX5700 - 128mb

I'm looking mainly for a graphics card and considering paying £100 - £120 (dunno how many $$'s that is).

My main question is what are the advantages of a 256 over a 128 card?

I'm looking at the following :6600 256MB (£95) 6600GT 128MB (£113) or pushing the boat out 6600GT 256MB (£147.)

Also many have already said it's a waste of time putting a good card in a sub 2.0ghz system although my processor has a performance index of 2500, i think it clocks a little less than 2.0ghz. Is this still sufficient?
 
AMD processors rarely go far in terms of ghz under their performance index, e.g a 2400 is about 2.2ghz. I'm not a Barto owner and dont have time to do the research nut your processor will probably be ove 2ghz.

The boundry between 128 and 256 is very blurred, 256 will give slightly better graphics when playing on resolutions of 1600x1200 otherwise the difference is mostly unnoticable. It is better to go for a top-of-the-range 128mb than a budget 256mb.
 
I'd go for the 6600 GT 256mb. It will make the card last a bit longer. :) Make sure they dont try to sell you slower memory.

..................
I own a 2500+. . One of the earlier models that came unlocked . All of the 2500+ bartons run at 1.8Ghz.


Mine can run at 2.2ghz and still pass stability diagnostics tests. 👍

Right now i've got a sempron 3000+ running at 2.0 GHz.


A 2500+ is an amazing CPU when you consder how much it costs. And shouldnt bottleneck the higher end cards much.

If you do get a new CPU ya might want to go for one with 64 bit support.
 
ampsarus
You mean the 5xxx series like the FX5900 ultra? Not top end AGP anymore of course, but stock the clock runs at 400 Mhz, dual ramdacs, it's 256 Mb DDR w/ 256 bit memory interface & it's DirectX 9 compatible...I think it even has 16 pipes....Not to shabby if you find a used one cheap! :)
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BTW I found out my 5900 ultra only has 4 pipes, not 16 according to Everest home edition. lol
 
The 5900 Ultra does indeed have 4. The 6800GT and Ultra are the cards that have 16.
 

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