Help Me Buy A New Video Card

[insu]

I just bought F.E.A.R, and the game looks the goods, but i'm extremely unimpressed with my systems handling of the graphics.

I've got a P4 3.2 Ghz with 800mhz fsb, 1gig DDR3200 Ram and a pitiful 128mb raideon x600 pci-express card.

I realise that the card is probably my problem only being 128mb, but being pci-exp it runs a fair bit faster than AGP, also I've got Half-life 2 and that runs pretty well compared to the quality of F.E.A.R.

So i've got around $200 to spend on video card, i'm thinking a 256mb or if I can afford it a 512mb pci-express card of some description.

I havent been following this area in computing at all, so could someone point me in the right direction to upgrading my video card for around my price range?

I'm also thinking maybe I should add another 512mb or 1g or ram...

Thanks

-Insu

[Chris_R33GTSt]

Hey dude,

I have the same setup as you exept AGP. Try upgrading your CPU cooler and overclocking your cpu. I was able to go from 3.2 > 3.99Ghz which made a big difference.

If you can hang on a few months, NVIDIA and ATI are going to be releasing DirectX 10 Shader model 4.0 compliant video cards which will shit on anything available at the moment. So if you pick up a mid range card then it will be as fast if not faster than anything available now.

If you want to upgrade now, check out the Nvidia 6800GS or the 7600GT. Id go the 7600GT but you may pay a little more than $200.

I still run a 6800GS 256MB (unlocked with the f**k overclocked out of it) and it plays Fear quite (VERY) nicely, but it is beginning to lack somewhat.

Have a look at www.auspcmarket.com.au or www.eyo.com.au for pricing

Edited November 26, 2006 by Chris_R33GTSt

[insu]

Thanks for the reply Chris.

As far as overclocking the cpu goes, does this still have to be done manually? (the last time I overclocked a cpu was on a pentium 2!)

Direct X 10 eh? What are they currently, like 9.0c or something?

I have had a look at the Nvidia 6800 series cards, and the raideon x850 XT's, they look to be fairly similar.

Both 256mb, pci-e, except I think the Raideon had a high clock speed, while the Nvidia was better at shading for some reason.

I've read a few little benchmark tests on them.

[Chris_R33GTSt]

Overclocking is done manually using the front side bus frequency and depending on your board/cooling you can get very good results. Since you have PCI-e im assuming that you have a LGA775 board. Later P4 cpus on that socket have been known to reach insane overclocks of 5.0+ Ghz (from a 3.0ghz cpu). Google is your friend here!

The NVIDIA cards are definitely the way to go as Radeons have compatability problems and are also less advanced unless you are going X1900+. I'd definitely recommend the 6800 over an X800 series card and mine has no probs running latest games like FEAR, NFS Carbon but I find that less and less i am maxing out the Res/Detail

U can get 7900GS Geforce cards for under $300 these days and they are prolly the best value u can get anywhere!

[insu]

Yep that's right, LGA775. Specifically its a gigabyte 915p (GA-81915P Duo).

Any particular sites you'd recommend on overclocking? I wonder what would be a safe value for me to try first, maybe around 3.6~8GHZ.

I think a 7900 series card is going to be stretching my budget a bit too far, I have found some reasonably priced 7600 series cards though, what do you think of these?

Here's one I found: 7600GS, its a 512mb PCI-E card. The downside is its only 128bit and only DDR2.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-nVidia-Geforce-...1QQcmdZViewItem

Pretty cheap though.

This is a cheap 6600 series Nvidia, but it only has a 300mhz core, so that's pretty much out:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-nVidia-GeForce-...oQQcmdZViewItem

Hmmm, so in conclusion I still have no idea what to get

[TurboX]

I just saved my money to get BF2142 working with a new $99 512 8x AGP and saved heaps!!

BUT it does not work that well as I should have known!

SO dont make THAT mistake.

Pay a bit more to get what you REALLY need.

[Chris_R33GTSt]

Hey Insu, for $200 your best bet would be a 6800GS. these are going for as little at $210. http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/show_product_info.php?input[product_code]=AL-EV-6800GS-D3C&input[category_id]=1203

With your system this should get you nice FPS in current games like Fear, NFS Carbon etc.

[insu]

Hmmmm, the 6800gs looks the good, but from what i've been reading there are a few different versions of the card.

You can get a 256mb@128bit and DDR2, a 256mb@256bit and DDR3 and a 512mb@256bit and DDR3.

Oh and there are pci-e versions and agp, the pci-e version have a slightly faster core processer and more pathways I think.

Obviously the one of the Auspc market site you've posted is a 256mb version, but it doesn't state whether it is the DDR3 or 256bit version.

The only real downside to this card I can see is the memory speed, at around 500mhz, although at this price bracket I think I've got to stop expecting so much!

I've sent them an email asking them if its the higher spec version, if it is, i'll most likely buy it.

[Ronin]

Your not going to run fear with all the bells and whistles wjith a $200 vid card. You can get a 7900 for a few bux more and it will make a huge difference. Save up a bit more and don't but a cheapo card its a mistake.

[insu]

Hmmmm, good point.

Except I keep doing that, just looking at cards that are $50 more expensive, then again, then again etc... its never ending, at some point i'll have to go: here's my budget, what can i get. And if there is something significantly better within a $50 then I'd be stupid not to consider it.

The 7900 series cards are nice, but I havent found one for under $299, and that's for a 7900GS which is a 256mb card, DDR3 and 256bit.

Its only real advantage over the 6800GS on paper is it has a slightly faster memory clock at 1320mhz, which is only 320mhz faster than the 6800GS. Core clock and ramdacs are the same at 450mhz and 400mhz.

There might be a difference in pipelines on the two units, but I havent found those specs, and for the almost $100 difference in price between the two units, i'm hardpressed to justify the extra cost.

[insu]

Sorry I made a mistake, the memory clock is a fair bit higher at 1320mhz over the 500mhz on the 6800.

(Although all the sites i've seen these cards on say: 500mhz (1000mhz effective) whatever that's meant to mean)

Edited November 27, 2006 by insu

[Chris_R33GTSt]

Dude, I paid $450 for my 6800GS AGP last December when it first came out. It runs the NV40 AGP GPU which is a 130nm die and comes with factory 350Mhz (gpu) and 256MB 256bit GDDR3 @ 1.1ghz. Mine is a 12 pipe card which I was able to software unlock to 16 and overclock to 425/1.2ghz. It kicks arse, but dont discount the PCIE NV42 6800GS. It is native PCIE and while u cant unlock it, you can overclock way harder. Hilbert at Guru3D.com got it to above 450 MHZ. With a 3.0+ Ghz P4 or equavilent and a gig of ram, it will run all recent games quite nicely (for only $200).

Make sure that the 6800GS ur getting is a 256bit card with 256MB of GDDR3. Anything less is going to be a big let down.

Yeah sure an 8800GTX is going to shit on anything but when im sinking all my cash into my Skyline I dont want to stuff all my cash into the geekometer.

BTW I'm a network admin and I run an infrastructure of about 100 high end kick ass 3D workstations.

[kralster]

Don't buy a new video card yet. Wait until early next year when directx10 cards are becoming availble, otherwise your gonna spend a bit of money and be behind the 8 ball.

[insu]

Hey Chris thanks for all the suggestions.

I know what you mean about the 6800gs, there seems to be about 5 or 6 different varieties differing from 128bit to 256bit, 128mb to 512mb and pipelines and pixel shaders.

So what you're saying is that the pci-e version of the 6300gs (with 12 pipelines) can't be software unlocked to 16 like the agp version?

But they do take to being overclocked better?

ATM my x600 is running overclocked 320mhz up from 300mhz on the core and 535mhz up from 500mhz on the memory, any more than that and I start to get artifacts and eventually the card crashes.

Kralster: I was under the impression that most cards (including the 6800GS) won't have any problem running direct X 10?? Can anyone confirm this? Chris?

As for not upgrading and waiting, I'm in the same boat as Chris, I like to spend money on my car and if the 6800GS gets me through (which i'm sure it will more than amply) i'd be stupid not to go for that.

Anyway in about a 2 years I plan on upgrading to a system better suited for vista....

I'm thinking P4 dual core, who knows what speed they'll be running by then. Two cards maybe 7900gtx running in SLI? 2-4gig of DDR3 (if its out by then).... ahhh, I can dream.

[Chris_R33GTSt]

I have been running Vista on my system from the early betas up to the RC2 and MSDN corporate release and on my 3.9Ghz P4 with 2GB ram and an AGP 6800GS it performs quite nicely. A 6800GS will get you playing recent games with decent res but make sure that it isnt a cut down 128BIT, 128MB, DDR2 or less than 12Pipe card.

Unfortunately only the AGP NV40 Gpu 6800 cards can be unlocked. Since the NV42 (PCIE 6800) is a smaller die size it can run higher clocks, unfortunately it is hardware locked. Check out the reviews on www.Guru3d.com for more info.

When DX10 is finally released it is going to be like when DX9 came out: the Radeon9700 was awesome but DX8 cards like the Geforce TI4200 still owned for quite some time.

Edited November 28, 2006 by Chris_R33GTSt

[Whyallapunk]

In 2 years time there will be Quad-core cpus out lol. They have already been released in the US for major companies, but you'd be forking out well over $1000 to get them. In two years time, a quad core might be recommended requirements to run the latest games lol. Computers grow so fast lol. I got my system upgraded last christmas to P4 (Intel) Dual Core 3.6GHz, 2GB DDR2 Ram, 6800GT Ultra PCI-E, and a 600watt cooling fan lol. So I'm looking to upgrade my video card too.

But as people have already said, theres really no point getting one now. Might aswell w8 a few months till Direct 10x comes out. By then you'll have more money for a 10x card, and you'll love the new graphic systems. Goodbye ps3 and 360 when that happens people lol.

[inark]

My only input to this thread will be... dont bother with ebay... i dont think i have seen one card as cheap as from MSY and they have 2 shops in QLD... not sure if theyre close

I recently bought a 256MB Leadtek Nvidia 7600GT PCI-e about 2 months ago... then it cost me like $230 or something... now theyre down to under $200

http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf

[Leon.T]

staticice.com.au

or

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/index.cfm?a...amp;tag=rmp_vds

check those out

[insu]

Hey thanks for all the input guys. I've glad I've waited to buy a card and didn't do it impulsively off of ebay. Its not always cheaper.

-Insu

[inark]

Hey thanks for all the input guys. I've glad I've waited to buy a card and didn't do it impulsively off of ebay. Its not always cheaper.

-Insu

definately not... no computer parts are once you take into account delivery (providing your talking about the latest gear and not second hand)