Author Topic: Help. need a graphics card suggestion (Read 1006 times)

Swoop · « **on:** November 25, 2004, 01:50:40 PM »

My GF 4600ti is finally giving up.

Had a cooling problem with it for ages, PC was freezing up in all modern full screen games and I finally figured out the GF was overheating and causing it so I added some extra cooling (case off, laid down flat, 15" desk fan put on top) and it's been running fine for the last 18 months. Until today. Freezing again in AH, OFP, Pirates OTC, GTA:VC, the lot. I can browse the web and play CIV3 (whoopy shreckin doo) and that's it. Tried new drivers, no change.

Can't be arsed to install all the temp monitoring crap again, I know it's the card. It's shrecked. Well ok, I think it's the card.

Probably.

Gonna replace it but unsure what with. Need at least the same power of the 4600ti, but no point in an all singing all dancing top of the line card as the rest of the system will limit it (AMD 2Ghz, 512Mb RAM).

So what's good?

GF 5200? 5700?
Radeon 9600?

Don't want to spend too much since......well it might not be the card that's shrecked. Pretty sure it is but.....

Roscoroo · « **Reply #1 on:** November 25, 2004, 03:11:08 PM »

Bummer ..

Id recommend
fx5600, 5900, and the 6800

in ati
9600pro, 9800 series,and x800

the 5200 card is the low cost card for guys on a tight budget
your not gonna see any improvement over your 4600 with the 5200

AH is more user freindly with a nvidia based card , but alot of us are running the ati's with decient game play .

eagl · « **Reply #2 on:** November 25, 2004, 06:14:18 PM »

If you want to jump up a bit but still watch the cost, I'd recommend either the nvidia 6600GT or a 6800. The previous generation cards are IMHO a waste of money since the current generation is a pretty big step forward in many ways.

I dunno about the ATI cards, but something with an 800 in it would work

SkyGnome · « **Reply #3 on:** November 25, 2004, 11:29:00 PM »

Well, the nv5700 vs ati9600 are pretty close. Neither will allow AA or AF to speak of, so it's a pretty fair fight. Neither is all that much faster than your current card (at least at the feature level that they allow you to run smoothly).

I highly recommend spending another $30 on either nv6600GT or ati 9800 pro. These are both really close cards (despite the generation gap), and both should run fine at 1280x1024 w/ some AA and AF.

For the NV card, I gently recommend Gainward. They build some silly cards that include higher spec parts than the manufacturer recommends, and guarantees that they will run at higher clock speeds. Basically, you get a "GT" or "Ultra" card at a small percentage over the lower card's price. I've owned two of these, and both have been very successful - and you can return them if they don't clock as advertised.

Also, the rest of your machine is fine. You will notice a graphics card upgrade hugely. Save a case or two of beer money and get at least a 9800 pro.

SkyGnome · « **Reply #4 on:** November 25, 2004, 11:30:30 PM »

Oh yeah. 5200 is WAY slower than your current card.

Kaz · « **Reply #5 on:** November 26, 2004, 11:30:08 AM »

6600GT would be great, more than likely you won't have to upgrade for quite awhile.
Even if it turns out not to be the card causing the problems, you'll still have something that'll last for quite some time and is arguably the current best price/performance GPU available.

Swoop · « **Reply #6 on:** November 26, 2004, 12:40:32 PM »

I've done something silly and bought a whole new PC off ebay.

AMD 2500+
Radeon 9800SE
1Gb RAM

That'll do for a bit.

Monk · « **Reply #7 on:** November 26, 2004, 12:50:36 PM »

Guess that solved the graphic card problem.

eagl · « **Reply #8 on:** November 26, 2004, 01:07:16 PM »

Hmmm the 9800SE might be the silliest part... That is a crippled version of the 9800 and might not be as fast as your older card was. It'll bench 3dmark2001 (and therefore AH) at pretty much the same score but it'll probably get better 3dmark2003 score due to DX9 support in hardware. It's a $130 card in the "value" category.

http://www.infohq.com/Computer/ati-nvidia-graphics-cards.htm

You're trading a 2 ghz athlon for an athlon 2500+ which runs at 1.83 ghz? Did you mean your previous cpu was an athlon 2000+, or was it really a 2ghz athlon?

I don't want to sound all negative, but I hope the price was right... as in almost free...

Swoop · « **Reply #9 on:** November 28, 2004, 04:41:57 AM »

Yeah I'm trading an Athlon 2Ghz for an Athlon 2.5Ghz and the seller swears he's gotton software that turns the SE into a Pro and it's 3D mark 2003 score is 5400. Which means instead of 4 pipes it's using all 8 and still won't get anywhere near a Pro but it's better than nothing. Will test the 3DMark score soon as I get it and if it's nowhere near what the seller claims then ebays buyer protection will kick in. And the seller will get a kicking if I catch him.

But it was actually pretty cheap.

Plus I get to sell the old PC to a mate of mine who's got an AGP graphics card but no PC to put it in.

yb11 · « **Reply #10 on:** November 28, 2004, 07:36:00 AM »

i no you can unlook some of the 9800 PRO to the 9800 XT by flashing bios i dont think you can do it with a SE tho (good luck)

acetnt367th · « **Reply #11 on:** November 28, 2004, 02:53:59 PM »

You can unlock an SE to pro ---but I believe it works on a few cards (pcb red?????). Cant remember. Only thing is there is no guarantee it will work.

Kev367th · « **Reply #12 on:** November 28, 2004, 10:55:48 PM »

If the ram on the 9800SE is arranged in an 'L' shape and not an 'I' shape it can be softmodded (drivers not BIOS flash) to 9800PRO using Omega drivers.
Works for me

CYLONN · « **Reply #13 on:** November 29, 2004, 12:06:29 AM »

If you're in the market to upgrade your video card and are considering the 6800 series, look at BFG cards. They're every bit as good as Gainward and have a lifetime warranty for less money.

Keep in mind that the base 6800 only has 12 pixel pipelines whereas the GT and Ultra have 16. They also have faster core and memory speeds. A BFG 6800 GT OC comes overclocked out of the box and is plenty of card for this game.

If you go with an FX series card, don't even consider anything below a 5700. The 5600 and lower are essentially the same card with little performance differences. The 5700 utilizes DDR3 memory, a considerable upgrade over the 52 and 5600's. Buy an ULTRA version, the increase in cost will be worth it.

Swoop · « **Reply #14 on:** November 30, 2004, 04:31:25 AM »

Blimey it does to!

3D Mark 2003 score of 5496.

Well chuffed.